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Background Fixed-dose combination (FDC) of Aclidinium (ACL) and Formoterol (FOR) is a maintenance therapy for patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Although the effect of combination of long-acting beta-agonists (LABA) and long-acting muscarinic antagonists (LAMA) is less compared with the statistical sum of the effects of LABA and LAMA alone, the effect of combination of LABA and LAMA is significantly higher than that of either of the two. Thus, the resulting therapeutic effect in pulmonary function, improvement of dyspnea, quality of life, and incidence of adverse events was analyzed to explore the efficacy of FDC and monotherapy of either ACL or FOR in stable COPD patients. Methods Methods Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), aclidinium or LAMA, formoterol or LABA, randomized controlled trials, or RCT were used as keywords in the search for studies in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Reference List, and Clinicaltrails.gov databases. Studies that evaluated efficacy and side effects of Fixed-dose combination of Aclidinium/Formoterol and Monotherapy of Aclidinium or Formoterol in COPD published between the establishment period of the database and June 2020 were retrieved. Two independent reviewers extracted the data; Revman 5.3 software was used for data analysis with dose efficacy and side effects were presented as mean difference at 95% confidence interval. Notably, ACL 400 mg / FOR 12ug and ACL 400 mg / 6ug were used as subgroup analysis. Results A total of 6 studies with 7,081 patients were enrolled for analysis. The trough forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) mean difference (MD) for FDC was 0.01 (95% CI, - 0.01 to 0.03); St George's respiratory COPD specific questionnaire (SGRQ) MD for FDC was - 0.76 (95% CI, - 1.81 to 0.29); transitional dyspnea index (TDI) MD for FDC was 0.33 (95% CI, 0.06 to 0.60) compared to that of ACL. Furthermore, trough FEV1 MD for FDC was 0.05 (95% CI, 0.03 to 0.06); SGRQ MD for FDC was - 1.52 (95% CI, - 2.57 to-0.47); TDI MD for FDC was 0.43 (95% CI, 0.15 to 0.70) compared to that of the FOR. The evidence for each result was accurate and the results were unaffected by the duration of the study. Conclusion The findings of this study showed that, unlike monotherapies, FDC significantly improves lung function, dyspnea, and quality of life. In addition, FDC significantly improves dyspnea compared to ACL alone.

Mercury is, because of its high vapor pressure and its prevalence in the atmosphere as atoms, an interesting geophysical tracer gas, also with potential archaeological applications. According to historical records dating back 2200 years, the mausoleum chamber of the “Terracotta Army Emperor” Qin in Xi´an, China, contains large amounts of liquid mercury, considered as an elixir of life at the time. We here report on measurements of the atmospheric contents of atomic mercury above the tomb mound performed with a mobile differential absorption lidar (light detection and ranging) system. Our measurements, which were performed from three different locations around the mound, indeed indicate elevated atmospheric mercury levels, with localizations, which correlate with previous in situ soil sampling results. Concentrations up to 27 ng/m3 were observed, significantly higher than the typical general pollutant level in the area which was found to be around 5–10 ng/m3. An out-flux of about 5×10−8 kg/s was estimated. Highly volatile mercury may be escaping through cracks, which developed in the structure over time, and our investigation supports ancient chronicle records on the tomb, which is believed never to have been opened/looted. Our findings also have bearings on the proposed use of mercury as a tracer gas for valuable ores and geothermal resource exploration, and also bring problematics around reliable nuclear waste long-term underground storage to mind.

Insects are the most widely distributed and successful animals on the planet. A large number of insects are capable of flight with functional wings. Wing expansion is an important process for insects to achieve functional wings after eclosion and healthy genital morphology is crucial for adult reproduction. Myofilaments are functional units that constitute sarcomeres and trigger muscle contraction. Here, we identified four myofilament proteins, including Myosin, Paramyosin, Tropomyosin and Troponin T, from the wing pads of nymphs in the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. RNAi-mediated knockdown of Myosin, Paramyosin, Tropomyosin and Troponin T in the early stage of final instar nymphs caused a severely curly wing phenotype in the imaginal moult, especially in the Paramyosin and Troponin T knockdown groups, indicating that these myofilament proteins are involved in controlling wing expansion behaviours during the nymph-adult transition. In addition, the knockdown resulted in abnormal external genitalia, caused ovulation failure, and affected male accessory gland development. Interestingly, the expression of myofilament genes was induced by methoprene, a juvenile hormone (JH) analogue, and decreased by the depletion of the JH receptor gene Met. Altogether, we have determined that myofilament genes play an important role in promoting wing expansion and maintaining adult genitalia morphology, and their expression is induced by JH signalling. Our data reveal a novel mechanism by which wing expansion is regulated by myofilaments and the functions of myofilaments are involved in maintaining genitalia morphology.

Insect pest management is a very important aspect for plant protection in crops production. Remote sensing provides a large number of techniques that are beneficial in entomological research. Although entomological radars have been used for studying migrations of insects for many years, most of entomological radar studies have been vertically tracing high-altitude migration behaviour of insects. Light detection and ranging (lidar) is a counterpart to radar, now operating in the optical part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which has been recently applied for monitoring of insects at low altitude. Such techniques, in particular low-cost continuous-wave (CW) bi-static systems based on the Scheimpflug arrangement, have been rapidly developing during the last decade. As a result, optical methods present new and fascinating possibilities. Based on experience from a 2-week field campaign in rice paddy fields, we here present an overview of lidar remote sensing applied to the Chinese scene. The capability of a CW Scheimpflug lidar system in monitoring the insects was studied. We present results on insect abundance in relation to time of the day and weather conditions. We also identified insect species by analysing wing-beat frequencies and studied their attraction to ultraviolet (UV) lamp located close to the horizontal laser sampling path during night time. Results showed that the insect species were abundant, that insects detected by the lidar system were attracted to light and that light rain increased the insect activity. The lidar detection system had a high read-out frequency, enabling the estimation of insect wing-beat frequencies. (Less)

Purpose This paper aims to propose a conceptual scale model of mobile drilling robot according to the actual drilling rig and working conditions to improve the safety and automation of drilling in tunnel construction and coal mining applications. Design/methodology/approach A couple of pinion and rack serves as the support mechanism driven by a motor with low rotation speed at high power, and these components are assembled in the center of the robot to tightly fasten the whole body together. The drilling rod and the sleeve are connected through a hole with screw thread so that the rod feeds and rotates simultaneously along with the sleeve. The robot model is automatically controlled by a single-chip microcomputer, and the anti-disturbance circuit is designed as well. A five-step rule obstacle avoidance method is proposed to ensure safe and reliable movement. Findings The results of simulation experiments on drilling operation do indicate that the mechanism and control method are feasible and effective. Research limitations/implications The robot is nearly complete but indeed remains only an experimental machine. Originality/value The design of the mechanism structure for the conceptual robot is novelty. The method of five-step rule obstacle avoidance can improve reliability of obstacle avoidance according to the experimental results, which can meet the requirements of complex working conditions underground coal mine.

The future trend of integrated joint operations makes the task of battlefield airspace management more important. However, in the face of users’ demands for using airspace, airspace resources are more precious and tense. Especially the conflict resolution between different types of tactical airspace use needs is an important issue in wartime airspace management. The resolution of airspace conflict should be combined with the user attribute decision of airspace use demand—the airspace use demand with low priority attribute such as weapon platform and task type should avoid the airspace use demand with high priority. However, for a certain airspace use requirement, when the priority ranking of different attributes conflicts with the impact of avoidance decision, the decision dilemma will be caused. In this paper, priority information is fused by evidence theory to solve the problem of spatial conflict resolution.

A CW 980 nm bi-static lidar system based on the Scheimpflug principle and capable of resolving wing-beats was used to monitor flying Conopomorpha sinensis Bradley pest insects in a Lychee fruit orchard in South China.

A novel exopolysaccharide named BD0.4 was purified from the fermentation broth of Paenibacillus bovis sp. nov BD3526 in wheat bran medium via anion exchange column chromatography. Its fine structure was identified by a variety of physical and chemical methods. BD0.4, with the weight average molecular weight of 376 kDa, consisted of glucuronic acid, glucose and fucose in a molar ratio of 1.58:1:1.66. The backbone included 1,3-linked Fuc, 1,3,4-linked Fuc, 1,3-linked Glc and 1,4-linked GlcA residues, with the branching point located at the O4 position of 1,3,4-linked Fuc residues, and the branched chain composed of terminal GlcA residues. BD0.4 could improve the phagocytic ability of macrophages and significantly stimulate the secretion of NO, TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 from RAW264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. BD0.4 could promote the expression of NF-кB and cause nuclear translocation of NF-κB p65, indicating that BD0.4 probably exerted immune activity through the NF-κB signaling pathway.

Demand side management (DSM) is a means to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the greenhouse gas emission, the consumers’ cost and the power grid investments. Due to the energy shortage and environmental problems, DSM has received more attention in recent decades. In this paper, a micro grid consisted of 100 fridges is constructed to simulate the approach of DSM. The thermodynamic model of refrigeration system is simulated. A cooperative scheduler is designed, implemented and programmed to execute the load switching based on the power curves. Results are analyzed and discussed based on the overall power consumption, average power and temperature.

Vitellogenesis, including vitellogenin (Vg) production in the fat body and Vg uptake by maturing oocytes, is of great importance for the successful reproduction of adult females. The endocrinal and nutritional regulation of vitellogenesis differs distinctly in insects. Here, the complex crosstalk between juvenile hormone (JH) and the two nutrient sensors, insulin/IGF signaling (IIS) and target of rapamycin (TOR), was investigated to elucidate the molecular mechanisms regulating vitellogenesis in the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Our data showed that a block of JH biosynthesis or JH action arrested vitellogenesis, partially by inhibiting the expression of doublesex (Dsx), a key transcription factor gene involved in the sex determination cascade. Depletion of IIS and TOR blocked both JH biosynthesis and vitellogenesis. Importantly, the JH analog methoprene, but not bovine insulin (to restore IIS) and amino acids (to restore TOR activity), restored vitellogenesis in the neck-ligated (both nutrient- and JH-deficient) cockroaches. Combining classic physiology with modern molecular techniques, we have demonstrated that JH signaling alone is able to induce vitellogenesis and thus ovarian maturation. By contrast, IIS and TOR do not induce vitellogenesis independent of JH, the nutrient sensors promote vitellogenesis in an indirect manner via activating JH biosynthesis.

Mosquitos, sometimes carrying deadly diseases such as malaria, zika, and dengue fever, cause much concern. To control mosquitos, it is important to effectively monitor their presence and behavioral trends. We have constructed two optical sensing systems for insects based on light attenuation and light backscattering, respectively. The systems, which were tested with the potentially dangerous Aedes albopictus and Culex pipiens, were able to extract the wing-beat frequency, when they passed impinging light, derived from light-emitting diodes. We could achieve distinction between the sexes of A. albopictus and C. pipiens based on the wing-beat frequency. Finally, we propose a statistical method suitable for the system to improve the accuracy of counting.

The transcription factor grainy head (Grh) functions in the protection of the epithelium against the external environment by generating strongly adhesive layers, and this function is conserved in vertebrates and invertebrates. In Drosophila, the top model for holometabolous insects, Grh is necessary during embryonic development, epidermal differentiation, central nervous system specification and epithelial repair. However, the function of this gene in hemimetabolous insect epithelia remains unknown. To examine the function of Grh signaling in regulating epithelium development in Hemimetabola, we focused on the Blattella germanica epidermal layer using a gene knockdown strategy. The spatiotemporal expression pattern of BgGrh was detected, and knockdown of BgGrh and BgCad96ca, which provide positive feedback to BgGrh, caused severe defects in new epithelium development and impeded the molting process required to discard the old integument. Knockdown of the expression of BgGrh and BgCad96ca caused increased expression of chitin synthase gene (BgCHS1) and chitinase gene (BgCht5), the upregulations of which should be mediated by the higher level of hormone receptor 3 (BgHr3) gene. In conclusion, epithelium development is regulated by Grh signaling, which might represent a potential target for the control of urban pest cockroaches.

A novel mobile laser radar system was used for mapping gaseous atomic mercury (Hg0) atmospheric pollution in the Wanshan district, south of Tongren City, Guizhou Province, China. This area is heavily impacted by legacy mercury from now abandoned mining activities. Differential absorption lidar measurements were supplemented by localized point monitoring using a Lumex RA-915M Zeeman modulation mercury analyzer. Range-resolved concentration measurements in different directions were performed. Concentrations in the lower atmospheric layers often exceeded levels of 100 ng/m3 for March conditions with temperature ranging from 5 °C to 20 °C. A flux measurement of Hg0 over a vertical cross section of 0.12 km2 resulted in about 29 g/h. Vertical lidar sounding at night revealed quickly falling Hg0 concentrations with height. This is the first lidar mapping demonstration in a heavily mercury-polluted area in China, illustrating the lidar potential in complementing point monitors.

Many cockroach species have adapted to urban environments, and some have been serious pests of public health in the tropics and subtropics. Here, we present the 3.38-Gb genome and a consensus gene set of the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. We report insights from both genomic and functional investigations into the underlying basis of its adaptation to urban environments and developmental plasticity. In comparison with other insects, expansions of gene families in P. americana exist for most core gene families likely associated with environmental adaptation, such as chemoreception and detoxification. Multiple pathways regulating metamorphic development are well conserved, and RNAi experiments inform on key roles of 20-hydroxyecdysone, juvenile hormone, insulin, and decapentaplegic signals in regulating plasticity. Our analyses reveal a high level of sequence identity in genes between the American cockroach and two termite species, advancing it as a valuable model to study the evolutionary relationships between cockroaches and termites., The American cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is an hemimetabolous insect with rapid growth, high fecundity, and remarkable tissue-regeneration capability. Here Li et al sequence its 3.38-Gb genome and perform the functional studies, yielding insights into its environmental adaptation and developmental plasticity.

In insects, nutrition and hormones coordinately regulate lifespan and reproduction, which might affect each other. We here investigated how nutrition, insulin, and juvenile hormone (JH) signal genes affect lifespan and reproduction in the German cockroach, Blattella germanica, a serious urban pest throughout the world. Starvation as well as altering insulin and nutrition signal genes by RNA interference (RNAi) knockdown of the expression of either positive or negative components in the two pathways simultaneously reduced lifespan and ootheca number of the mated female cockroaches. Meanwhile, depletion of the JH receptor Methoprene-tolerant (Met), but not kruppel homolog 1 (Kr-h1) that predominately transduces JH signaling to prevent metamorphosis, significantly reduced the two parameters. Moreover, suppressing the expression of several reproduction-related genes, including doublesex (Dsx), vitellogenin (Vg), and the Vg receptor (VgR), had little yet various effects on lifespan; nevertheless, it is likely that there are some reproduction-independent mating factors reducing lifespan. In conclusion, through blocking lifespan and reproduction in a simultaneous manner, the alteration of insulin and nutrient signal gene expression or the depletion of Met might provide a great potential for controlling the German cockroach.

This publisher’s note corrects the author listing and a figure caption in Appl. Opt.57, 3481 (2018)APOPAI0003-693510.1364/AO.57.003481.

A joint Chinese-Swedish field campaign of Scheimpflug continuous-wave lidar monitoring of rice-field flying pest insects was pursued in very hot July weather conditions close to Guangzhou, China. The occurrence of insects, birds and bats with almost 200 hours of round-the-clock polarization-sensitive recordings was studied. Wing-beat frequency recordings and depolarization properties were used for target classification. Influence of weather conditions on the flying fauna was also investigated.

A more detailed evaluation of the sensitivity of the Lidar system.

Effective monitoring of flying insects is of major societal importance in view of the role of insects as indispensable pollinators, destructive disease vectors and economically devastating agricultural pests. The present paper reports on monitoring of flying agricultural pests using a continuous-wave lidar system in a rice-field location in Southern China. Using a Scheimpflug arrangement, range resolution over several 100 m long observational paths was achieved. The system operates with two perpendicularly polarized near-infrared lasers, which are activated intermittently, and back-scattered radiation from insects was recorded by a linear array detector placed after a linear polarizer. Our polarization sensitive system was used to monitor the flying insect diurnal activity and also the influence of changes in weather conditions, e.g., the occurrence of rain. Activity strongly peaked at dusk and rose again, although to a lower extent, just before dawn. At the onset of rainfall, a strong increase in insect counts occurred which was interpreted as the rain-induced bringing down of high-altitude migrant insects.

Mercury is a severe pollutant in China. A novel mobile laser spectroscopy laboratory was constructed and used in differential absorption lidar mapping in major Chinese cities, a heavily polluted mining area and an archeological site.

Laser spectroscopy has a multitude of applications of importance to human and ecosystem well-being, such as in the environmental, ecological, agricultural and food safety areas. Recent work, mostly from SCNU, will be reviewed.

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrient indicators for the growth of crops, and is closely related to the chlorophyll content of leaves and thus influences the photosynthetic ability of the crops. In this study, five hybrid rice varieties were cultivated during one entire growing period in one experimental field supplied with six nitrogen fertilizer levels. Visible and near infrared (vis/NIR) reflectance spectroscopy combined with multivariate analysis was used to identify hybrid rice varieties and nitrogen fertilizer levels, as well as to detect chlorophyll content associated with nitrogen levels. The support vector machine (SVM) algorithm was applied to identify five varieties of hybrid rice and six levels of nitrogen fertilizer. The results demonstrated that different varieties of hybrid rice for each nitrogen level can be well distinguished except for the highest nitrogen level, and no nitrogen level for each rice variety can be completely identified from the other five nitrogen levels. Further, 12 spectral indices combined with partial least square (PLS) analysis were applied for estimating chlorophyll content of rice leaves from plants subjected to different nitrogen levels, and a root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) of 0.506, a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of 97.8% and a ratio of performance to deviation (RPD) of 4.6 for all rice varieties indicated this as a preferable procedure. This study demonstrates that Vis/NIR spectroscopy can have a great potential for identification of rice varieties and evaluation of nitrogen fertilizer levels.

Laser spectroscopy provides many possibilities for multi-disciplinary applications in environmental monitoring, in the ecological field, for food safety investigations, and in biomedicine. The paper gives several examples of the power of multi-disciplinary applications of laser spectroscopy as pursued in our research group. The studies utilize mostly similar and widely applicable spectroscopic approaches. Air pollution and vegetation monitoring by lidar techniques, as well as agricultural pest insect monitoring and classification by elastic scattering and fluorescence spectroscopy are described. Biomedical aspects include food safety applications and medical diagnostics of sinusitis and otitis, with strong connection to the abatement of antibiotics resistance development.

Optical spectroscopy, and in particular laser spectroscopy, has numerous applications in the assessment and probing in ecology, such as agricultural field and flying pest insect monitoring, as well as in the measurement of atmospheric pollutants. An overview of recent work by our group is given.

Chinese hybrid rice of different varieties, growing in paddies in the Pingqiao district, north of Xinyang city, Henan province, China, was studied in detailed spectroscopic characteristics using laser-induced fluorescence. The base for the studies was the new South China Normal University mobile lidar laboratory, which was dispatched on site, providing facilities both for laboratory studies using a 405 nm excitation source as well as remote sensing measurements at ranges from around 40 m–120 m, mostly employing the 532 nm output from a Nd:YAG laser. We, in particular, studied the spectral influence of the species varieties as well as the level of nitrogen fertilization supplied. Specially developed contrast functions as well as multivariate techniques with principal components and Fisher’s discriminate analyses were applied, and useful characterization of the rice could be achieved. The chlorophyll content mapping of the 30 zones was obtained with the remote sensing measurements. (Less)

We present the results of, to our knowledge, the first Lidar study applied to continuous and simultaneous monitoring of aerial insects, bats and birds. It illustrates how common patterns of flight activity, e.g. insect swarming around twilight, depend on predation risk and other constraints acting on the faunal components. Flight activity was monitored over a rice field in China during one week in July 2016, using a high-resolution Scheimpflug Lidar system. The monitored Lidar transect was about 520 m long and covered approximately 2.5 m 3 . The observed biomass spectrum was bimodal, and targets were separated into insects and vertebrates in a categorization supported by visual observations. Peak flight activity occurred at dusk and dawn, with a 37 min time difference between the bat and insect peaks. Hence, bats started to feed in declining insect activity after dusk and stopped before the rise in activity before dawn. A similar time difference between insects and birds may have occurred, but it was not obvious, perhaps because birds were relatively scarce. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that flight activity of bats is constrained by predation in bright light, and that crepuscular insects exploit this constraint by swarming near to sunset/sunrise to minimize predation from bats.

A versatile mobile remote sensing system for multidisciplinary environmental monitoring tasks on the Chinese scene is described. The system includes a 20 Hz Nd:YAG laser-pumped dye laser, optical transmitting/receiving systems with a 30 cm and a 40 cm Newtonian telescope, and electronics, all integrated in a laboratory, installed on a Jiefang truck. Results from field experiments on atomic mercury DIAL mapping and remote laser-induced fluorescence and break-down spectroscopy are given.

BACKGROUND: Determination of cardiac markers can assess cardiac injury induced by cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). However, the markers and their release pattern are not well defined. This study was aimed at assessing the release and timing of cardiac biochemical and inflammatory markers in patients undergoing elective CABG with CPB. METHODS: Forty patients undergoing elective CABG were included in this study. Blood samples were collected for biochemical measurements at the following time points: immediately prior to the induction of anesthesia, one, six, 12, and 24 hours after initiation of CPB. RESULTS: Increased release of cardiac troponin I was observed one hour after initiation of CPB (p < 0.05) and reached the maximum at 12 hours after CPB (p < 0.01). Serum CK-MB enzyme activity and CK-MB mass both were highly elevated starting at one hour after initiation of CPB, peaked at six hours, and remained elevated until 24 hours after CPB. Both lactate and lactate dehydrogenase were highly elevated six hours after CPB and peaked at 12 hours after CPB (p < 0.01). Serum levels of interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha increased significantly one hour after initiation of CPB and peaked at six hours (p < 0.01), while serum high sensitivity C-reactive protein levels started to elevate 12 hours after CPB (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Monitoring of these markers could help to determine implementation of protective interventions during CABG with CPB to prevent myocardial deterioration and to predict the risk and prognosis.

BACKGROUND Evidence suggests that transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta(1)) is associated with target organ damage in hypertension. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between TGF-beta(1) levels and kidney damage and renoprotective effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and/or angiotensin II type 1 receptor blocker in patients with essential hypertension (EH). METHODS A total of 156 patients with EH were enrolled and grouped according to albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR). Of these, 90 patients with EH underwent a 12-week antihypertensive trial with administration of benazepril, valsartan or both. Serum TGF-beta(1), plasma angiotensin (Ang) II and urinary albumin were quantified by immunoassays. RESULTS Serum TGF-beta1, plasma Ang II and ACR were highly elevated in patients with EH (P < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between serum TGF-beta1 levels and ACR (r = 0.53, P < 0.01). Significant decreases in TGF beta1 and ACR were obtained in all groups at the end of 12-week antihypertensive therapy compared to the baseline values, with the combined group to a greater extent (P < 0.01). Plasma Ang II levels were significantly decreased in the benazepril group but increased in the valsartan group (P < 0.05) while no significant change was observed in the combined group. CONCLUSIONS TGF-beta(1) is highly elevated and strongly associated with urinary albumin excretion in patients with EH. Treatment with benazepril or valsartan attenuates serum TGF-beta(1) levels and microalbuminuria with the combined therapy receiving the greater effect. TGF-beta(1) could be a potential surrogate marker in monitoring the development and progression of kidney damage in EH.