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The article focuses on the emergence pattern of Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) in corn fields under the influence of management operations, particularly tillage. Topics include the significance of predicting weed emergence time for integrated weed management, the impact of tillage on weed communities, and the invasive nature of Johnson grass, a C4 perennial weed.

Byline: E. Bagherizadeh, M. Oveisi, Z. Hadipour, A. Saremi, Y. Shafaghati, F. Behjati Amniocentesis was carried out at 17 weeks gestation in a 27-year-old woman, following an abnormal maternal serum [...]

Scale down robots with propeller propulsion mechanisms are promising tools for minimally invasive surgery, diagnosis, targeted therapy, drug delivery and removing material from human body. Understanding the movement of micro robots inside fluid-filled channels is essential for design and control of reduced robots inside arteries and conduits of living organisms. Three-dimensional governing partial differential equations of the fluid flow, Stokes equations, are solved with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to predict velocities of robots, which are compared with experiments for validation, and to analyze effects of blade number, pitch and the radial position of the robot on its swimming speed, forces acting on the robot and efficiency. There are emerging applications for standalone embedded systems where devices are required to operate for very long time with the minimum battery maintenance after the deployment. Examples include wireless sensor networks, environmental monitoring, surveillance, civil infrastructure and industrial control. Energy harvesting has emerged as an innovative way to keep small stationary hardware platforms running unattended for years or even decades. This paper analyzes blood flow as feasible energy source to meet the energy needs of a wireless sensor network node. We provide a detailed model and characterization of the micro blood turbine and an effective power-saving architecture to control the harvesting circuit. The optimized design of the blood flow harvester outperforms the ones proposed in literature within an overall volume below 300 cm3 . A highly efficient buck-boost converter is the core of the optimal power point tracking circuit and experimental results show that the blood generator works at its maximum efficiency over a wide range of operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timely herbicide application is a key factor in herbicide efficiency that may provide some possibility of reducing herbicide dose. Field experiments were conducted to study the interactive effect of dose of the herbicide mesosulfuron-methyl and application timing on the control of Bromus japonicas in wheat. Herbicide application timings were based on Zadoks growth stages of wheat. An empirical model was developed for deciding herbicide dose. Relationships between herbicide dose and weed biomass were described with the standard dose-response model at each application time. Parameter estimates suggested a linear increase in parameters W0 (weed biomass with no herbicide treatment) and ED50 (herbicide dose required for 50% reduction in W0) with thermal time. A combined dose-response ( CDR) model, with W0 and ED50 being replaced by their linear relationships with thermal time, was used for weed biomass prediction. CDR was incorporated into the rectangular hyperbolic relationship to predict wheat yield with different herbicide doses and application timings simultaneously. The combined model was rearranged to give the minimum dose required to restrict weed competition and achieve an acceptable wheat yield. For example, to obtain a wheat grain yield of 4.4 kg h−1 (90% of the potential yield), the model suggests 75% of the recommended dose, if herbicide is applied prior to tillering. With delayed herbicide application to wheat jointing, the respective amount of wheat yield is achieved with herbicide rates higher than the recommended dose. The model developed in this study can be used to decide herbicide dose for controlling B. japonicus based on application timing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sesame seed (sesamum indicum L.) is one of the world's most important and oldest oilseed crops with a high level content of antioxidant known to human health. The antioxidant factors responsible for the stability of roasted sesame seeds is highly affected by the conditions of the roasting process. Survey of the roasting temperature and time effects on antioxidants and total phenolic content in Iranian sesame seeds was the aim of this investigation. Spectrophotometer methods based on folin-ciocalteau reagent for determination of total phenolic content (TPC) and Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power assay (FRAP) technique for total antioxidant activity were used before and after different roasting processes. Some of 8 Iranian sesame seeds cultivares were studied (n = 160), including Branching Naz, Non Branching Naz, Dezful, Darab, Karaj, Moghan, Varamin and Black sesame.The range of FRAP values was between 0.301±0.029μM and 1.746±0.083μM in Moghan and Branching Naz seasem seed cultivares, respectively. The FRAP value increased from 0.974±0.095 μ M in unroasted Branching Naz as a control to 1.746±0.083 μ M after roasting in 200°C for 20min. Also TPCs increased significantly as the roasting temperature. The amount of TPC varied in different sesame cultivars from 20.109±3.967 μ M to 129.300±3.493 μ M in Varamin and Branching Naz sesame seed cultivares, respectively; also TPC increased from 70.953±5.863 μ M in unroasted Branching Naz sesame seed as a control to 129.300±3.493 μ M after roasting in 200°C for 20 min .Branching Naz seasem seed cultivare was at the highest level in total antioxidants and total phenolic contents in comparison to other samples; however Moghan and Varamin cultivares were at the lowest level in total antioxidants and total phenolic contents, respectively. The present study showed that Iranian sesame seed can be considered as a good source of natural antioxidant specially after roasting. The optimum temperature and time roasting to obtain the most antioxidants and total phenolic content was 200°C for 20 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and purpose of the study: The acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common clinical disorder caused by injury to the alveolar epithelial and endothelial barriers of lung. In ARDS patients, oxidative stress is increased and plasma antioxidant levels are reduced. Vitamin E has an important role in antioxidant defense mechanisms. In this study the effect of vitamin E on decrease of APACHE II score in ARDS patients was investigated. Materials and methods: Twenty patients [mean (SE): age = 51.2 ± 6.41 years] with ARDS were enrolled. After diagnosis based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, ten patients as treatment group received 600 IU vitamin E daily intramuscularly. Control group received normal saline as placebo. Plasma samples and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score were obtained before administration, 4hrs and 12hrs after each intervention and repeated three days for each patient. Results were analyzed by use of an SPSS software package with a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results: Significant changes were observed in APACHE II score from first to seventh measurement (p=0.0001) in treatment group, but vitamin E concentration altered significantly in only first to seventh measurement (p= 0.019). Conclusion: From the results of this study, it seems that the use of vitamin E as a lipidsoluble antioxidant along with other supportive measures is beneficial in decreasing APACHE II score in ARDS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green tea is one of the important sources of bioactive compounds which have been used in folk medicine for many centuries. This study aimed to compare in vitro antioxidant power of different types of green tea (Camellia sinensis). Antioxidant activity of methanolic (50%) extracts of five green tea samples was investigated according to Ferric reducing ability power method. Total phenolic contents were analyzed using a spectrophotometric technique, based on the Folin-ciocalteau reagent, and calculated as gallic acid equivalents per gram dry weight. Total flavonoid and antocyanidin were also investigated according to aluminum chloride and vanillin colorimetric assay respectively. Total antioxidant activity varied from 0.554±0.042 in Avicen green tea sample to 3.082±0.150 mmoL FeH/g in Chinas green tea and total phenolic content ranged from the 0.030±0.001 in Avicen green tea sample to 0.196±0.012 g gallic acid per gram dry weight in Ahmad green tea. A linear positive relationship existed between the antioxidant activity, total phenolic, flavonoid and antocyanidin content of the tested green tea samples. Green tea samples possess relatively high antioxidant activity due to contribution of phenolic compounds. The present study showed that green tea samples which are more frequently consumed in Iran are strong radical scavengers and can be considered as good sources of natural antioxidants for medicinal and commercial uses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osteoporosis is a disease of high prevalence with increased bone loss. Free radicals have been proved to be involved in bone resorption. Glutathione reductase (GR) plays an essential role in cell defense against reactive oxygen metabolites by sustaining the reduced status of an important antioxidant, glutathione. In the present study GR activity of plasma as an antioxidant enzyme in relation to Bone Mineral Density (BMD) was investigated. Material and Method: GR activity was measured spectrophotometrically at 339 nm in 138 women. Participants were selected by inclusion and exclusion criteria from those who were referred to Jamie Clinic in Tehran for BMD evaluation. Results: Plasma activity of GR (Mean± SD) was: 64.44 ± 37.68 U/L in the control group, 75.49 ± 54.84 U/L in the total patients [(mild Osteopenia + severe Osteopenia and Osteoporosis) (Tscore <-1)] and 80.48 ± 61.91 U/L in the patients with severe Osteopenia and Osteoporosis respectively (Tscore <-1.7). Conclusion: The results show that plasma activity of GR in patients with bone deficiency was higher than the control group, The difference was more pronounced between controls and the patients with severe Osteopenia and Osteoporosis, than those differences between controls and the total patients. Femur Tscore adjustment with age and BMI showed significant negative correlation with the plasma activity of GR in all subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oxidative desulphurization (ODS) of gasoline and model compounds that exist in gasoline with hydrogen peroxide using (N(But)4)5H4PV6Mo6O40 as a scavenger has been studied. This keggin-type polyoxometalate was shown to be able to scavenge hydrogen sulphide and mercaptans in high yields. This system provides an efficient, convenient and practical method for scavenging sulphur compounds. This quaternary ammonium keggin type polyoxometalate ((N(But)4)5H4PV6Mo6O40) which has lipophilic cation can better act as phase transfer agent and better transfer the peroxometal anion into organic phase. That is, the oxidation reactivity of the catalysts depends on the type of countercation: ((C4H9)4N) + > NH4+ > K+.

The total vitamin C content in human plasma is widely accepted as an indicator of the tissue status of vitamin C. A liquid chromatography method with ultraviolet detector (264 nm) for measuring ascorbic acid in human plasma was developed. A C18 reversed-phase column and cetrimide as an ion-pairing agent was employed. Ascorbic acid (AA) was measured after reducing L-dehydroascorbic acid to L-ascorbic acid with dithiothreitol. The stability of the ascorbic acid in plasma, metaphosphoric acid and trichloroacetic acid was also evaluated. The analytical parameters, including linearity (1-60 µg/ml), accuracy (98.98%), repeatability (2.8%) and reproducibility (7.2%), showed that the method is reliable for measuring the total vitamin C content in plasma.

This study investigated the impact of ComBat harmonization on the reproducibility of radiomic features extracted from magnetic resonance images (MRI) acquired on different scanners, using various data acquisition parameters and multiple image pre-processing techniques using a dedicated MRI phantom. Four scanners were used to acquire an MRI of a nonanatomic phantom as part of the TCIA RIDER database. In fast spin-echo inversion recovery (IR) sequences, several inversion durations were employed, including 50, 100, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500, and 3000 ms. In addition, a 3D fast spoiled gradient recalled echo (FSPGR) sequence was used to investigate several flip angles (FA): 2, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 degrees. Nineteen phantom compartments were manually segmented. Different approaches were used to pre-process each image: Bin discretization, Wavelet filter, Laplacian of Gaussian, logarithm, square, square root, and gradient. Overall, 92 first-, second-, and higher-order statistical radiomic features were extracted. ComBat harmonization was also applied to the extracted radiomic features. Finally, the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and Kruskal-Wallis's (KW) tests were implemented to assess the robustness of radiomic features. The number of non-significant features in the KW test ranged between 0-5 and 29-74 for various scanners, 31-91 and 37-92 for three times tests, 0-33 to 34-90 for FAs, and 3-68 to 65-89 for IRs before and after ComBat harmonization, with different image pre-processing techniques, respectively. The number of features with ICC over 90% ranged between 0-8 and 6-60 for various scanners, 11-75 and 17-80 for three times tests, 3-83 to 9-84 for FAs, and 3-49 to 3-63 for IRs before and after ComBat harmonization, with different image pre-processing techniques, respectively. The use of various scanners, IRs, and FAs has a great impact on radiomic features. However, the majority of scanner-robust features is also robust to IR and FA. Among the effective parameters in MR images, several tests in one scanner have a negligible impact on radiomic features. Different scanners and acquisition parameters using various image pre-processing might affect radiomic features to a large extent. ComBat harmonization might significantly impact the reproducibility of MRI radiomic features., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Notwithstanding the encouraging results of previous studies reporting on the efficiency of deep learning (DL) in COVID-19 prognostication, clinical adoption of the developed methodology still needs to be improved. To overcome this limitation, we set out to predict the prognosis of a large multi-institutional cohort of patients with COVID-19 using a DL-based model., Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of deep privacy-preserving federated learning (DPFL) in predicting COVID-19 outcomes using chest CT images., Methods: After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, 3055 patients from 19 centers, including 1599 alive and 1456 deceased, were enrolled in this study. Data from all centers were split (randomly with stratification respective to each center and class) into a training/validation set (70%/10%) and a hold-out test set (20%). For the DL model, feature extraction was performed on 2D slices, and averaging was performed at the final layer to construct a 3D model for each scan. The DensNet model was used for feature extraction. The model was developed using centralized and FL approaches. For FL, we employed DPFL approaches. Membership inference attack was also evaluated in the FL strategy. For model evaluation, different metrics were reported in the hold-out test sets. In addition, models trained in two scenarios, centralized and FL, were compared using the DeLong test for statistical differences., Results: The centralized model achieved an accuracy of 0.76, while the DPFL model had an accuracy of 0.75. Both the centralized and DPFL models achieved a specificity of 0.77. The centralized model achieved a sensitivity of 0.74, while the DPFL model had a sensitivity of 0.73. A mean AUC of 0.82 and 0.81 with 95% confidence intervals of (95% CI: 0.79-0.85) and (95% CI: 0.77-0.84) were achieved by the centralized model and the DPFL model, respectively. The DeLong test did not prove statistically significant differences between the two models (p-value = 0.98). The AUC values for the inference attacks fluctuate between 0.49 and 0.51, with an average of 0.50 ± 0.003 and 95% CI for the mean AUC of 0.500 to 0.501., Conclusion: The performance of the proposed model was comparable to centralized models while operating on large and heterogeneous multi-institutional datasets. In addition, the model was resistant to inference attacks, ensuring the privacy of shared data during the training process., (© 2024 The Authors. Medical Physics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association of Physicists in Medicine.)

Background: Avena fatua and A. sterilis are challenging to distinguish due to their strong similarities. However, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) can effectively extract patterns and identify these species. We measured seed traits of Avena species from 122 locations across the Balkans and from some populations from southern, western, and central Europe (total over 22 000 seeds). The inputs for the ANN model included seed mass, size, color, hairiness, and placement of the awn attachment on the lemma., Results: The ANN model achieved high classification accuracy for A. fatua and A. sterilis (R2 > 0.99, RASE < 0.0003) with no misclassification. Incorporating geographic coordinates as inputs also resulted in successful classification (R2 > 0.99, RASE < 0.000001) with no misclassification. This highlights the significant influence of geographic coordinates on the occurrence of Avena species. The models revealed hidden relationships between morphological traits that are not easily detectable through traditional statistical methods. For example, seed color can be partially predicted by other seed traits combined with geographic coordinates. When comparing the two species, A. fatua predominantly had the lemma attachment point in the upper half, while A. sterilis had it in the lower half. A. sterilis exhibited slightly longer seeds and hairs than A. fatua, while seed hairiness and mass were similar in both species. A. fatua populations primarily had brown, light brown, and black colors, while A. sterilis populations had black, brown, and yellow colors., Conclusions: Distinguishing A. fatua from A. sterilis based solely on individual characteristics is challenging due to their shared traits and considerable variability of traits within each species. However, it is possible to classify these species by combining multiple seed traits. This approach also has significant potential for exploring relationships among different traits that are typically difficult to assess using conventional methods., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Introduction: Caloric restriction (CR) is a nutritional intervention that increases life expectancy while lowering the risk for cardio-metabolic disease. Its effects on bone health, however, remain controversial. For instance, CR has been linked to increased accumulation of bone marrow adipose tissue (BMAT) in long bones, a process thought to elicit detrimental effects on bone. Qualitative differences have been reported in BMAT in relation to its specific anatomical localization, subdividing it into physiological and potentially pathological BMAT. We here examine the local impact of CR on bone composition, microstructure and its endocrine profile in the context of aging., Methods: Young and aged male C57Bl6J mice were subjected to CR for 8 weeks and were compared to age-matched littermates with free food access. We assessed bone microstructure and BMAT by micro-CT, bone fatty acid and transcriptomic profiles, and bone healing., Results: CR increased tibial BMAT accumulation and adipogenic gene expression. CR also resulted in elevated fatty acid desaturation in the proximal and mid-shaft regions of the tibia, thus more closely resembling the biochemical lipid profile of the distally located, physiological BMAT. In aged mice, CR attenuated trabecular bone loss, suggesting that CR may revert some aspects of age-related bone dysfunction. Cortical bone, however, was decreased in young mice on CR and remained reduced in aged mice, irrespective of dietary intervention. No negative effects of CR on bone regeneration were evident in either young or aged mice., Discussion: Our findings indicate that the timing of CR is critical and may exert detrimental effects on bone biology if administered during a phase of active skeletal growth. Conversely, CR exerts positive effects on trabecular bone structure in the context of aging, which occurs despite substantial accumulation of BMAT. These data suggest that the endocrine profile of BMAT, rather than its fatty acid composition, contributes to healthy bone maintenance in aged mice., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Rinne, Soultoukis, Oveisi, Leer, Schmidt-Bleek, Burkhardt, Bucher, Moussa, Makhlouf, Duda, Saraiva, Schmidt-Bleek and Schulz.)

Purpose: Whole-body bone scintigraphy (WBS) is one of the most widely used modalities in diagnosing malignant bone diseases during the early stages. However, the procedure is time-consuming and requires vigour and experience. Moreover, interpretation of WBS scans in the early stages of the disorders might be challenging because the patterns often reflect normal appearance that is prone to subjective interpretation. To simplify the gruelling, subjective, and prone-to-error task of interpreting WBS scans, we developed deep learning (DL) models to automate two major analyses, namely (i) classification of scans into normal and abnormal and (ii) discrimination between malignant and non-neoplastic bone diseases, and compared their performance with human observers., Materials and Methods: After applying our exclusion criteria on 7188 patients from three different centers, 3772 and 2248 patients were enrolled for the first and second analyses, respectively. Data were split into two parts, including training and testing, while a fraction of training data were considered for validation. Ten different CNN models were applied to single- and dual-view input (posterior and anterior views) modes to find the optimal model for each analysis. In addition, three different methods, including squeeze-and-excitation (SE), spatial pyramid pooling (SPP), and attention-augmented (AA), were used to aggregate the features for dual-view input models. Model performance was reported through area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC), accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity and was compared with the DeLong test applied to ROC curves. The test dataset was evaluated by three nuclear medicine physicians (NMPs) with different levels of experience to compare the performance of AI and human observers., Results: DenseNet121&#95;AA (DensNet121, with dual-view input aggregated by AA) and InceptionResNetV2&#95;SPP achieved the highest performance (AUC = 0.72) for the first and second analyses, respectively. Moreover, on average, in the first analysis, Inception V3 and InceptionResNetV2 CNN models and dual-view input with AA aggregating method had superior performance. In addition, in the second analysis, DenseNet121 and InceptionResNetV2 as CNN methods and dual-view input with AA aggregating method achieved the best results. Conversely, the performance of AI models was significantly higher than human observers for the first analysis, whereas their performance was comparable in the second analysis, although the AI model assessed the scans in a drastically lower time., Conclusion: Using the models designed in this study, a positive step can be taken toward improving and optimizing WBS interpretation. By training DL models with larger and more diverse cohorts, AI could potentially be used to assist physicians in the assessment of WBS images., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier GmbH.. All rights reserved.)