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Butyrolactone I (BTL-I), a butenolide compound isolated from land or marine-derived fungi, has been reported to show diverse activities. To further study the pharmaceutical potential of BTL-I, transcriptome and bioinformatics analysis of BTL-I treated HepG2 cells were taken. BTL-I was revealed with lipid metabolism regulatory activity and confirmed by increasing the mRNA expression of related genes, such as LXRα and its target gene UGT1A1. However, the obvious chemical carcinogenesis of BTL-I was also disclosed. BTL-I could significantly increase the mRNA and protein levels of oncogenes such as CYP1A1. Molecular docking of BTL-I and its analogs were performed to understand the active or toxic effects. Although BTL-I showed attractive activities, enough attention must be paid to its adverse effects in its further development.

Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate postoperative discomfort in patients undergoing ambulatory strabismus under general anesthesia, and to identify risk factors associated with the discomfort. Patients and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 210 consecutive patients undergoing ambulatory strabismus under general anesthesia. Postoperative discomfort including nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and headache was recorded and quantified. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression were performed to detect the risk factors associated with postoperative discomfort. Results Of 210 participants, 199 (94.76%) patients experienced mild discomfort after ambulatory strabismus surgery under general anesthesia, and 31 (14.76%), 11 (5.24%), 60 (28.57%), 23 (10.95%) patients suffered from nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and headache, respectively. A multivariate analysis indicated that female sex, the surgery on inferior rectus, and the surgery on inferior oblique were the independent risk factors for postoperative vomiting while, mild anxiety was the independent risk factor for postoperative dizziness. Conclusion Patients undergoing ambulatory strabismus surgery tended to experience postoperative nausea and dizziness. Female sex, the surgery on inferior rectus, mild anxiety, and the surgery on inferior oblique were the independent predictors of postoperative discomfort.

Mechanically tough polymers with excellent room temperature self-healing capacity have aroused strong interest in soft electronics, electronic skins and flexible energy storage devices. However, achieving such polymers remains a challenge due to tardy diffusion dynamics. Herein, a robust and readily self-healing polymer, which is synthesized by one-pot polymerization among 2,4′-tolylene diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, and poly(oxy-1,4-butanediyl), is achieved through reasonably tuning the hardness of the molecular segment and the strength of the dynamic crosslinking bond. The poly(oxy-1,4-butanediyl) that act as a soft segment can effectively avoid the microphase separation, enabling rapid chain mobility of the polymer at the room temperature. Furthermore, the dual H-bonding from 2,4′-tolylene diisocyanate segment acting as a relatively strong crosslinking bond contributes to high mechanical strength, while the weaker single H-bonding from isophorone diisocyanate segment can efficiently dissipate strain energy by bond rupture, endowing the polymer with rapid room temperature self-healing ability. Featuring state-of-the-art of robust stress strength (≈1.3 MPa), high self-healing efficiency (97% within 6 h), and large tensile strain (≈2100%), the resulting polymers are used for the fabrication of stretchable and self-healable electrical sensor, which can be employed to monitor a variety of physiological activities in real time. The described strategy is promising and universal for healable materials, displaying great potential for developing soft electronics.

Huijing Ye,* Xiufen Lian,* Rongxin Chen, Yanling Zhu, Hongbin Chen, Jingxia Huang, Ling Xie, Wenfang Ma, Huasheng Yang, Wenjun Guo State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China *These authors contributed equally tothis work Purpose: This study aimed to investigate postoperative analgesia achieved with intraoperative administration of intravenous flurbiprofen axetil and nalbuphine in patients undergoing orbital decompression. Methods: Sixty-three patients undergoing orbital decompression under general anesthesia at the Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center at Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, China) were randomly allocated into one of the following three groups (1:1:1): intraoperative flurbiprofen axetil 100 mg (Group 1); intraoperative nalbuphine 0.1 mg/kg (Group 2); or intraoperative flurbiprofen axetil 100 mg combined with nalbuphine 0.1 mg/kg (Group 3). The primary end point was mean postoperative pain intensity during the first 24 hours. The secondary efficacy end points were the intensity of pain and discomfort at 0, 2, 6, 10, and 24 hours after surgery and side effects at 24 hours after surgery. Results: The demographic characteristics were similar among the three groups. Mean and peak postoperative pain scores during the first 24 hours in Group 3 were lower than those in Group 1 (P=0.007 and P=0.003, respectively) and Group 2 (P=0.001 and P=0.000, respectively). Additionally, the pain scores in Group 3 were significantly lower than those in Group 1 during the first 6 hours after surgery (P=0.003, 0.002, and 0.022 at 0, 2, and 6hours, respectively) and those in Group 2 during the first 10 hours after surgery (P=0.008, 0.000, 0.001, and 0.019 at 0, 2, 6, and 10hours, respectively). Discomfort scores were not significantly different among the three groups during the observation period, except at 2 hours after surgery, at which time the scores in Group 3 were significantly lower than those in Group 2 (P=0.033). Postoperative adverse effects and analgesic requirements were similar among the three groups. Conclusion: Intraoperative administration of a combination of intravenous flurbiprofen axetil and nalbuphine is superior to single-dose flurbiprofen axetil or nalbuphine in patients undergoing orbital decompression. Keywords: postoperative pain, flurbiprofen axetil, nalbuphine, orbital decompression

Three-dimensional graphene (3DG) aerogels possessing superior elasticity and conductivity are prerequisite to achieve high sensitivity and reliability in flexible sensors. However, conventional 3DG...

Soft electronic skins (e-skins) with superior sensing performance have attracted significant attention in numerous applications. However, most of the reported e-skins have been prepared based on an inert polymer substrate without completely considering its self-healing ability; this severely limits the practical application of these e-skins. In addition, the fabrication of most of the e-skins is conducted via photolithography and other tedious processes; therefore, it is difficult to equilibrate high sensing performance and preparation simplification. Herein, a simple and general fabrication strategy of self-healable and highly sensitive electrical sensor, consisting of a sensing component, i.e. Au-deposited toothbrush-hair micro-prick arrays, and a substrate component, i.e. a P-TDI-IP elastomer obtained via the block polymerization of polytetramethylene glycol (P), 2,4′-tolylene diisocyanate (TDI), and isophorone diisocyanate (IP), is reported. The self-healable P-TDI-IP elastomer acting as a substrate endows the reported electrical sensor with an excellent self-healing capability (96% with 6 h) and an outstanding stretchability (1200%). Importantly, due to the presence of unique micro-prick arrays, the electrical sensor could detect multiaxial tactile stimuli including pressing and shearing. Moreover, this device exhibited high sensitivities (3.32 kPa−1 for pressing, GF = 2.82 for shearing), the rapid response time of 25 ms, and the low detection limit of 5 Pa. Owing to these prominent properties, the electrical sensor presented anticipated abilities for distinguishing ultrafine surfaces with different roughnesses and monitoring various human motions.

Following the fast development of microelectronic systems, multifunctional microelectronic components featuring high sensitivity, large stretchability, and a wide sensing range have attracted a huge surge of interest. Here, pressure sensors based on a novel three-dimensional (3D) network structure are introduced, which consist of a 3D ordered reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sponge microstructure and polyaniline (PANI) nanoarrays via interfacial polymerization and hydrothermal self-assembly processes. The nano-scaled PANI arrays greatly enhance the strength and electrical conductivity of the 3D microarchitectural rGO sponge, endowing the pressure sensor with 0.77 kPa−1 of a high sensitivity within 6 kPa, a wide reliable sensing range up to 10.22 kPa, a rapid response time of 50 ms, and an excellent stability of 3000 cycles. Accordingly, a flexible pressure sensor is fabricated based on the as-prepared sponge, which can be used as a wearable device for real-time and high-accuracy detection of subtle physiological and external stimuli, as well as large motions from the facial expression of the eye, the knee, and the finger. The outstanding piezoresistive sensing performance of this pressure sensor makes it a promising candidate for developing advanced microelectronic systems.

Huijing Ye,1* Rongxin Chen,1* Xiufen Lian,1* Jingxia Huang,2 Yuxiang Mao,1 Rong Lu,1 Siming Ai,1 Wenfang Ma,1 Jingyi Lin,2 Huasheng Yang,1 Wenjun Guo2 1Department of Orbital Diseases and Ocular Oncology, State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China; 2Department of Anesthesia, State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510060, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: To evaluate patient pain and discomfort following oculoplastic surgery performed under general anesthesia and to assess key factors associated with postoperative pain and discomfort. Methods: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted among 212 consecutive patients who underwent oculoplastic surgery performed under general anesthesia. The patients were assessed according to quantified levels of pain and discomfort postoperatively. Analgesic requests were recorded, and responses were statistically analyzed. Results: Pain and discomfort after oculoplastic surgery under general anesthesia were reported by 32.1% and 28.3% of the patients, respectively; 2.8% of the patients requested analgesic medication within 18 hours after surgery. The patients who underwent orbital decompression, secondary orbital implantation, and orbital fracture repair were more likely to develop significant postoperative pain and discomfort (P

Three-dimensional (3D) graphene materials with high elasticity and low density are a prerequisite for achieving high sensitivity in flexible strain sensors. However, conventional 3D graphene materials with extremely low density often struggle to attain excellent mechanical resilience. Here, a material synthesis strategy, including self-assembly and annealing steps, is developed to fabricate a novel 3D cellular material, graphene oxide liquid crystals–konjac glucomannan, with high elasticity and low density for possible application in highly sensitive flexible strain sensors. The novel introduction of biomass, konjac glucomannan, largely enhances the elasticity of the 3D cellular structure, endowing the resulting material with a high Young's modulus of 10.3 kPa at a low density of 1.56 mg cm−3, and excellent mechanical durability for >1000 cycles. The assembled flexible strain sensor based on cellular material exhibits a particularly high sensitivity of 0.28 kPa−1, a fast response of 40 ms (rising time) and excellent cycling stability. Importantly, practical application of the sensitive strain sensor has been realized through monitoring a variety of human motion in real time, suggesting the creation of a novel candidate for applications in wearable medical devices and electronic skin.

Two new α-methoxy- γ-pyrone analogs, 2-methoxy-3-methyl-5,6-diethyl- γ-pyrone (2) and 2-methoxy-3,5-dimethyl-6-propyl- γ-pyrone (3), together with 2-methoxy-3,5-dimethyl-6-ethyl- γ-pyrone (1), firstly isolated from natural sources, were obtained from the EtOAc-solube extract of the mangrove sediment-derived actinomycete strain Streptomyces psammoticus SCSIO NS126, under the optimized fermentation conditions. Their structures were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis and by comparison of their spectroscopic data with those reported in the literature. Those α-methoxy-γ-pyrones were evaluated for their acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity; however, none of them exhibited obvious activity. Moreover, their biosynthetic relationship with piericidins was also discussed.

There is an increasing demand on the fabrication of robust, flexible, cost-effective, and eco-friendly self-supporting materials, such as yarns, fibers, papers-like, films, and monoliths, etc., due to their promising applications in flexible sensing fields. With the unique structure and outstanding properties, various functional materials with zero-dimensional, one-dimensional, and two-dimensional structures have been employed as promising building blocks for the assembly of self-supporting materials. In this chapter, the type, key parameter, and working principles of sensors are presented. Meanwhile, we summarize the sensing properties of different self-supporting materials through detailed cases. In addition, the challenges and opportunities of current sensors based on self-supporting materials are briefly discussed.

Polymeric elastomers integrated with high mechanical toughness and excellent self-healing ability can find attractive applications in electronic skin, soft robotics, and electrical devices. However, simultaneously enhancing the mechanical and self-healing properties of elastomers is still a great challenge because it is difficult to balance the effects between strong and weak cross-linking bonds. Here, a novel self-healing elastomer is developed via a one-pot polycondensation reaction between bis(3-aminopropyl)-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) and 2,4'-tolylene diisocyanate, followed by being coordinated with Al(III) ions by metal-coordination bonds. In this elastomer system, the quadruple hydrogen bonds not only are able to achieve rapid reformation after fracture but also can dissipate strain energy as a weak dynamic bond, endowing the elastomer with excellent self-healing ability and high stretchability, while the treble Al-coordination bonds acting as a strong dynamic bond contribute to the robust molecular networks, leading to the significantly improved robustness and elasticity of the self-healing elastomer. Owing to the accuracy design, the synthesized elastomer exhibits all the desired properties, including high tensile stress (2.6 MPa), exceptional toughness (∼14.7 MJ m-3), high stretchability (∼1700%), and excellent self-healing ability (90%). The robust self-healing elastomer enables the easy fabrication of flexible electronic skin, which will open a new avenue for next-generation electrical devices.

Due to the extraordinary properties of great elasticity, ultralow density, and good electrical conduction, macroporous graphene bulk materials are the promising candidate as the sensing materials for flexible electronics. Although a large number of progresses have been made, the piezoresistive effect of graphene does not completely meet requirements for various applications yet. Herein, the nitrogen-doped graphene sponge (NGS) material with well-ordered and uniform macroscopic porous structure in long range has been developed by a simple and low-cost strategy by combining hydrothermal and thermal annealing processes. The resulting NGS possesses superior properties of a low density, large elasticity with 80% of the reversible compressibility and outstanding linear elastic region (up to 30%–40%), favorable structural stability, good electrical conductivity (1.4 S m−1), as well as the outstanding sensing performances of a fine sensitivity (1.33 kP−1), low detection limit (2% strain), excellent linear sensing range (nearly 20%), long term stability (3000 cycles), and fast response (72.4 ms). Based on these prominent performances of NGS, a new type of piezoresistive sensor is fabricated, which can successfully detect the human motions from subtle deformations, including the finger bending with the bending degree of approximately 30° and the tiny pulse perturbation of the wrist joint.

This study aimed to test the hypothesis that premedication with a single dose of intranasal dexmedetomidine (DEX) could not only reduce preoperative anxiety but also minimize the emergence agitation in children undergoing cataract surgery with sevoflurane anesthesia.Single-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical comparison study.Academic medical center.Ninety American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 1 and 2 children scheduled for cataract surgery.Patients were randomized into 3 groups: group D1, group D2, and saline group (group C), in which the children received 1 or 2 μg/kg of intranasal DEX or saline, respectively, and each group comprises 30 patients.The mask induction score and the incidences of postoperative emergence agitation evaluated by the Pediatric Anesthesia Emergence Delirium scale were assessed. The emergence time, postanesthesia care unit (PACU) stay time, and any adverse events were recorded.The mask induction scores were significantly higher in the saline group than those in the D1 and D2 groups (P.001). The incidences of emergence agitation in the D1 and D2 groups were significantly lower than that in the saline group (7/30 in group D1 and 3/30 in group D2 vs 24/30 in group C, P.001). The emergence time and PACU stay time were comparable among the 3 groups (P.05). The emergence time and PACU stay time did not differ significantly in DEX-treated groups as compared with the saline group; there were no differences between 1- and 2-μg/kg groups. None of the patients exhibited significant clinical complications.Intranasal DEX (1 or 2 μg/kg) dose independently improves the incidences of mask acceptance and prevents the incidences of postoperative emergency agitation mainly from sevoflurane without delaying the emergency time or inducing severe adverse events.

Chemical investigation of the sponge Callyspongia sp . from the South China Sea afforded one new diketopiperazine , cyclo-(R-Pro-6-hydroxyl-S -Ile) (1), along with six known d iketopiperazines : staphyloamide A (2), cyclo- (S-Pro-S-Phe) (3), cyclo-(R-Pro-R-Phe) (4), cyclo- (S-Pro-R-Leu) (5 ) , cyclo-(S-Pro-R-Ala) (6), cyclo-(R-Tyr-R-Phe) (7), and three known tryptophan-derived alkaloids: C 2-α-D-mannosylpyranosyl-tryptophan (8), (1 R , 3 S )-1-methyl-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole-3-carboxylic acid (9), and (1R,3R)-1-methyl-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrido[3,4-b]indole-3-carboxylic acid (10) . The structures were determined on the basis of NMR and MS analysis , and the absolute configuration was determined by comparison of the optical rotation with the known compounds. This is the first report of compounds 1, 2 , 8–10 from the sponge Callyspongia . Cyclo- (S-Pro-R-Leu) (5 ) , and cyclo-(S-Pro-R-Ala) (6) exhibited antifouling activity against cyprid larvae of the barnacle with the LC 50 values of 3.5 μg/cm 2 and 6.0 μg/cm 2, respectively .

Three-dimensional graphene oxide-carbon nanotube (GO-CNT, abbreviated as GCNT) aerogels can find wide applications in various fields. Especially, low-density GCNT aerogels featuring both high conductivity and superelasticity are essential requirements for the construction of highly sensitive pressure sensor. However, simultaneous improvement on the electrical and mechanical properties of low-density GCNT is still a great challenge owing to their disordered microstructure, severe structural defects and massive oxygen-containing functional groups. Here, a structurally ordered and less defective GCNT aerogel featuring both high conductivity and superelasticity has been fabricated through alkali induced self-assembly of GO liquid crystals (GO LCs) and CNTs. Our methodology relies on the double roles of KOH solution as dispersant for CNTs and an inducer for the self-assembly of GO LCs nanosheets. The less-defective CNTs acting as reinforcement material contributes to the robust structure networks, leading to the significantly improved conductivity (2.4 S m

The bulk materials of three-dimensional graphene (3DG) with high network structure and excellent electrical conductivity have many potential applications in flexible electronics, but the network structure is not very stable due to weak bonding between graphene nanosheets. Here, a polyimide (PI) layer was introduced on the as-prepared 3DG sponge by vacuum infiltration–curing method. The resulting 3DG/PI composite sponges with robust 3D network structure exhibited an excellent electrical conductivity (3.7 S/cm), compression strength (175 kPa), elasticity, and flexibility, as well as outstanding compression sensitivity to resistance and stable piezoresistance effect; namely, they possess a large change in resistance in response to application of small strain and low density, and the resistance change remains favorably stable after performing 300 compress–release cycles, which means that the prepared composite sponges can find wide applications in pressure-sensing or stimulus-responsive graphene system.

Six new casbane diterpenoids, sinularcasbanes G-L (1-6, resp.) were isolated from the soft coral Sinularia sp. Their structures were established by extensive spectroscopic analyses, especially 2D-NMR and HR-ESI-MS. The configuration was confirmed by CD analyses and by comparison with data reported in the literature. The compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity against ten human cancer cell lines (H1975, U937, K562, BGC823, MOLT-4, MCF-7, A549, HeLa, HL60, and Huh-7) and showed no activity.

This study was conducted to investigate the biodegradation ability of the mixed culture of Trichoderma viride and Aspergillus niger through the study of the organic matter extracted from rice straw and the lignocellulose structure by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results of the GC-MS showed that the mixed culture possessed shorter alkane (heptane) at the end of the incubation and more kinds of organic matter (except the alkanes, 29 kinds of organic matter were detected) than the pure cultures. It could be deduced that the organic matter could indicate the degradation degree of the lignocellulose to some extent. Moreover, pinene was detected in the mixed culture on days 5 and 10, which might represent the antagonistic relationship between T. viride and A. niger. The analysis of FTIR spectrums which indirectly verified the GC-MS results showed that the mixed culture possessed a better degradation of rice straw compared with the pure culture. Therefore, the methods used in this research could be considered as effective ones to investigate the lignocellulose degradation mechanism in mixed culture.

Nanocomposites consisting of zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets were successfully fabricated by a one-pot hydrothermal method. By regulating the proportion of the precursors of the GO colloidal suspension and zirconium oxychloride (ZrOCl2) solution, ZrO2 nanoparticles with a diameter of about 5 nm were uniformly anchored onto the rGO nanosheets. The combination mechanism of ZrO2 nanoparticles fully bonded onto rGO nanosheets is the formation of the monodentate or bidentate composites between the oxygen-containing groups of GO and Zr(IV) complex ions from hydrolysis of the ZrOCl2 solution. The dispersibility and tribological properties of the prepared composites were investigated as novel lubricant additives in paraffin oil. The results suggested that the oil with a small amount of nanocomposite (0.06 wt%) exhibits good dispersibility, excellent friction-reduction and anti-wear properties as well as a high load-bearing capacity caused by the synergistic effect of the rGO nanosheets and ZrO2 nanoparticles.

[Yang, Bin; Li, Xiubao; Lin, Xiuping; Zhou, Xuefeng; Liu, Yonghong] Chinese Acad Sci, Guangdong Key Lab Marine Mat Med, CAS Key Lab Trop Marine Bioresources & Ecol, Res Ctr Marine Microbes,South China Sea Inst Ocea, Guangzhou 510301, Guangdong, Peoples R China; [Huang, Jingxia] Sun Yat Sen Univ, Zhongshan Ophthalm Ctr, Guangzhou 510060, Guangdong, Peoples R China; [Tao, Huaming] Southern Med Univ, Sch Tradit Chinese Med, Guangzhou 510515, Guangdong, Peoples R China

Malaria caused by Plasmodium parasites is amongst many prevalent public health concerns in several tropical regions of the world. Nowadays, the parasite resistance patterns to most currently used drugs in therapy and insecticides have created an urgent need for new chemical entities exhibiting new modes of action and management strategies. Fungus has been proven to be an excellent source of biologically active compounds, which have been screened for antiplasmodial activity as potential sources of new antimalarial drugs. This review summarizes the current 255 natural products from fungus, which may possess antimalarial activity and can be classified as sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, sesterterpenes, alkaloids, peptides depsipeptides, xanthones, anthraquinones, anthrones, bioxanthracenes, bixanthones, preussomerins, depsidones, phenols, trichothecenes, azaphliones, macrolides, and steroids. However, the treatments available for malaria are limited. Thus, the identification of novel antimicrobial agents should be continued, and all possible strategies should be explored. Carrying forward the antimalarial screening in exited terrestrial and marine natural products library, and finding the new natural products in new resources, particularly those living in marine environments, are still important approaches to find new antimalarial agents. Unusual marine environments are associated with chemical diversity, leading to a resource of novel active substances for the development of bioactive products. Finding new antimalarial natural products in marine fungus, particularly those living in deep-sea and special marine environments, is an important approach to identify novel active agents.

Correction for ‘Stretchable and self-healable electrical sensors with fingertip-like perception capability for surface texture discerning and biosignal monitoring’ by Xianzhang Wu et al., J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019, 7, 9008–9017.

Six new casbane diterpenoids, sinularcasbanes G-L (1-6, resp.) were isolated from the soft coral Sinularia sp. Their structures were established by extensive spectroscopic analyses, especially 2D-NMR and HR-ESI-MS. The configuration was confirmed by CD analyses and by comparison with data reported in the literature. The compounds were evaluated for cytotoxicity against ten human cancer cell lines (H1975, U937, K562, BGC823, MOLT-4, MCF-7, A549, HeLa, HL60, and Huh-7) and showed no activity.

Eight new compounds, sinulolides A–H (1–8), along with two known compounds, α-methoxy-2,3-dimethyl-butenolide (9) and sinularone D (10), were isolated from the soft coral Sinularia sp. The structures of these compounds were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic analysis. The absolute configurations were determined on the basis of electronic circular dichroism (ECD) data analysis. Compounds 5 and 10 exhibited moderate effects for the inhibition of NF-κB activation.

A multitarget tracking system based on an infrared (IR) fish-eye lens is built to satisfy urgent requirements of large-field IR, multitarget, real-time reconnaissance and tracking. Utilizing an IR fish-eye lens and a 512×512 pixel PtSi detector, the system can detect threatening targets at the whole space domain and the whole time domain. The hardware of the system based on a dual-digital signal processor is designed to implement data processing for multitarget tracking algorithms, which include a track initiation algorithm and a modified generalized probability data association algorithm. We also carried out a tracking experiment for two aerial maneuvering targets. Comparing the theoretical and experimental tracks, the availability of the system and the real-time capability of multitarget tracking are validated.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the diversity of denitrifier community during agricultural waste composting. The diversity and dynamics of the denitrifying genes (nirK and nirS) were determined using polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). Relationships between physico-chemical parameters and denitrifying genes structures were simultaneously evaluated by redundancy analysis (RDA). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that nirK clones grouped into six clusters and nirS clones into two major clusters, respectively. The results showed a very high diversity of nir gene sequences within composting samples. RDA showed that the nirK and nirS gene structures were significantly related to pH and pile temperature (P