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Abstract Background: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy combined with immunotherapy (NICRT) is a new neoadjuvant treatment approach that has raised concerns regarding potential challenges in surgery and postoperative complications. This study aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT) and NICRT for the treatment of resectable locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 291 patients with locally advanced ESCC who underwent neoadjuvant therapy and esophagectomy at three centers between January 2019 and September 2023 and added the data from PALACE-1 for the analysis, Among these patients, 248 and 61 patients received NCRT and NICRT, respectively. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to balance the potential bias. Results: After the PSM,the rate of a pathological complete response (pCR) in the NCRT group was not significantly different from that in the NICRT group (46.90% vs 36.36%, P = 0.180). There were no significant differences in the tumor regression grade (TRG) and positive lymph node pCR rates between the two groups (P = 0.233 and P = 0.354, respectively). Treatment-related toxicities and postoperative complications were not significantly different between the NCRT group and the NICRT group (P = 0.199, P = 0.284). Conclusion: Compared with NCRT, NICRT did not lead to the better treatment efficacy. There were no significant differences was observed in the incidence of treatment-related toxicities and postoperative complications.

Abstract Surface defect detection is an essential task for ensuring the quality of products. Many excellent object detectors have been employed to detect surface defects in resent years, which has achieved outstanding success. To further improve the detection performance, a defect detector based on state‐of‐the‐art YOLOv8, named improved YOLOv8 by neck, head and data (NHD‐YOLO), is proposed. Specifically, YOLOv8 from three crucial aspects including neck, head and data is improved. First, a shortcut feature pyramid network is designed to effectively fuse features from backbone by improving the information transmission. Then, an adaptive decoupled head is proposed to alleviate the feature spatial misalignment between the classification and regression tasks. Finally, to enhance the training on small objects, a data augmentation method named selective small object copy and paste is proposed. Extensive experiments are conducted on three real‐world datasets: detection dataset from Northeastern University (NEU‐DET), printed circuit boards from Peking University (PKU‐Market‐PCB) and common objects in context (COCO). According to the results, NHD‐YOLO achieves the highest detection accuracy and exhibits outstanding inference speed and generalisation performance.

Abstract Objectives The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of radiomics in conjunction with hematological parameters in relation to the overall survival (OS) of individuals diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) following definitive chemoradiotherapy (dCRT). Methods In this retrospective analysis, a total of 122 patients with locally advanced ESCC were included. These patients were randomly assigned to either the training cohort (n = 85) or the validation cohort (n = 37). In the training group, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression was utilized to choose the best radiomic features for calculating the Rad-score. To develop a nomogram model, both univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify the clinical factors and hematologic parameters that could predict the OS. The performance of the predictive model was evaluated using the C-index, while the accuracy was assessed through the calibration curve. Results The Rad-score was calculated by selecting 10 radiomic features through LASSO regression. OS was predicted independently by neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio (NMR) and Rad-score according to the results of multivariate analysis. Patients who had a Rad-score > 0.47 and an NMR > 9.76 were at a significant risk of mortality. A nomogram was constructed using the findings from the multivariate analysis. In the training cohort, the nomogram had a C-index of 0.619, while in the validation cohort, it was 0.573. The model’s accuracy was demonstrated by the calibration curve, which was excellent. Conclusion A prognostic model utilizing radiomics and hematologic parameters was developed, enabling the prediction of OS in patients with ESCC following dCRT. Critical relevance statement Patients with esophageal cancer who underwent definitive chemoradiotherapy may benefit from including CT radiomics in the nomogram model. Key points • Predicting the prognosis of ESCC patients before treatment is particularly important. • Patients with a Rad-score > 0.47 and neutrophil-to-monocyte ratio > 9.76 had a high risk of mortality. • CT-based radiomics nomogram model could be used to predict the survival of patients. Graphical Abstract

Abstract Background Chemoradiotherapy is a critical treatment for patients with locally advanced and unresectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and it is essential to identify high-risk patients as early as possible owing to the high incidence of radiation pneumonitis (RP). Increasing attention is being paid to the effects of endogenous factors for RP. This study aimed to investigate the value of computed tomography (CT)-based radiomics combined with genomics in analyzing the risk of grade ≥ 2 RP in unresectable stage III NSCLC. Methods In this retrospective multi-center observational study, 100 patients with unresectable stage III NSCLC who were treated with chemoradiotherapy were analyzed. Radiomics features of the entire lung were extracted from pre-radiotherapy CT images. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator algorithm was used for optimal feature selection to calculate the Rad-score for predicting grade ≥ 2 RP. Genomic DNA was extracted from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded pretreatment biopsy tissues. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of RP for model development. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used to evaluate the predictive capacity of the model. Statistical comparisons of the area under the curve values between different models were performed using the DeLong test. Calibration and decision curves were used to demonstrate discriminatory and clinical benefit ratios, respectively. Results The Rad-score was constructed from nine radiomic features to predict grade ≥ 2 RP. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that histology, Rad-score, and XRCC1 (rs25487) allele mutation were independent high-risk factors correlated with RP. The area under the curve of the integrated model combining clinical factors, radiomics, and genomics was significantly higher than that of any single model (0.827 versus 0.594, 0.738, or 0.641). Calibration and decision curve analyses confirmed the satisfactory clinical feasibility and utility of the nomogram. Conclusion Histology, Rad-score, and XRCC1 (rs25487) allele mutation could predict grade ≥ 2 RP in patients with locally advanced unresectable NSCLC after chemoradiotherapy, and the integrated model combining clinical factors, radiomics, and genomics demonstrated the best predictive efficacy.

The 2.45–2.20 Ga period during the early Paleoproterozoic era is considered to have witnessed a global “Tectono-Magmatic Lull (TML)” and thus marks a relatively quiescent period. Our study unveils a 2.45–2.20 Ga magmatic suite from the Xiong’ershan area in the southern North China Craton, offering some key constraints on localized active tectonics during the TML. Zircon U-Pb dating shows Paleoproterozoic ages for the meta-basalt (2.31, 2.28 Ga), Na-rich meta-andesite (~2.33 Ga), tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite (TTG) gneisses (2.36, 2.30 Ga), K-rich granodiorite (~2.29 Ga), and monzogranite (2.33, 2.27 Ga). The meta-basalts geochemically and petrographically belong to calc-alkaline basalts and show distinctive Nb, Ta, and Ti contents and primitive mantle normalized patterns from different places in the Xiong’ershan area. Combined with their enriched εHf(t) values, the magmas were derived from subduction-related enriched mantle sources within a convergent plate boundary. The meta-andesites display high MgO content (average 4.5 wt%) and Mg# (44–57), strongly fractionated rare-earth pattern, calc-alkaline affinity, and negative Nb, Ta, and Ti anomalies. The TTG gneisses are of high SiO2 type (>62 wt%), high (La/Yb)N (17.5, 39.2), and Sr/Y (50.2, 104.3) and mostly display positive Eu anomalies and high-pressure type. Zircons from these rocks show a relatively narrow range of δ18O isotope values (5.35‰, 6.79‰) with εHf(t) isotope characteristics (−9.3, −3.3), suggesting derivation from partial melting of a thickened mafic lower crust. The youngest K-rich granodiorite and monzogranite show high K2O/Na2O ratios (0.65, 2.45). Variable molar ratio Al2O3/(CaO+Na2O+K2O) (A/CNK) and low zircon εHf(t) values suggest that the K-rich granitoids formed from the partial melting of different levels of crust. The presence of meta-basalt to andesite assemblages and diverse intermediate to felsic magmatic rocks implies magmatic activity within a convergent plate boundary tectonic environment with potential influence from plume-triggered extensional processes, supported by evidence of slab rollback and upwelling of mantle material.

Aim Renal artery stenosis (RAS) is an important cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD). The main purpose of this study was to explore the clinical characteristics and predictors of low-grade RAS in female patients with CKD. Methods One hundred and five female CKD patients from Huadong Hospital affiliated with Fudan University who underwent 3 T non-contrast renal artery magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) were analyzed. Basic statistics methods were used in the study, such as independent-sample t test,non-parametric test, binary logistic regression analysis and ROC analysis. Results In this cross-sectional study, there were 50 patients with RAS and 55 without RAS (47.6% versus 52.4%). Binary logistic regression analysis demonstrated that low-level ALB and lymphocyte count, high-level SP, BUN and NLR were independent risk factors for low-grade RAS in female patients with CKD. ROC analysis indicated that eGFR, FeNa and UBCR, ALB, lymphocyte count and NLR had the best predictive value for low-grade RAS, especially eGFR with a sensitivity of 65.50% and specificity of 72.00% and FeNa with a sensitivity of 71.10% and specificity of 72.20% and BUCR with a sensitivity of 71.10% and specificity of 68.10%. Conclusion In female patients with CKD, FeNa, eGFR, ALB, UBCR, lymphocyte count and NLR may be good predictors of low-grade RAS, especially eGFR, FeNa and BUCR.

Intramammary infections (IMI) in animals reared for milk production can result in large economic losses and distress to the animals. Staphylococcus aureus is an important causative agent of IMI in dairy cows, but its prevalence in water buffaloes has not been determined. Therefore, the current study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of subclinical mastitis in water buffaloes and the antimicrobial susceptibility, virulence genes and biofilm formation abilities of Staphylococcus aureus isolates recovered from water buffaloes in Guangdong, China. Staphylococcus aureus strains were isolated from milk samples of water buffaloes with subclinical mastitis, and twofold microdilution, PCR and crystal violet staining methods were used to determine antimicrobial susceptibility, distributions of virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes and biofilm formation ability, respectively. Our results indicated that 29.44% of water buffaloes were diagnosed with subclinical mastitis, and the most prevalent pathogens were Escherichia coli (96.17%), coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) (67.60%) and S. aureus (28.57%). Most S. aureus isolates showed resistance to bacitracin, doxycycline, penicillin, florfenicol, and tetracycline but were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, ceftizoxime, cefoquinoxime, and ofloxacin. Moreover, 63.72% of S. aureus isolates were positive for tetM, and the prevalence of msrB, blaZ, mecA, fexA, and tetK ranged from 21.24 to 6.19%. All S. aureus isolates harbored clfB and icaA genes, and the virulence genes hla (93.8%), hld (91.15%), clfA (90.27%), fnbA (86.73%), and hlb (83.19%), and tsst, icaD, sec, see, fnbB, and sea showed a varied prevalence ranging from 3.5 to 65.49%. All S. aureus isolates possessed the ability to form biofilms, and 30.09% of isolates showed strong biofilm formation abilities, while 19.47% of isolates were weak biofilm producers. Our results indicated that subclinical mastitis is prevalent in water buffaloes in Guangdong, China, and S. aureus is prevalent in samples from water buffaloes with subclinical mastitis. Most S. aureus isolates were susceptible to cephalosporins and fluoroquinolones; thus, ceftizoxime and cefoquinoxime can be used to treat subclinical mastitis in water buffaloes.

Abstract To the problem of the complex pre-processing and post-processing to obtain head-position existing in the current crowd localization method using pseudo boundary box and pre-designed positioning map, this work proposes an end-to-end crowd localization framework named WSITrans, which reformulates the weakly-supervised crowd localization problem based on Transformer and implements crowd counting. Specifically, we first perform global maximum pooling (GMP) after each stage of pure Transformer, which can extract and retain more detail of heads. In addition, we design a binarization module that binarizes the output features of the decoder and fuses the confidence score to obtain more accurate confidence score. Finally, extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method achieves significant improvement on three challenging benchmarks. It is worth mentioning that the WSITrans improves F1-measure by 4.0%.

ABSTRACT: Mycoplasma synoviae (MS) infection is a serious threat to poultry industry in China, thus it is essential to study the pharmacokinetics (PK) in the target site of MS-infected chickens, but there are no relevant reports at present. The aim of this study was to compare the PK of tilmicosin in plasma and joint dialysate in MS-infected chickens. The MS infection model was established by evaluating the influence factors of the susceptibility of chicken species, day age of chicken, infection routes, infection cycle, infection dose, and stress response. The clinical symptoms, pathogen isolation, PCR identification, and ELISA antibody were detected to determine whether the MS infection model has been successfully established. Eight-week-old Mahuang chickens were challenged with MS by joint combined with footpad, 2 mL each time, twice a day for 5 d, then the MS infection model was successfully established. The infection group was orally administrated a single dose of 15 mg/kgbody weight (b. w.) tilmicosin. The joint dialysate was collected by the microdialysis technique, then the concentration of tilmicosin in plasma samples and joint dialysate were determined by triple quadrupole high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). There was no significant difference in elimination half-life (t1/2) and the mean residence time (MRT) of dialysate and plasma. In contrast, the time of the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) and the (maximum concentration of tilmicosin in plasma) Cmax of tilmicosin in plasma was 2.1 and 1.4 times higher than in dialysate. The distribution coefficient of tilmicosin in joint and plasma (AUCdialysate/AUCplasma) was 0.51. In conclusion, tilmicosin concentration in joints of MS-infected chicken was much lower than that of plasma, which may result in the poor clinical effect and drug resistance. The study could provide a reference for the clinical use of tilmicosin against MS.

Due to extreme scale variations in highly congested scenes, the accuracy of CNN-based crowd counting approaches still has considerable room for further improvements. In this paper, we propose a new multi-scale feature adaptive integrated network (MSFAINet) for crowd counting that adopts the multi-scale feature, hybrid attention, and dilated convolution. First, the proposed MSFAINet extracts feature maps from different levels by the improved VGG16 and focuses on more important information that represents features at different scales. Second, it adopts a hybrid attention mechanism to enhance the receptive field of an image while reducing the loss of feature information caused by channel competition and then passes these features into the dilated convolution combined with the traditional convolution. Finally, it generates the density estimation map by accelerating the convergence of the network. The proposed MSFAINet is used to conduct extensive studies to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach on several mainstream datasets. From the experimental results, MSFAINet can extract and retain more detailed information and greatly reduce the influence of scale variations in crowd counting.

Abstract Trueperella pyogenes (T. pyogenes) is an opportunistic pathogen associated with a variety of diseases in many domestic animals. Therapeutic treatment options for T. pyogenes infections are becoming limited due to antimicrobial resistance, in which efflux pumps play an important role. This study aims to evaluate the inhibitory activity of luteolin, a natural flavonoid, on the MsrA efflux pump and investigate its mechanism. The results of antimicrobial susceptibility testing indicated that the susceptibility of msrA-positive T. pyogenes isolates to six macrolides increased after luteolin treatment, while the susceptibility of msrA-negative isolates showed no change after luteolin treatment. It is suspected that luteolin may increase the susceptibility of T. pyogenes isolates by inhibiting MsrA activity. After 1/2 MIC luteolin treatment for 36 h, the transcription level of the msrA gene and the expression level of the MsrA protein decreased by 55.0–97.7% and 36.5–71.5%, respectively. The results of an affinity test showed that the equilibrium dissociation constant (KD) of luteolin and MsrA was 6.462 × 10–5 M, and hydrogen bonding was predominant in the interaction of luteolin and MsrA. Luteolin may inhibit the ATPase activity of the MsrA protein, resulting in its lack of an energy source. The current study illustrates the effect of luteolin on MsrA in T. pyogenes isolates and provides insight into the development of luteolin as an innovative agent in combating infections caused by antimicrobial-resistant bacteria.

Mycoplasma gallisepticum (M. gallisepticum) is a primary respiratory pathogen of poultry and causes significant economic losses to the poultry industry. There were no reported articles concerning the Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) interactions of tilmicosin against M. gallisepticum in vivo. In the current study, we established an in vivo M. gallisepticum infection model and tilmicosin was administered orally to the M. gallisepticum-infected chickens by different dosage regimens. The concentration of tilmicosin in lung tissue was determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS/MS), besides the counting of the viable colony of M. gallisepticum in lung tissue was also monitored dynamically to appraise the PK/PD interactions of tilmicosin against M. gallisepticum. We found that anti-mycoplasmal activity was concentration-dependent and mycoplasmacidal activity was observed at tilmicosin dosage >7.5 mg/kg. The PK/PD parameter of AUC/MIC (The area under the concentration–time curve divided by the minimal inhibitory concentration) correlated well with anti-mycoplasmal efficacy (R2 = 0.92). The ratios of AUC/MIC for 1 log10 and 3 log10 colony-forming units [CFU]/lung reductions were 300.02 and 6,950.15 h, respectively. These findings indicated that tilmicosin may be therapeutically effective in chickens to treat M. gallisepticum lung infections if administered at a dose of 9.12 mg/kg.

Automatic detection of granary storage states is an important technology to ensure national food security. In view of distribution characteristics of bottom pressure, this study theoretically explored a relationship between detected value of bottom pressure of granaries and granary storage states through the technologies, such as integrated learning and nonlinear regression. On this basis, this research built layout models of single-ring pressure sensors on the bottom of granaries and proposed a detection method for granary storage states based on domain knowledge of statistics of bottom pressure in granaries. The experiment demonstrates that the detection method for granary storage states based on a support vector machine (SVM) and domain knowledge shows high detection accuracy and low requirements for sensor performance and low detection cost. Therefore, it can meet the needs of remote online detection of granary storage states usually used.

TatD DNases are conserved proteins in a variety of organisms and are considered potential virulence factors in Plasmodium falciparum and Streptococcus pneumoniae. However, the function of TatD DNases has not yet been determined in Trueperella pyogenes, which causes various infections in animals and leads to economic losses. In this study, we describe the roles of TatD DNases in T. pyogenes (TpTatDs). A bioinformatics analysis was performed to investigate the sequence characteristics of TpTatDs, and then the ability of recombinant TatD proteins to hydrolyze DNA was determined in the presence of divalent cations. Moreover, we constructed tatD-deficient mutants. The biofilms formed by the wild-type and mutant strains were observed under a microscope. The mortality and bacterial load in the spleen of mice infected with the wild-type strain and tatD-deficient mutants were determined to obtain insights into the role of TatDs in the virulence of T. pyogenes. Two TatD DNases were identified in T. pyogenes. They were Mg2+-dependent DNases and exhibited DNA endonuclease activity. Compared with those formed by the parental strain, biofilms formed by mutants showed a significantly reduced thickness and biomass. Moreover, mutants produced a lower bacterial load in the spleen of mice and compromised virulence. Our data indicated that TatD DNases in T. pyogenes are involved in biofilm formation and required for virulence during infections.

Metallic surface defect detection is critical to ensure the quality of industrial products. Recently, human-advanced surface defect detection algorithms have been proposed. Most of these algorithms rely on convolutional neural networks (CNN) and an anchoring scheme. However, a convolution unit only samples the input feature maps at fixed shapes and locations. Similarly, a set of anchors are uniformly predefined with fixed scales and shapes, which increases the difficulties of bounding box regression. Therefore, we propose an adaptive convolution and anchor network for metallic surface defect detection, named ACA-Net. Specifically, an adaptive convolution and anchor (ACA) module is proposed, which mainly consists of adaptive convolution and an adaptive anchor. Firstly, an adaptive convolution module (ACM) is designed, which adaptively determines the location and shape of each convolution unit. In addition, a multi-scale feature adaptive fusion (MFAF) is proposed, which is used in ACM to extract and integrate multi-scale features. Then, an adaptive anchor module (AAM) is proposed to yield more suitable anchor boxes by adaptively adjusting shapes. Extensive experiments on NEU-DET dataset and GC10 dataset validate the performance of the proposed approach. ACA-Net achieves 1.8% on NEU-DET dataset higher Average Precision (AP) than GA-RetinaNet. Furthermore, the proposed ACA module is also adopted in GA-Faster R-CNN, improving the AP by 1.2% on NEU-DET dataset.

Object tracking is aimed at tracking a given target that is only specified in the first frame. Due to the rapid movement and the interference of cluttered backgrounds, object tracking is a significant challenging issue in computer vision. This research put forward an innovative feature pyramid and optical flow estimation based on the Siamese network for object tracking, which is called SiamFP. The SiamFP jointly trains the optical flow and the tracking task under the Siamese network framework. We employ the optical flow network based on the pyramid correlation mapping to evaluate the movement information of the target in two contiguous frames, to increase the accuracy of the feature representation. Simultaneously, we adopt spatial attention as well as channel attention to effectively restrain the ambient noise, stress the target area, and better extract the features of the given object, so that the tracking algorithm has a higher success rate. The proposed SiamFP obtains state-of-the-art performance on OTB50, OTB2015, and VOT2016 benchmarks while exhibiting better real-time and robustness.

TatD960 and TatD825 are DNases that contribute to biofilm formation and virulence in Trueperella pyogenes (T. pyogenes). Luteolin is a natural flavonoid commonly found in plants that exhibits antimicrobial capacity. Our study aims to investigate the effects of luteolin on TatD DNases as a natural inhibitor. In this research, the expression of tatD genes and TatD proteins in T. pyogenes treated with luteolin was detected, and then the effect of luteolin on the hydrolysis of DNA by TatD DNases was analyzed using agarose gel electrophoresis. Moreover, the interactions between luteolin and TatD DNases were tested using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays and molecular docking analysis. After 1/2 MIC luteolin treatment, the transcription of tatD genes and expression of TatD proteins appeared to be reduced in 80–90% of T. pyogenes (n = 20). The gel assay revealed that luteolin can inhibit the activity of TatD DNases. The SPR assay showed that the KD values of luteolin to TatD960 and TatD825 were 6.268 × 10−6 M and 5.654 × 10−6 M, respectively. We found through molecular docking that hydrogen bonding is predominant in the interaction of luteolin and TatD DNases. Our data indicate that luteolin inhibited the ability of TatD DNases by decreasing their binding to DNA. The current study provides an insight into the development of luteolin as a DNase inhibitor in preventing biofilm formation and virulence in T. pyogenes.

Crowd counting is an important part of crowd analysis and has been widely applied in the field of public safety and commercial management. Although researchers have proposed many crowd counting methods, there is little research on non-uniform population distribution. In this research, a new scene adaptive segmentation network (SASNet) is proposed that can focus on crowd area to estimate accurately crowd density in population heterogeneous distribution. First, an image segmentation module is designed that can adaptive horizontal segment an image according to different density levels, and then obtains a close-up view image and a distant view image. Second, a dual branches network based on convolution neural network (CNN) is exploited that contains a distant view network (DVNet) and a close-up view network (CVNet), so as to extract different scales of image features and then generate density maps by each branch, respectively, so that the crowd counting module has robustness on different scales of target. Finally, a comparative experiment on three well-known crowd counting datasets shows that SASNet achieved stabilized performance and robustness in population heterogeneous distribution.

ABSTRACT Group D and group B Salmonella enterica serovars differ in their susceptibility to colistin with the former frequently intrinsically resistant (MIC > 2 μg/ml); however, the mechanism has not been described. Here, we show that the O-antigen epitope in group D Salmonella governs the levels of colistin susceptibility. Substitution of the rfbJ gene in a group B Salmonella with the rfbSE genes from a group D Salmonella conferred a decrease in susceptibility to colistin. The presence of dideoxyhexose, abequose, and the deoxymannose, tyvelose, differentiate the Salmonella group B and group D O antigens, respectively. We hypothesize that the subtle difference between abequose and tyvelose hinders the colistin molecule from reaching its target. Whole-genome sequencing also revealed that increased colistin susceptibility in a group D Salmonella veterinary isolate was due to a defect in the O-antigen polymerase protein, Rfc. This study shows that two different mechanisms that influence the presence and composition of O antigens affect colistin susceptibility in Salmonella enterica. IMPORTANCE Some serovars of Salmonella, namely, those belonging to group D, appear to show a degree of intrinsic resistance to colistin. This observed intrinsic colistin resistance is of concern since this last-resort drug might no longer be effective for treating severe human infections with the most common Salmonella serovar, Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis. Here, we show that the O-antigen epitope in group D Salmonella governs the levels of colistin susceptibility. Using whole-genome sequencing, we also revealed that increased colistin susceptibility in a group D Salmonella veterinary isolate was due to a defect in the O-antigen polymerase protein, Rfc. In summary, we show that two different mechanisms that influence the presence and composition of O antigens affect colistin susceptibility in Salmonella enterica.

Abstract Background Although assemblies of hydrophobic-modified bacitracin A with PLGA (Nano-BAPLGA) have demonstrated promising antibacterial activities against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, the desirable antibacterial potency has remained challenging due to the low solubility of Nano-BAPLGA. To address this tissue, a series of Pluronic copolymers (Pluronic® F127, Pluronic® P123 and Pluronic® P85) were selected to link the N-terminus of bacitracin A to construct Pluronic-based nano-self assemblies (Nano-BAF127, Nano-BAP123 and Nano-BAP85). Results Impressively, all the newly designed Pluronic-based Nano-BAs possessed higher solubility and stronger effectiveness against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria compared with Nano-BAPLGA, especially the modification with Pluronic® P85. Surface tension measurements indicated that Nano-BAP85 was much more tensioactive than Nano-BAPLGA, which usually translated into a good membranolytic effect. Fluorescence spectroscopy and electron microscopy analyses confirmed the speculation that the cell wall/membrane might be the main action target of Nano-BAP85 by permeabilizing the cell membrane and damaging the membrane integrity. In vivo results further demonstrated that Nano-BAP85 significantly suppressed bacterial growth and prolonged survival time in the bacterial peritonitis mouse model with negligible toxicity. Conclusions Collectively, the membrane targeting mechanism of action is entirely distinct from those of clinically used antibacterial agents. Furthermore, the new approach of construction nanoantibiotics based on the modification of commercially available antibiotics with Pluronic copolymers is demonstrated to have an efficient therapeutic effect against bacterial infection.

Abstract:: This study proposes a new model of granary storage weight detection based on the Janssen model to satisfy the strategic requirements of granary storage quantity detection in China. The model theoretically elucidates the relationship between granary storage weight and bottom/side pressure. A new layout of pressure sensors along the inner and outer rings is also proposed to obtain the pressure value. The experimental results indicate that the detection error of the proposed model is significantly lower than 1% with respect to the low-cost detection system, and this effectively satisfies the actual requirement for real-time monitoring of granary storage quantity.Supported by Natural Science Project of Henan Provincial Science and Technology Department (172106000013); State Key Laboratory of Grain Information Processing and Control, Ministry of Education (KFJJ-2016-102); Grain Information Processing Technology of University Science and Technology Innovation Team in Henan Province (16IRTSTHN026) Keywords:: Granary storage quantity detection, Janssen model, Pressure sensor, Detection model, Detection accuracy

Pneumococcal meningitis (PM), caused by Streptococcus pneumonia, remains a high-burden disease in developing countries. Antibiotic therapy has been limited due to the inefficiency of drug transport across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the emergence of drug-resistant strains. In our preliminary study, PEGylated nano-self-assemblies of bacitracin A (PEGylated Nano-BA12K) demonstrated a strong antibacterial potency against S. pneumonia. In this study, the potential application of this micelle for the treatment of both Penicillin-sensitive and -resistant PM was studied. To address BBB-targeting and -crossing issues, PEGylated Nano-BA12K was formulated with a specific brain-targeting peptide (rabies virus glycopeptide-29, RVG29) and a P-glycoprotein inhibitor (Pluronic® P85 unimers) to construct a mixed micellar system (RVG29-Nano-BAP85). RVG29-Nano-BAP85 demonstrated a strong antibacterial potency against 13 clinical isolates of S. pneumonia, even higher than that of Penicillin G, a conventional anti-PM agent. RVG29-Nano-BAP85 had more cellular uptake in brain capillary endothelial cells (BCECs) and higher BBB-crossing efficiency than single formulated Nano-BAs as shown in an in vitro BBB model. The enhanced BBB-permeability was attributed to the synergetic effect of RVG29 and P85 unimers through receptor-mediated transcytosis, exhaustion of ATP, and reduction in membrane microviscosity. In vivo results further demonstrated that RVG29-Nano-BAP85 was able to accumulate in brain parenchyma as confirmed by in vivo optical imaging. In addition, RVG29-Nano-BAP85 exhibited high therapeutic efficiencies in both Penicillin-sensitive and -resistant PM mouse models with negligible systemic toxicity. Collectively, RVG29-Nano-BAP85 could effectively overcome BBB barriers and suppressed the growth of both drug-sensitive and -resistant S. pneumonia in the brain tissues, which demonstrated its potential for the treatment of PM.

The Chuankou tungsten ore field is situated in the central area of the Xuefeng Uplift Belt in South China. The deposit is characterized by two types of tungsten mineralization: quartz-scheelite veins in both the Neoproterozoic Banxi Group and Devonian Yanglin’ao Formation and quartz-wolframite (scheelite) veins in the Chuankou granite. The host rocks of the Chuankou tungsten Deposit of South China are similar to the stratigraphic sequence of Au-Sb-W deposits in the Xuefeng Uplift Belt. It is thus an appropriate location for the study of scheelite mineralization in the belt, especially the relative contributions of surrounding rocks, magma and hydrothermal fluids. Optical Microscope-Cathodoluminescene (OM-CL) and Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Mass Spectrometers (LA ICPMS) were used to examine scheelite textures and trace element concentrations in the Chuankou deposits. Scheelite in quartz-scheelite veins was formed over three generations. In situ LA-ICPMS trace elemental analyses of scheelite I show light rare earth element (LREE)-rich REE patterns and negative Eu anomalies, suggesting a relatively close fluid system. Significantly positive Eu anomalies of scheelite II and III indicate variable degrees of addition of meteoric water during scheelite precipitation. Therefore, ore-forming fluids of the Chuankou deposit were dominantly magma-derived, with different contributions of recycled meteoric water in the surrounding strata.

The Yiliu tungsten polymetallic deposit, located in the south central portion of the Nanling nonferrous metal metallogenic province in South China, is an area with common Yanshanian tectonothermal events. Early Yanshanian magmatism leads to the emplacement of voluminous tungsten-bearing granite intrusions, such as the Baoshan, Benggangling and Junye plutons, which are considered temporally and spatially associated with W-polymetallic mineralization in the Yiliu region. Here, we investigate the basic geological and petrological characteristics of the Junye granites, and present major and trace element geochemical data and bulk-rock Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic data to gain insight into the petrogenesis and tectonic setting of granitic intrusions in the region. The Junye granites are high-K calc-alkaline and metaluminous to weakly peraluminous [A/CNK = molar ratios of Al2O3/(CaO + Na2O + K2O) = 0.97–1.02] with enrichment in SiO2 (75.68–76.44 wt.%), relatively high total alkalis (K2O + Na2O = 8.06–8.45 wt.%) with K2O/Na2O ratios ranging from 1.12 to 1.42, and moderate Al2O3 (12.62–13.00 wt.%), but low in P2O5 (2O3T (0.93–1.07 wt.%). They show spectacular tetrad effect REE (rare earth element) patterns with low ΣREE content (53.2–145.3 ppm), negative Eu anomalies (δEu = 0.09–0.17) and slight enrichment of LREEs (light rare earth elements) relative to HREEs (heavy rare earth elements). The granites are enriched in Rb (481–860 ppm), Th (16.2–46.1 ppm) and U (25.4–40.8 ppm) but depleted in Ba (1.0–5.8 ppm), Sr (11.1–23.4 ppm), P (9.5–26.7 ppm) and Ti (241–393 ppm). All geochemical features lead us to interpret the Junye granites as highly fractionated I-type granites. These granites underwent intense interaction between highly evolved magma and volatile-rich hydrothermal fluids during the late stage of formation, and accompanied fractional crystallization of biotite, plagioclase and accessory minerals, such as apatite, monazite and allanite. Additionally, the granites show uniform Nd isotopic ratios with calculated εNd (152 Ma) values of −8.28 to −8.91 and Nd model age (TDM2) of 1645 to 1698 Ma, stable age-corrected initial Pb isotopic compositions with (206Pb/204Pb)i of 18.646–19.010, (207Pb/204Pb)i of 15.767–15.786 and (208Pb/204Pb)i of 39.113–39.159, respectively, and homogeneous Hf isotopic values yielding εHf (152 Ma) values from −6.9 to −9.5 with TDM2 ages of 1680 to 2214 Ma, collectively suggesting that the granitic magma was probably derived from the remelting of ancient infracrustal materials in the basement of the Nanling region. Consequently, we consider that the Junye granites are the products of partial melting of Paleoproterozoic infracrustal medium- to high-K metamorphic basaltic rocks in the Cathaysia Block, which was caused by the underplating of coeval mantle basaltic magmas that provided abundant heat energy for melting in a tectonic setting, with lithospheric extension and thinning during the late Jurassic period.

In the original publication of the article [1], the Fig. 8c and d was published with incorrect values. The corrected Fig. 8c and d is given below:

The Zhazixi Sb–W deposit in the Xuefeng arc metallogenic belt, South China, is one of the Sb deposits in Precambrian strata. The sources of the ore-forming fluid and the metallogenic material, as the bone of contention in geochemical field, are researched by means of geological features and C-H-O-S-Pb isotopes. According to the isotope analysis of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, most of the fluids derived from magmatic water and meteoric water in the Zhazixi Sb–W deposit. The result of sulfur and lead isotopes shows that the metallogenic material of Sb derived from Banxi group strata, and W derived from deep magmatic rock in the Zhazixi Sb–W deposit. The Zhazixi Sb–W deposit is a Yanshanian polygenetic compound deposit.

In this paper, an α-resolution method for a set of lattice-valued Horn generalized clauses is established in lattice-valued propositional logic system ℒ P(X) based on lattice implication algebra. Firstly, the notions of lattice-valued Horn generalized clause, normal lattice-valued Horn generalized clause and unit lattice-valued Horn generalized clause are given in ℒ P(X). Then, the α-resolution of two lattice-valued Horn generalized clauses is represented in ℒ P(X). It indicates the reasoning rules in a resolution process, which aims at deleting α-resolution literals and obtaining a resolvent. Finally, we build an α-resolution algorithm for a set of lattice-valued Horn generalized clauses in ℒ P(X). It provides a foundation for automated reasoning in lattice-valued first-order logic system and an application for designing an inference system in the field of intelligent decision support.