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Abstract With the rapid development of machine learning technology, it has become possible to automatically identify cultural heritage elements in traditional buildings. This research aimed to develop a machine learning model based on the YOLOv4 architecture to identify the traditional Chinese porcelain inlay pattern in the Lingnan region. The researchers collected and annotated a large quantity of Lingnan Chinese porcelain inlay image data and then used these data to train the studied model. The research results show that (1) the model in this study was specifically adjusted to effectively identify a variety of Chinese porcelain inlay pattern types, including traditional patterns such as plum blossoms and camellias. (2) In the 116th epoch, the model showed excellent generalization ability, and the verification loss reached the lowest value of 0.88. The lowest training loss in the 195th epoch was 0.99, indicating that the model reached an optimal balance point for both recognition accuracy and processing speed. (3) By comparing different models for detecting Chinese porcelain inlay images across 581 pictures, our YOLOv4 model demonstrated greater accuracy in most classification tasks than did the YOLOv8 model, especially in the classification of chrysanthemums, where it achieved an accuracy rate of 87.5%, significantly outperforming YOLOv8 by 58.82%. However, the study also revealed that under certain conditions, such as detecting apples and pears in low-light environments, YOLOv8 showed a lower missing data rate, highlighting the limitations of our model in dealing with complex detection conditions.

In this paper, Macau Taipa Village, a historical district in an island-type city, is the research focus, and a parametric design-based method for designing historical districts is proposed. First, the shape and distribution of roads in historical districts is studied through on-the-spot investigation and measurement and data are collected on the width, depth, and area of street blocks, average street length and width, street orientation, building width, depth, acreage, and height, and building orientation. Second, the acquired data are transmitted to the Grasshopper parameterization platform, and an intelligently generated program produces calculations. Through multiple iterations and evaluations of genetic algorithms based on the needs of modern urban design and planning constraints, the building density is further reduced, and more landscape areas are added. The parametric model is optimized to gradually generate the urban spatial design that meets contemporary requirements. The research reveals that (1) the grasshopper algorithm’s generated block design inherits the characteristics of the conventional historical block. (2) The historical block where the data were collected on site and the block where Grasshopper is applied should maintain the consistency of the regional context. (3) This method can be applied to the design of new urban areas, and the scope of application can be further adjusted through collaboration and the needs of the owners at a later stage.

Abstract In computer artificial intelligence, there is great potential in research on the protection of Suzhou's traditional gardens, a world cultural heritage site. As a special material in Suzhou's traditional garden architecture, shedthin tile is widely used in roof base laying and is one of the important materials for building roofs. However, professionals need to reach the roof and spend much time and effort assessing the damage before repairing it. Therefore, the main goals of this study are to investigate a machine learning-based method for finding targets and determining the type of surface damage on a shedthin tile using the YOLOv4 model trained in this study. Using 500 shedthin tile on-site photos as training samples, the model was trained for 750 epochs. The main results of this study are as follows: (1) An object detection method based on machine learning can efficiently and accurately identify damage content, overcoming the manpower and time–cost limitations of traditional assessment methods. (2) The detection model in this study has an accuracy of 85.89% for water stain recognition of shedthin tiles, 93.29% for surface scaling, 87.37% for color aberration, and 96.15% for too wide a gap. The comprehensive accuracy is 90.20%, which meets the basic testing requirements. (3) The model demonstrated its robustness and reliability in complex environments in application tests in actual scenarios, providing a methodological reference for computer vision and target detection technology in cultural heritage protection.

ABSTRACTThis study uses Conditional Generative Adversarial Network (CGAN) to construct a method for generating floor plans for long-term care spaces in retirement home buildings to assist architects in improving interior space design. The results of this study show the following: (1) For the interior design of long-term care spaces in retirement home buildings, the CGAN model has strong understanding and calculation capabilities. The zoning layout of long-term care spaces in retirement home buildings has been completed, and the results show that the CGAN model has reference value. (2) Although there are several differences in the design of CGANs and authentic design, there are still many similarities. Some unreasonable results, such as space generation in corridors and elevator shafts, require further manual correction. (3) According to a later questionnaire survey on the satisfaction of architects and CGAN model design solutions, the difference between the two is not large, which also illustrates the great potential of CGANs for intervention in interior space design. This helps architects create more detailed plans based on the model, greatly increasing work efficiency. Moreover, additional interior space design possibilities can be explored, and to some extent, the architect’s subjective assumptions can also be corrected.

Based on historical background and geopolitical factors, Macau is closely related to Portuguese cities; Macau also currently attaches great importance to the creation of a Sino-Portuguese platform and cultural tourism to drive better economic development. This study explores a method for identifying and mining cultural tourism potential areas developed under the YOLOv4 framework and cosine similarity. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) While the YOLOv4 method shows good performance and can effectively identify the architectural texture of Portuguese cities, it may face certain difficulties if applied to newly built urban areas in Macau. (2) Through the cosine similarity method, it is found that the architectural texture slices of the three island cities of Portugal and Macau have certain similarities. The city with the highest level of similarity with Macau is Lisboa, followed by Porto and Evora, while Guimaraes has the lowest level of similarity with Macau. This finding serves as a certain reference for the subsequent construction of the cultural tourism characteristics of the region. (3) Comparing the characteristics of Macau city obtained through the cosine similarity algorithm with the city slices that have a high level of similarity in Portugal, we find the following: “street networks”, “street blocks”, squares, and open space form in the Macau Peninsula, while “street blocks” and “large-scale building complexes” form in the outlying islands. These types of spaces have different scales and can be developed in the future in conjunction with cultural tourism activities on different scales. This study applies machine learning methods to the development of urban cultural tourism potential areas, which provides new perspectives and methods for urban tourism development planning.

Geospatial technology has been extensively researched and applied in the urban spatial planning field. However, mountainous urban planning needs to consider not only the complex terrain but also the accessibility of the landscape to landmark buildings. Therefore, geospatial techniques and landscape sight analysis play important roles in formulating effective urban building height control measures. This article uses the Nanshan Temple and Nanping Academy of Classical Learning and its surrounding architectural planning as the research objects, constructs a digital elevation model through geospatial technology combined with Grasshopper parameterization, and calculates the visible area when viewed from different positions. To maintain the accessibility of the landscape to the landmark buildings, the layout, building height and location of the planning area are determined. The research shows that (1) through geospatial technology, landscape sightline analysis, linear projection and collision detection methods can be used to accurately calculate landscape sightline interruption points and occlusion areas around historical and cultural buildings. We concluded that the optimal viewshed protection range is a radius of 2000 m. (2) Compared with a design based on a surrounding height of 60 m, the method in this study increased the number of visible viewpoints by approximately 123.84%, while the number of invisible viewpoints decreased by approximately 21.03%. (3) Based on the sightline protection scope, the heights of the blocks in the protection zone are further calculated. Within a radius of 1000 m, a 52.78 m height limit of planned plots is recommended. Within a radius of 1500 m, a 40.87 m height limit of the planned plot is recommended. Within a radius of 2000 m, the height of the planned plot should be controlled at 24.79 m. Based on this, the specific building space arrangement can be reasonably formulated. (4) After optimizing the existing visual corridors in the reserve, the area of the viewsheds expanded from 13.0% to 19.1%. (5) Finally, this study also considered plant factors. The recommended height for plant landscapes is as follows. Woodland on hillsides should be reduced from the original 10–12 to 4.74–8.51 m. Garden land in flat areas should be reduced from the original 9 to 6.38–3.36 m. This study uses the geospatial technology landscape sight analysis method to reveal the impact of landscape sight on the spatial distribution of mountainous cities with cultural landmarks and, at the same time, provides a new method and strategy for the spatial planning of mountainous cities.

The Shanhaiguan Great Wall is a section of the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Both sides of its basic structure are composed of rammed earth and gray bricks. The surface gray bricks sustain damage from environmental factors, resulting in a decline in their structural quality and even a threat to their safety. Traditional surface damage detection methods rely primarily on manual identification or manual identification following unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) aerial photography, which is labor-intensive. This paper applies the YOLOv4 machine learning model to the gray surface bricks of the Plain Great Wall of Shanhaiguan as an illustration. By slicing and labeling the photos, creating a training set, and then training the model, the proposed approach automatically detects four types of damage (chalking, plants, ubiquinol, and cracking) on the surface of the Great Wall. This eliminates the need to expend costly human resources for manual identification following aerial photography, thereby accelerating the work. Through research, it is found that 1) compared with manual detection, this method can quickly and efficiently monitor a large number of wall samples in a short period of time and improve the efficiency of brick wall detection in ancient buildings. 2) Compared with previous approaches, the accuracy of the current method is improved. The identifiable types are increased to include chalking and ubiquinol, and the accuracy rate increases by 0.17% (from 85.70% before to 85.87% now). 3) This method can quickly identify the damaged parts of the wall without damaging the appearance of the historical building structure, enabling timely repair measures.

Abstract Background We present a case of pelvic paraganglioma that presented with heart failure as the primary symptom. Case presentation A 35-year-old man was admitted to hospital due to heart failure. Contrast-enhanced pelvic CT showed mass shadows in the posterior wall of the bladder and multiple enlarged lymph nodes in the retroperitoneal area. Ultrasound-guided puncture was performed, and the pathologic diagnosis was extra-adrenal paraganglioma. The patient refused any chemotherapy and died within six months of diagnosis. Conclusion The possibility of neuroendocrine-related tumors, for example paragangliomas, should be considered in young patients with heart failure, especially those with concomitant hypertension and diabetes.

Abstract Background Invasion and metastasis are hallmark characteristics of cancer and the main causes of death in cancer patients. Studies have shown that epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays significant role in tumor invasion and metastasis. Fucoxanthin, a carotenoid found in seaweeds, has been proved to have anti-tumor effects. Our study aimed to research the role of fucoxanthin on proliferation, apoptosis, migration and EMT of two types of LUAD cells. Methods Cell migration and invasion were examined by Wound-healing and Transwell assays. Western blot assay was used to detect the expression levels of apoptosis-related proteins, EMT-related proteins and β-catenin. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of β-catenin in human lung adenocarcinoma tissues and corresponding para-cancerous tissues. Results Our results revealed that fucoxanthin depressed the proliferation and induced apoptosis in A549 and NCI-H1299 cells. Moreover, fucoxanthin reversed TGF-β1-induced EMT and cell motility. Meanwhile, we disclosed that fucoxanthin and XAV939 had similar effect on β-catenin, EMT protein and cell motility. What is more, immunohistochemical results revealed that the high expression rate and abnormal expression rate of β-catenin in cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in para-cancerous tissues. Conclusion Taken together, the findings of our research highlight a novel role for fucoxanthin in NSCLC cells, which might be a potentially effective anti-tumor agent for the treatment of LUAD patients.

We report a patient in China with fever of unknown origin who visited 3 hospitals in 3 weeks and was finally given a diagnosis of acute Q fever, determined by metagenomics next-generation sequencing. Our results indicate that physicians are unfamiliar with Q fever and the disease is neglected in China.

The COVID-19 epidemic has become a global challenge, and the urban wind environment, as an important part of urban spaces, may play a key role in the spread of the virus. Therefore, an in-depth understanding of the impact of urban wind environments on the spread of COVID-19 is of great significance for formulating effective prevention and control strategies. This paper adopts the conditional generative confrontation network (CGAN) method, uses simulated urban wind environment data and COVID-19 distribution data for machine training, and trains a model to predict the distribution probability of COVID-19 under different wind environments. Through the application of this model, the relationship between the urban wind environment and the spread of COVID-19 can be studied in depth. This study found that: (1) there are significant differences in the different types of wind environments and COVID-19, and areas with high building density are more susceptible to COVID-19 hotspots; (2) the distribution of COVID-19 hotspots in building complexes and the characteristics of the building itself are correlated; and (3) similarly, the building area influences the spread of COVID-19. In response to long COVID-19 or residential area planning in the post-epidemic era, three principles can be considered for high-density cities such as Macau: building houses on the northeast side of the mountain; making residential building layouts of “strip” or “rectangular” design; and ensuring that the long side of the building faces southeast (the windward side). (4) It is recommended that the overall wind speed around the building be greater than 2.91 m/s, and the optimal wind speed is between 4.85 and 8.73 m/s. This finding provides valuable information for urban planning and public health departments to help formulate more effective epidemic prevention and control strategies. This study uses machine learning methods to reveal the impact of urban wind environments on the distribution of COVID-19 and provides important insights into urban planning and public health strategy development.

In this study, a new quantifiable and refined urban street color analysis method was proposed by combining professional color cards and efficient software color recognition, which solved the problems of low efficiency and difficulty in the quantification of urban color research and analysis. The research mainly uses China Building Color Card (CBCC) and Python (use programs for the HSV color segmentation of pictures) and other software to carry out color recognition for a street view. From the aspects of color composition, type, proportion, visual level, and color sequence of the street facade, this article makes a quantitative analysis of the color of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro in Macao from multiple angles. The method of combining color card colorimetry with computer color recognition, which not only considers the inherent color of the building but also includes the color situation under the influence of the environment, can express the “actual color situation” of the building more completely. This article quantifies, combs, summarizes, and compares architectural color and environmental color completely. This method has good universality and ease of use in practice, and the conclusion of the study can provide a reference for the color planning of Macao, the color selection of urban renewal has reference significance, and provide a new method for the study of urban color.

Summary: Gram-negative bacteria contain an asymmetric outer membrane, in which the outer leaflet is composed of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS, a drug target of polymyxin, plays an essential role in drug resistance, biofilm formation, and pathogenesis. An important inner membrane protein, YciM, may be responsible for the regulation of LPS biosynthesis and transport. Here, we report the crystal structure of YciM from Salmonella typhimurium in a complex with a non-specifically bond molecule, an ethylene glycol, which identified a tunnel that could bind lipids. Our in vitro assays showed that YciM could bind lipid molecules with affinity in the micromolar range, while mutagenic and functional studies confirmed that lipid-binding residues are critical for the function of YciM. Additionally, our data also showed that YciM accurately regulates LPS biosynthesis and transport with YciS, which could help to better understand the regulation mechanism of LPS.

Both long-term exposure to air pollution and abnormal fasting blood glucose (FBG) are linked to dyslipidemia prevalence. However, the joint role of air pollution and FBG on dyslipidemia remains unknown clearly. In this study, we aimed to test whether abnormal FBG could enhance the risks of long-term exposure to air pollutants on dyslipidemia in general Chinese adult population. The present study recruited 8917 participants from 4 cities in Hebei province, China. Participants' individual exposure to air pollutants was evaluated by the Empirical Bayesian Kriging statistical model in ArcGIS10.2 geographic information system. Dyslipidemia was defined according to Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Dyslipidemia in Chinese Adults. Subjects were grouped into normal, prediabetes, diabetes according to FBG level. Generalized linear models were applied to analyze the interaction of air pollutants and FBG on dyslipidemia prevalence. The prevalence of dyslipidemia was 43.83% in our investigation. After adjusting all covariates, we found the risk of four air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2) on dyslipidemia prevalence was stronger as higher FBG level, and the adjusted odd ratio of interaction (ORinter (95% CI)) between PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2 and FBG levels on dyslipidemia was 1.171 (1.162, 1.189), 1.119 (1.111, 1.127), 1.124 (1.115, 1.130), 1.107 (1.098, 1.115), respectively. Stratified analyses indicated the modifying effects of FBG on the association of air pollution with dyslipidemia were stronger among male, less than 65 years old, overweight/obesity (all Pinter

BackgroundInulin-type fructans (ITF) have been used as prebiotics to alleviate glucose and lipid metabolism disorders. However, few studies evaluated the microbial mechanism of ITF in improving maternal metabolic status during pregnancy.MethodsC57BL/6J mice were fed a high-fat/sucrose diet (HFD) for 4 weeks before and throughout pregnancy to induce a model of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Body weight, glycolipid metabolic parameters, and fecal short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) were assessed in the experimental process. The effects of ITF on the fecal microbiota were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.ResultsPregnant HFD-fed mice displayed significant insulin resistance and dyslipidemia. ITF (3.33 g/kg/day) treatment improved glucose and lipid metabolism disorder parameters in HFD-induced GDM mice and alleviated fat accumulation and glucose intolerance. The alpha diversity of the gut microbial community was increased in ITF mice, while the beta diversity returned to the level of normal chow diet (NCD) mice. Interestingly, Verrucomicrobia, Bifidobacterium, and Akkermansia were obviously enriched, while Dubosiella was obviously lessened after inulin treatment. Further analysis indicated that Dubosiella was positively correlated with markers of glycolipid metabolism disorders, whereas the ITF-supplemented diet partially reversed the changes.ConclusionOur results suggest that the ITF treatment may alleviate glucose and lipid metabolism disorders with the mediation of gut microbiota.

Non-structural carbohydrates (NSCs), including soluble sugar (SS) and starch (ST), are essential for the growth and survival of plants. However, few studies have investigated the effects of phenology, needle age, and life history together on NSCs. We measured NSCs of leaves for 120 Pinus koraiensis individuals of various sizes (0.3–100 cm diameter at breast height, DBH) across needle age and during three leaf development periods to evaluate the effects of phenology, needle age, and life history on NSCs. Concentration ranges were 6.60–12.07, 2.38–8.90 and 10.97–16.18 g·100 g−1 dry mass for SS, ST, and NSC, respectively. Needle age accounted for most of the variations (42.2%-84.4%) of NSCs, followed by phenology (9.2%-46.8%), while life history accounted for only a small proportion. In general, NSC reached its maximum value during the leaf unfolding period and the shift between SS and ST occurred during the leaf fall period. The slope of NSC with phenology generally increased with increasing needle age (absolute value). With increasing needle age, NSC and its components showed gradual upward trends. The slope of NSC with needle age decreased with leaf development (except during the leaf fall period). Life history had significant effects on NSCs in the leaf fall period for both current year and perennial needles, and in the leaf unfolding period only for the current year needles. Needle age significantly affected the correlations of NSC and SS (or ST) only at the leaf unfolding period. Phenology had significant effects on the correlations of NSC and SS (or ST) only for current year needle. Our results clearly showed that the variations of NSC and its components were highly dependent on needle age, followed by phenology. Unexpectedly, the effects of life history on NSCs were much less than those of needle age and phenology. Therefore, needle age and phenology dominate over life history in influencing NSCs, and the ecological significance of NSCs variations need to be reconsidered by effects of incorporating needle age and phenology.

Abstract Vaginitis is very common among women, especially women of childbearing age, and is associated with significantly increased risk of preterm birth and pelvic inflammatory diseases. An imbalance in the vaginal flora, the primary cause of vaginitis, promotes the initiation and progression of vaginal infections. However, the responsible mechanisms are still poorly understood. Using a murine vaginitis model of Escherichia coli infection, we demonstrated that decreased expression of microRNA1976 and increased expression of CD105 and integrin αvβ6 were closely associated with the progression of vaginal infection. Importantly, we demonstrated for the first time that the microRNA1976/CD105/integrin αvβ6 axis regulates E. coli-mediated vaginal infection in mice, as evidenced by the finding that E. coli-induced vaginal infection was reversed by microRNA1976 overexpression and exacerbated by CD105 overexpression. The regulation of CD105 and integrin αvβ6 by microRNA1976 was further confirmed in a murine model of vaginitis with adenoviral vector treatment. Taken together, our data suggested that microRNA1976 negatively regulates E. coli-induced vaginal infection in mice at least in part by suppressing CD105 and integrin αvβ6 expression. These findings may provide new insight into the mechanisms of E. coli-induced vaginitis, identify a novel diagnostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic target for flora imbalance-associated vaginitis.

The rapid growth of the geriatric population in industrial societies is expected to increase the demand for prosthetic implants. Unfortunately, current products exhibit shortcomings such as inadequate sizing or excessive material strength both of which hamper the recovery of fractures. Selective laser melting (SLM), as a manufacturing method, is highly suited for optimizing the geometry and topology of products. However, SLM however, seems to restrict the manufacturing precision to mostly horizontal printing which is inefficient when considering the build envelope. Additionally, certain elongated geometries are subject to warpage when printed horizontally. To address these issues, our study investigated the feasibility of vertically oriented porous structures using SLM. It will report on two specific deficiencies, namely slanting and cluttering, that were revealed through X-ray computer tomography. To facilitate the manufacturing of slender, porous structures, the paper will offer and examine heuristics that minimize the defects. The preliminary results indicate that structures such as shell reinforcements and bio-inspired unit cells reduce the occurrence of slanting and cluttering and might serve as interim solutions for the printing of large filigree structures. The general findings suggest that more dedicated research is necessary to understand the relationship between geometrical features and manufacturing precision in SLM.

Abstract Background Canine distemper (CD) is an acute infectious disease with high morbidity rates caused by a highly contagious pathogen (Canine Morbillivirus, also known as canine distemper virus, CDV). CDV can infect a broad range of carnivores resulting in complex clinical signs. Currently, there is no effective method to treat for CDV infections. Favipiravir (T-705), a pyrazine derivative, was shown to be an effective antiviral drug against RNA viruses, acting on RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp). However, whether the T-705 has antiviral effects following CDV infection is unclear. Here, we investigated the antiviral effect of T-705 against CDV-3 and CDV-11 strains in Vero and DH82 cell lines. Results Our data demonstrated that T-705 significantly inhibited the replication of CDV-3 and CDV-11 in both Vero and DH82 cells at different concentrations, ranging from 2.441 μg/ml to 1250 μg/ml. Additionally, T-705 exhibited efficacious antiviral effects when administered at different time points after virus infection. Cytotoxicity tests showed a slight decline in viability in Vero cells after T-705 treatment, and no apparent cytotoxicity was detected in T-705 treated DH82 cells. Comparison of anti-CDV polyclonal serum only inhibition of CDV in supernatant, T-705 directly inhibited viral replication in cells, and indirectly reduced the amount of virions in supernatant. The combination application of T-705 and anti-CDV polyclonal serum exhibited a rapid and robust inhibition against virions in supernatant and virus replication in cells. Conclusions Our data strongly indicated that T-705 effectively inhibited viral replication following CDV infection in vitro, and could be a potential candidate for treatment for CD.

The stereo matching technology has been widely used nowadays for robot guidance, depth of field rendering, and video processing applications. The binocular stereo matching technology collects two images of the same scene from different views, computes the disparity, and then determines the 3-D depth of the object using the triangulation theory. In this paper, we propose a new deep-learning-based stereo matching algorithm called convolutional neural network WTADP (CNN-WTADP). The commonly used WTA method ignores the disparity constraint of the neighboring pixels and is prone to be affected by noise, so the obtained original disparity map may contain a lot of abnormal values and mismatched points. To solve this problem, we construct a CNN for matching cost computation and use a novel global method of dynamic programming based on WTA for disparity selection. Steps for the CNN-based computation of the matching cost are presented, and the post-processing algorithm is used to obtain the final determination of the disparity map. The Middlebury stereo dataset and stereo evaluation are used to compare the proposed algorithm with other methods. The experiments and its results demonstrate the ability of the proposed algorithm to match the images more effectively.

Depth image-based rendering (DIBR) is one of the main techniques in interactive 3D video systems. But a critical problem of DIBR is that how to eliminate the holes appearing in virtual view images. In this paper, an improved depth image based virtual view synthesis algorithm is proposed. In depth map pre-processing, only local areas of the depth map with sudden changes are pre-processed by the asymmetric filter. After this, we combine the forward and inverse 3D-warping to synthesize the virtual view. Firstly, it warps the left image to the virtual view and then only reversely warps the region of the holes in the virtual view to the right view to get the lost information of holes. Compared with the traditional method which have to warp the two whole images, computation cost can be reduced by 30% efficiently. Finally, we employ an improved image inpainting based on depth information to fill hole regions. We have improved the method in two portions: 1) depth information is added to the priority computation and searching the best matching patch and 2) as the filling proceeds, the confidence term of the newly inpainted pixels is updated with the mean square error (MSE) of pixels in the target matching patch and the source matching patch. Experimental results show significant objective and subjective gains of the proposed method in comparison to the reference methods.

Emerging evidence demonstrated that traffic-related air pollution induced adverse effects on cardiovascular system. We designed a population-based cross-sectional study to explore the association between residential proximity to major roadways, traffic density and the prevalence of valvular heart disease (VHD). A total of 34040 subjects from a Rural Health Project between 2013 and 2018 were collected. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 4158 participants were enrolled in the final analysis. And we calculated the subjects’ proximity to major roadways and collected the traffic density on the major roadways. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) was performed to diagnose the VHD, according to the current AHA/ACC (the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology) guidelines. Differences between groups were examined by the one-way ANOVAs for continuous variables and the chi-square tests for categorical variables. A logistic regression models were used to assess the associations. The stratified analysis by age and sex were conducted to further analyze the association. The restricted cubic spline analysis was performed to further evaluate the association between road way distance and VHD. Bonferroni test was used to adjust the significance level. The subjects closer to the major roads had the higher risk of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) (odds risk, OR = 1.519, 95% confidence intervals, 95%CI: 1.058-2.181), especially in female. The risk of VHD was positive (high traffic density VS low traffic density, OR = 1.799, 95%CI: 1.221-2.651), especially in female. In addition, the high traffic density was associated with the risk of mitral regurgitation (MR) (OR = 1.758, 95%CI: 1.085-2.848). The restricted cubic spline analysis found a threshold distance of about 300 m, where had the lowest risk of VHD, aortic regurgitation (AR), MR, TR. Our results found a positive association between traffic-related air pollution and VHD especially in female.

Chemotherapy is widely used to treat cancer. The toxic effect of conventional chemotherapeutic drugs on healthy cells leads to serious toxic and side effects of conventional chemotherapy. The application of nanotechnology in tumor chemotherapy can increase the specificity of anticancer agents, increase the killing effect of tumors, and reduce toxic and side effects. Currently, a variety of formulations based on nanoparticles (NPs) for delivering chemotherapeutic drugs have been put into clinical use, and several others are in the stage of development or clinical trials. In this review, after briefly introducing current cancer chemotherapeutic methods and their limitations, we describe the clinical applications and advantages and disadvantages of several different types of NPs-based chemotherapeutic agents. We have summarized a lot of information in tables and figures related to the delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs based on NPs and the design of NPs with active targeting capabilities.

The development of a safe and efficient multivalent vaccine has great prospects for application. Both rabies virus (RABV) and canine distemper virus (CDV) are highly infectious antigens, causing lethal diseases in domestic dogs and other carnivores worldwide. In this study, a replication-deficient human adenovirus 5 (Ad5)-vectored vaccine, rAd5-G-H, expressing RABV glycoprotein (G) and CDV hemagglutinin (H) protein was constructed. The RABV G and CDV H protein of rAd5-G-H were expressed and confirmed in infected HEK-293 cells by indirect immunofluorescence assay. The rAd5-G-H retained a homogeneous icosahedral morphology similar to rAd5-GFP under an electron microscope. A single dose of 108 GFU of rAd5-G-H administered to mice by intramuscular injection elicited rapid and robust neutralizing antibodies against RABV and CDV. Flow cytometry assays indicated that the dendritic cells and B cells in inguinal lymph nodes were significantly recruited in rAd5-G-H-immunized mice in comparison with the mock and rAd5-GFP groups. rAd5-G-H also activated the Th1- and Th2-mediated cell immune responses against RABV and CDV in mice, which contributed to 100% survival of a lethal-dose RABV challenge without any clinical signs. In foxes, a single dose of 109 GFU of rAd5-G-H could elicit high levels of neutralizing antibodies against both RABV and CDV in comparison with the mock and rAd5-GFP groups. All foxes in the rAd5-GFP and mock groups died, while the foxes inoculated with rAd5-G-H all survived and showed no clinical signs of disease after being challenged with a lethal wild-type CDV strain. These results suggested that rAd5-G-H has great potential as a bivalent vaccine against rabies and canine distemper in highly susceptible dogs and wildlife animals.

Both severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS) and rabies are severe zoonotic diseases. As co-hosts of rabies virus (RABV) and SFTS virus (SFTSV), dogs and cats could not only be infected but also transmit the virus to human. Hence, developing a bivalent vaccine against both SFTS and rabies is urgently needed. In this study, we generated a recombinant replication-deficient human adenovirus type 5 (Ad5) co-expressing RABV G and SFTSV Gn (Ad5-G-Gn) and evaluated its immunogenicity and efficacy in mice. Ad5-G-Gn immunization activated more dendritic cells (DCs) and B cells in lymph nodes (LNs) and induced Th1-/Th2-mediated responses in splenocytes, leading to robust production of neutralizing antibodies against SFTSV and RABV. In addition, single dose of Ad5-G-Gn conferred mice complete protection against lethal RABV challenge and significantly reduced splenic SFTS viral load. Therefore, our data support further development of Ad5-G-Gn as a potential bivalent vaccine candidate against SFTS and rabies for dog and cat use.

Background: Environmental pollution seriously damages not only the ecosystem but also the well-being of residents. There is an association between air pollution and residential health expenditures. The aim of this study was to identify the association between pollution control and residents’ health expenditures. Methods: Using the pilot project of the regional cooperative pollution control in 28 cities required by the Chinese government as the quasi-natural experiment setting and the panel data of residents’ health expenditures in China from 2014 to 2017, the impact of pollution control on residents’ health expenditures was systematically explored through difference-in-difference approach. Results: Air quality of the 28 cities that adopted the regional cooperative pollution control policy improves significantly, thus indicating that this policy effectively solves the self-interest issue of local governments in pollution control, and residents’ health expenditures consequently decrease. Conclusion: This study enriches the paradigm that analyzes the relationship between air pollution and residents’ health expenditures and reveals the mechanism through which the regional cooperative pollution control reduces residents’ health expenditures.

Additive manufacturing of stainless steel is becoming increasingly accessible, allowing for the customisation of structure and surface characteristics; there is little guidance for the post-processing of these metals. We carried out this study to ascertain the effects of various combinations of post-processing methods on the surface of an additively manufactured stainless steel 316L lattice. We also characterized the nature of residual surface particles found after these processes via energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Finally, we measured the surface roughness of the post-processing lattices via digital microscopy. The native lattices had a predictably high surface roughness from partially molten particles. Sandblasting effectively removed this but damaged the surface, introducing a peel-off layer, as well as leaving surface residue from the glass beads used. The addition of either abrasive polishing or electropolishing removed the peel-off layer but introduced other surface deficiencies making it more susceptible to corrosion. Finally, when electropolishing was performed after the above processes, there was a significant reduction in residual surface particles. The constitution of the particulate debris as well as the lattice surface roughness following each post-processing method varied, with potential implications for clinical use. The work provides a good base for future development of post-processing methods for additively manufactured stainless steel.

A granule-based simultaneous nitrification, anammox, and denitrification process in a membrane bioreactor (SNAD-MBR) was performed to investigate the influence of in-situ NaClO backwashing on biological performance and membrane fouling. First, the limit of the NaClO concentration for the SNAD granules was determined (20 mg/g·SS) in a short-term batch test. Then, three in-situ NaClO backwashing strategies (NaClO concentrations of 5-15 mg/g·SS with backwashing frequencies of 1/10-1/30 min) were implemented during long-term SNAD-MBR process. The results showed that the removal efficiencies of total nitrogen (TN) and chemical oxygen demand decreased from 92.69% and 94.19% to 81.82% and 85.39%, respectively, with an increase in the NaClO concentration in spite of a reduction in backwashing frequency. The deterioration of the biological performance could be explained by the inhibitory activities of the functional bacteria after long-term exposure to NaClO. Nevertheless, the stable contributions of autotrophic and heterotrophic processes to TN removal (Eanammox of 91.23%, Edenitrification of 8.77%) indicated a negligible impact of NaClO backwashing on the balance of the nitrogen removal pathways. Furthermore, membrane fouling was significantly suppressed when in-situ NaClO backwashing was performed with a relatively high frequency (1/1-10/20min) and a low concentration (5-10 mg/g·SS). However, a higher NaClO concentration (15 mg/g·SS) exacerbated membrane fouling, although the backwashing frequency was low. Meanwhile, the high fouling potential of the SNAD granules resulted from the high production of soluble microbial products (especially tryptophan protein-like substances) under NaClO stress. The possible underlying mechanism was the trade-off between the membrane scrubbing effect by NaClO and the variable physico-chemical properties of the SNAD granules. The optimal in-situ NaClO backwashing strategy that considered the process performance, membrane fouling, and permeate production was a NaClO concentration of 15 mg/g·SS and a backwashing frequency of 1/20 min. The results provide guidance for in-situ NaClO backwashing of the SNAD-MBR process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preparation process of soy hull nanocellulose hydrogel was optimized by Box-Behnken response surface. The structure and properties of soy hull nanocellulose hydrogel were studied. On the basis of single factor experiment, the preparation process of soy hull nanocellulose hydrogel was optimized through response surface with three factors and three levels when the maximum stress was used as the index. The structure and properties of soy hull nanocellulose hydrogel were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X ray polycrystalline diffractometer, scanning electron microscopy, UV spectrophotometer, etc. The optimal process parameters were as follows: gelling temperature 191 ℃, freezing time 102 h, CaCl2 concentration 7%. Under this condition, the actual maximum stress of soy hull nanocellulose hydrogel was 84.11 kPa, which was close to the predicted value of 83.7 kPa. The nanocellulose of soy hull/sodium alginate/CaCl2 (SCNFs/SA/CaCl2) hydrogel showed uniform 3D network structure, excellent tensile performance (elongation at break was 220%), mechanical strength (83.97 kPa), transmittance (82%), and electrical conductivity (1.58 S/cm). The SCNFs/SA/CaCl2 hydrogel also had excellent mechanical strength and fatigue resistance after five cycles of stretching, so the service life of hydrogel was increased. This study provides a new method for preparing a tough, transparent, conductive and fatigue-resistant nanocellulose hydrogel.

Abstract The regulatory significance of ubiquitin-specific peptidase 32 (USP32) in tumor is significant, nevertheless, the biological roles and regulatory mechanisms of USP32 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. According to our research, USP32 was strongly expressed in NSCLC cell lines and tissues and was linked to a bad prognosis for NSCLC patients. Interference with USP32 resulted in a significant inhibition of NSCLC cell proliferation, migration potential, and EMT development; on the other hand, USP32 overexpression had the opposite effect. To further elucidate the mechanism of action of USP32 in NSCLC, we screened H1299 cells for interacting proteins and found that USP32 interacts with BAG3 (Bcl2-associated athanogene 3) and deubiquitinates and stabilizes BAG3 in a deubiquitinating activity-dependent manner. Functionally, restoration of BAG3 expression abrogated the antitumor effects of USP32 silencing. Furthermore, USP32 increased the phosphorylation level of the RAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway in NSCLC cells by stabilizing BAG3. In summary, these findings imply that USP32 is critical to the development of NSCLC and could offer a theoretical framework for the clinical diagnosis and management of NSCLC patients in the future.