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Cloud detection is a key pre-processing step for optical satellite remote sensing images. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are the most widely used and powerful cloud detection techniques in recent years, featuring the fusion of different levels of feature maps. However, existing methods use feature cascading, element addition, or element multiplication to fuse directly, ignoring the similarities and differences between features and their contribution to the detected cloud regions, resulting in a large amount of noise being introduced into the fusion process. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a feature-aware aggregation network (FAANet), which can make full use of valuable information for cloud detection through feature enhancement and feature aggregation. The feature enhancement module (FEM) consists of a high-level feature enhancement module (HFEM) and a low-level feature enhancement module (LFEM). HFEM is used to enhance the advanced semantic features to supplement the cloud features lost during the recovery of high-resolution feature maps; LFEM is used to enhance the image spatial detail features to further refine the predicted cloud maps. In addition, a feature aggregation module (FAM) is designed to selectively aggregate coded block features, decoded block features, and enhanced semantic features through a new aggregation mechanism to compliment the features diluted by up-sampling and improve the integrity of the generated cloud maps. Experimental results on three open-source cloud detection datasets and self-built Landsat-8 cloud detection dataset with higher spatial resolution show that the proposed method achieves competitive performance under different evaluation metrics. The advantages of the method proposed in this paper for saliency image segmentation are verified and provide a reference for other computer vision tasks. Code is available at . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The major purpose of this study was to determine the effects of procyanidins extracted from the lotus seedpod on cAMP-response element-binding protein phosphorylation in hippocampus and cerebral cortex in cognitively impaired aged rats. Based on Morris water maze, aged unimpaired and aged impaired rats were chosen from aged rats. Comparing with young and aged unimpaired animals, aged impaired rats exhibited significant reduction in hippocampal but not cortical cAMP-response element-binding phosphorylation states as well as brain-derived neurotrophic factor messenger RNA and protein expressions, which were accompanied by decreased phosphorylation states of hippocampal extracellular signal-related kinase (42/44) and calcium calmodulin kinase IV. Lotus seedpod supplementation (50 and 100 mg/kg body weight intragastric administration) for 7 weeks significantly reversed all these declines happened in hippocampus except calcium calmodulin kinase IV phosphorylation levels. These results suggested that lotus seedpod might enhance cAMP-response element-binding--dependent transcription through the activation of extracellular signal-related kinase signalling pathway, which might contribute to its ameliorative effects on cognitive deficits in aged impaired animals. Key Words: Procyanidins--Memory--CREB--BDNF--ERK--Hippocampus. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glq094

The alleviative effect of procyanidins extracted from the lotus seedpod (LSPC) on oxidative stress in various tissues was evaluated by determining the activities of the antioxidant enzymes and the content of reduced glutathione (GSH) in heart, liver, lung, kidney, skeletal muscle, and serum in aged rats. Aging led to antioxidant deficit in various tissues in this study, which is confirmed by remarkable increased lipid peroxidation, whereas the change patterns of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and GSH were diverse in various tissues of aged rats. LSPC treatment (50 and 100 mg/kg body weight) modified the activity of SOD, CAT, and GPx as well as GSH content alteration in these tissues, which reversed the age-related antioxidant deficit in aged rats. However, the regulatory patterns on the activities of these enzymes and GSH content by LSPC treatment were different according to the tissues in aged rats. Key Words: Procyanidins--Aging--Oxidative stress--Lipid peroxidation--Antioxidant enzymes. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glp211

Background: Arterial stiffening increases with age and blood pressure and is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD), but the relationship between blood pressure lowering and arterial stiffening is still uncertain, especially in older people. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of intensive blood pressure treatment on the progression of arterial stiffness and risk of CVD in older patients with hypertension., Methods: The Strategy of Blood Pressure Intervention in the Elderly Hypertensive Patients (STEP) trial was a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial performed at 42 clinical centers throughout China, and 8511 patients aged 60-80 years with essential hypertension were enrolled and randomly assigned to systolic blood pressure (SBP) target of 110 mmHg to <130 mmHg (intensive treatment) or 130 mmHg to <150 mmHg (standard treatment). Patients underwent repeated examinations of the brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) and ankle-brachial index (ABI) at baseline, and the arterial stiffness was evaluated at the 3-year follow-up. A total of 5339 patients who had twice repeated measurements were included in this study. Changes in arterial stiffness between the intensive and standard treatment groups were analyzed using a multivariate linear regression model. The Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate the effect of intensive treatment on primary CVD outcomes., Results: The changes in baPWV were 61.5 cm/s (95% confidence interval [CI]: 49.8-73.2 cm/s) in the intensive treatment group and 98.4 cm/s (95% CI: 86.7-110.1 cm/s) in the standard treatment group ( P <0.001). Intensive treatment significantly delayed the progression of arterial stiffness, with an annual change of 23.1 cm·s -1 ·year -1vs. 36.7 cm·s -1 ·year -1 of baPWV in the intensive and standard treatment groups, respectively. During a median follow-up period of 3.36 years, primary CVD outcomes occurred in 77 (2.9%) patients in the intensive treatment group compared with 93 (3.5%) in the standard treatment group. Intensive treatment resulted in a significantly lower CVD risk in patients aged 70-80 years or with SBP <140 mmHg., Conclusion: Intensive blood pressure control with an SBP target of 110 mmHg to <130 mmHg could delay the progression of arterial stiffness and reduce the risk of CVD in older patients with hypertension., Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov ; No. NCT03015311., (Copyright © 2024 The Chinese Medical Association, produced by Wolters Kluwer, Inc. under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.)

Background: There are only a very limited number of studies relating to risk factors for hypertension in rural populations in China. There are even fewer studies comparing various hypertension subtypes., Methods: A cross-sectional investigation was carried out in a representative sample of 20,390 subjects drawn from among 1,180,000 adult residents of Tongshan County of Jiangsu Province, China. The impact of risk factors including demographic, socioeconomic, dietary, and behavioral, on three hypertension subtypes, namely, isolated systolic hypertension (ISH), isolated diastolic hypertension (IDH), and systolic-diastolic hypertension (SDH), was analyzed by applying statistical tests and a classification tree., Results: ISH was the predominant untreated hypertension subtype (13.68 +/- 0.24%) in the adults of Tongshan County, followed by SDH (11.70 +/- 0.23%) and IDH (6.24 +/- 0.17%). Age, number of cigarettes smoked daily, and the types of vitamins taken varied among the ISH, IDH, and SDH classification trees. Low socioeconomic status was associated with an increased risk for ISH and SDH. Light alcohol intake was associated with higher risk for ISH, but with lower risks for IDH and SDH. Light cigarette smoking was associated with higher ISH risk but lower SDH risk. The intake of appropriate amounts of fish, shrimp, or meat lowered the risks for ISH and IDH. The intake of appropriate amounts of seafood, eggs, milk, or fruit lowered the risks for all hypertension subtypes. Interestingly, an excessive preference for sweet or salty foods was associated with a higher risk for all the subtypes., Conclusions: In Tongshan County, there was a considerable prevalence of hypertension of various subtypes, each associated with distinctive and complex risk factors. This suggests that there is a need for testing more diverse prevention measures, tailored to specific subtypes.

Varieties of air temperature and solar activity have a close correlation with human health. The megatemperature mainly results in the increased incidence of cerebrovascular disorder (CVD). It is related to the regulatory mechanism of homeothermism. In the hypothermy environment, obvious increment of human's blood viscosity was observed, which may induce the cerebral infarction, myocardial infarct or coronary heart disease. Not only have solar activities a close relationship with the incidences of plague and epidemic cerebrospinal meningitis, but also high correlation with onco-genesis and infant natality and mortality. UV-A and UV-B may cause skin destructions. The measures and further study on lessening hazards of climate change were discussed in this article.