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Objective: To solve the problems of low accuracy and poor efficiency in the existing rice quality testing methods of food enterprises. Methods: Based on a hyperspectral data acquisition system, a fast and non-destructive detection method for stored rice quality was proposed, which combined an improved bacterial foraging algorithm and least squares support vector machine. By applying the improved bacterial foraging algorithm, the hyperparameters (regularization parameter and kernel parameter) of the least squares support vector machine were optimized to achieve rapid and non-destructive detection of rice quality. its performance was analyzed through experiments. Results: The proposed method can achieve rapid and non-destructive detection of fatty acid content in stored rice, with a determination coefficient of 0.940 5, root mean square error of 0.543 5, and an average detection time of 1.12 seconds. Conclusion: The proposed detection method has high detection performance, which can be used for the identification and detection of rice quality.

Abstract To investigate the necessity and potential application of structural genes for expressing heterogenous genes from Sindbis virus-derived vector, the DNA-based expression vector pVaXJ was constructed by placing the recombinant genome of sindbis-like virus XJ-160 under the control of the human cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter of the plasmid pVAX1, in which viral structural genes were replaced by a polylinker cassette to allow for insertion of heterologous genes. The defect helper plasmids pVaE or pVaC were developed by cloning the gene of glycoprotein E3E26KE1 or capsid protein of XJ-160 virus into pVAX1, respectively. The report gene cassette pVaXJ-EGFP or pV-Gluc expressing enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) or Gaussia luciferase (G.luc) were constructed by cloning EGFP or G.luc gene into pVaXJ. EGFP or G.luc was expressed in the BHK-21 cells co-transfected with report gene cassettes and pVaE at levels that were comparable to those produced by report gene cassettes, pVaC and pVaE and were much higher than the levels produced by report gene cassette and pVaC, suggesting that glycoprotein is enough for Sindbis virus-derived DNA vector to express heterogenous genes in host cells. The method of gene expression from Sindbis virus-based DNA vector only co-transfected with envelop E gene increase the conveniency and the utility of alphavirus-based vector systems in general.

Purpose: There is limited research on whether Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPIs) will affect the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).This study aimed to determine whether PPIs affect the survival outcomes of patients with HBV-associated advanced HCC receiving combination therapy based on ICIs. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated advanced HCC who underwent ICIs combination therapy from January 1, 2020, to December 30, 2022. Patients were stratified into PPI and non-PPI groups based on whether they received PPI treatment within 30 days before or after ICIs therapy. Patients' survival and the risk of PPI-associated mortality was assessed. Adverse events were also evaluated. Results: A total of 183 patients with HBV-associated HCC treated with ICI combination therapy were included. The median survival time (12.5 months vs 13.7 months, P = 0.285) and incidence of adverse events (P = 0.729) did not significantly differ between the PPI and non-PPI groups. Even after propensity score matching, the difference in median overall survival (OS) between the two groups was not significant (10.7 months vs 11.4 months; P = 0.596) and the patient's OS is not significantly related to the dosage of PPI application (P > 0.05).However, according to our subgroup analysis, among HCC patients with a serum HBV DNA concentration ≥ 200 IU/mL, the use of PPIs significantly increased the risk of mortality in patients receiving ICI combination therapy (P = 0.024). Conclusion: PPIs do not notably influence the survival prognosis of patients receiving ICI combination therapy for HBV-associated advanced HCC. However, among patients with high levels of HBV DNA, PPIs increase the risk of mortality. Therefore, antiviral therapy should be intensified in the patients with HBVDNA > 200 IU/mL. Additionally, PPIs do not impact the incidence of adverse reactions in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) originating from Wuhan, China, has spread rapidly across the world (1). Both human-to-human and asymptomatic transmission have been reported (2,3). Phylogenetic [...]