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Abstract Objective This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and performance of deep transfer learning (DTL) networks with different types and dimensions in differentiating thymomas from thymic cysts in a retrospective cohort. Materials and Methods Based on chest‐enhanced computed tomography (CT), the region of interest was delineated, and the maximum cross section of the lesion was selected as the input image. Five convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and Vision Transformer (ViT) were used to construct a 2D DTL model. The 2D model constructed by the maximum section (n) and the upper and lower layers (n − 1, n + 1) of the lesion was used for feature extraction, and the features were selected. The remaining features were pre‐fused to construct a 2.5D model. The whole lesion image was selected for input and constructing a 3D model. Results In the 2D model, the area under curve (AUC) of Resnet50 was 0.950 in the training cohort and 0.907 in the internal validation cohort. In the 2.5D model, the AUCs of Vgg11 in the internal validation cohort and external validation cohort 1 were 0.937 and 0.965, respectively. The AUCs of Inception_v3 in the training cohort and external validation cohort 2 were 0.981 and 0.950, respectively. The AUC values of 3D_Resnet50 in the four cohorts were 0.987, 0.937, 0.938, and 0.905. Conclusions The DTL model based on multiple different dimensions can be used as a highly sensitive and specific tool for the non‐invasive differential diagnosis of thymomas and thymic cysts to assist clinicians in decision‐making.

Abstract With the expansion of the metropolitan area, the application of express/local mode is gradually increasing. In contrast to the normal mode, the express/local mode has advantages in reducing energy consumption and saving total travel time by having express trains skipping some stops. This paper aims to minimize the total energy consumption of express and local train throughout the day by optimizing the train operation strategy in the same power supply section and increasing the overlap time between train traction acceleration and train regenerative braking to obtain the optimal energy‐efficient timetable. As the consumed energy of a train is highly dependent on the rolling stock weight and the on‐board passengers’ weight. An integer programming model is proposed with on‐board passengers considered accurately, in which the dwell times, departure headway, and total turnaround time of express and local trains are determined. An improved grey wolf algorithm is designed by improving convergence factor and incorporating differential evolution to solve the proposed problem. The real data on Guangzhou Metro Line 18 is adopted for numerical studies. The results show that the optimized timetable increases the regenerative energy utilization rate by 21.37% and reduces the total energy consumption by 5.02% compared to the operational timetable.

Fluorine (F) and Cadmium (Cd) have given rise to public concern regarding their adverse impacts on the environment and human beings. Yet, the toxic interplay between F and Cd on the intestine is still vague. Aiming to investigate the role of F on Cd-damaged intestine, a total of five groups of 30 SD rats were picked at random to be gavaged for 90 days: Control group (Ultra-pure water), Cd (Cd 1 mg/kg), Cd+LF (Cd 1 mg/kg+F 15 mg/kg), Cd+MF (Cd 1 mg/kg+F 45 mg/kg), and Cd+HF (Cd 1 mg/kg+F 75 mg/kg). It demonstrated that Cd enriched in the intestine and disordered intestinal barrier of rats. Interestingly, two side effects of F were observed resisting to the Cd toxicity. The Cd levels in colon contents were attenuated by 45.45 %, 28.11 %, and 19.54 % by F supplement, respectively. In the Cd+LF group, SOD, GSH-Px, and CAT activities elevated by 0.93, 1.76, and 1.78 times, respectively, and the MDA content reduced 0.67 times; the expressions of NQO1, SOD2, and GSH-Px mRNA markedly enhanced, as well as the Keap1 mRNA significantly decreased. Nevertheless, all indexes above in the Cd+HF group showed the opposite trends. Furthermore, LPS levels decreased by 45.93 % for the Cd+LF group and increased by 12.70 % in that the Cd+HF group. The ZO-1 expression in the Cd+LF group increased, whereas the Cd+HF group's expressions of Claudin-1, Occludin, and ZO-1 were all diminished by 35.46 %, 27.23 %, and 16.32 %, respectively. Moreover, the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and TLR-4 decreased and IL-10 level promoted, while all showed opposite trends in the Cd+HF group. Collectively, it indicated there is a twofold interplay between F and Cd on intestinal damage and mainly depends on F dosages.

Using treadmill training, this study replicated human exercise conditions and triggered exercise-induced fatigue in mice to examine the potential of Pediococcus pentosaceus YF01 in delaying this fatigue by regulating oxidative stress and its impact on the exercise capacity and gut microbiota of mice. The exercise capacity of mice was tested by conducting exhaustion tests, determining histopathological changes in mouse tissues, detecting the levels of serum biochemical markers, and evaluating the mRNA expression levels of relevant genes. YF01 prolonged the exhaustion time of mice, increased the serum levels of oxidative stress-related markers T-AOC, CAT, and GSH, as well as GLU and LA levels in the mice. YF01 decreased the levels of hepatic-related markers AST and ALT, as well as exercise-related markers LDH, BUN, UA, and CRE in the mice. YF01 upregulated the mRNA expression of MyHc I, SIRT1, and PGC in muscle tissues, as well as SOD1, SOD2, and CAT in both liver and muscle tissues. YF01 also downregulated the mRNA expression of MyHc IIa, MyHc IIb, and MyHc IIx in muscle tissues. Furthermore, YF01 increased the abundance of beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Lachnospiraceae in the gut microbiota of mice. In conclusion, P. pentosaceus YF01 may affect the exercise capacity of mice by modulating oxidative stress levels, thereby offering novel ideas for developing of sports science and human health.

Leaf and root are the most sensitive organs to environment, exploring the relationship between root and leaf functional traits and their responses to environmental factors is helpful to reveal the utilization of resources by plants and their adaption trategies to environment. In order to explore the adaptive strategies of coastal plants, the sandy coastal herbaceous plants in Pingtan Island were taken as the research objects. Three distance gradients were set up from sea and land. Six leaf function traits, leaf thickness, individual leaf area, leaf dry matter content, specific leaf area, leaf tissue density, leaf phosphorus content, and five fine root function traits, root average diameter, root tissue density, specific root length, specific root area, root phosphorus content, were measured to analyze the function traits of leaf and root of coastal plants and their responses to soil factors. The results were as follows: (1) The variation coefficient amplitude of root and leaf function traits in intertidal zone was the smallest, and it was the largest on the gradient 30-60 m away from the high tide line. The individual leaf area, leaf phosphorus content, root average diameter, root tissue density, and root phosphorus content increased with the distance from sea to land; the leaf dry matter content, leaf tissue density, specific root length and specific root area decreased. (2) Plants balanced resource allocation between growth and defense through trait combinations, which showed that there were different degrees of correlation among leaf traits, root traits and root-leaf traits. Among the aboveground and underground corresponding traits, leaf thickness-root average diameter, leaf-root phosphorus content were significantly positively correlated. Specific leaf area with specific root length, specific root area, leaf tissue density-root tissue density had no significant correlation. (3) The interpretation degree of soil factors to the changes of coastal plant functional properties was 52.05%, of which the soil salt content had the greatest impact, followed by soil water content, soil electrical conductivity and soil pH value. In conclusion, in the harsh coastal environment, the soil salt content, soil electrical conductivity, soil water content and soil pH value decrease gradually from sea to land, and the overall environment is low in phosphorus and high in salinity. The plants have shown different survival strategies: the plants closer to the sea adopted the strategy of leaf resource conservation type and root resource acquisition type; the plants farther away from the sea, the strategy of leaf resource acquisition type and root resource conservation type is adopted. The results of this study provide a certain reference value for understanding the response mechanism and adaptability of coastal herbs to environmental gradient changes, which is conducive to the analysis of soil and other environmental characteristics to screen and plant suitable species according to gradient, and promote the restoration and protection of coastal plants.

During the transition from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0, industrial robotics technology faces the need for intelligent and highly integrated development. Metaverse technology creates immersive and interactive virtual environments, allowing technicians to perform simulations and experiments in the virtual world, and overcoming the limitations of traditional industrial operations. This paper explores the application and evolution of metaverse technology in the field of industrial robotics, focusing on the realization of virtual–real integration and human–machine collaboration. It proposes a design framework for a virtual–real interaction system based on the ROS and WEB technologies, supporting robot connectivity, posture display, coordinate axis conversion, and cross-platform multi-robot loading. This paper emphasizes the study of two key technologies for the system: virtual–real model communication and virtual–real model transformation. A general communication mechanism is designed and implemented based on the ROS, using the ROS topic subscription to achieve connection and real-time data communication between physical robots and virtual models, and utilizing URDF model transformation technology for model invocation and display. Compared with traditional simulation software, i.e., KUKA Sim PRO (version 1.1) and RobotStudio (version 6.08), the system improves model loading by 45.58% and 24.72%, and the drive response by 41.50% and 28.75%. This system not only supports virtual simulation and training but also enables the operation of physical industrial robots, provides persistent data storage, and supports action reproduction and offline data analysis and decision making.

This paper delves into enhancing the performance of ScAlN-based Piezoelectric Micromachined Ultrasonic Transducers (PMUTs) through the implementation of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) acoustic lenses. The PMUT, encapsulated in PDMS, underwent thorough characterization through the utilization of an industry-standard hydrophone calibration instrument. The experimental results showed that the ScAlN-based PMUT with the PDMS lenses achieved an impressive sensitivity of −160 dB (re: 1 V/μPa), an improvement of more than 8 dB compared to the PMUT with an equivalent PDMS film. There was a noticeable improvement in the −3 dB main lobe width within the frequency response when comparing the PMUT with PDMS encapsulation, both with and without lenses. The successful fabrication of high-performance PDMS lenses proved instrumental in significantly boosting the sensitivity of the PMUT. Comprehensive performance evaluations underscored that the designed PMUT in this investigation surpassed its counterparts reported in the literature and commercially available transducers. This encouraging outcome emphasizes its substantial potential for commercial applications.

In light of the documented elevated concentrations of total mercury (Hg) and methylmercury (MeHg) in poultry originating from Hg-contaminated sites, a knowledge gap persists regarding the levels of Hg found in home-produced eggs (HPEs) and the associated dietary exposure risks in regions affected by Hg mining. To address this knowledge gap, a comprehensive investigation was undertaken with the primary objectives of ascertaining the concentrations of THg and MeHg in HPEs and evaluating the potential hazards associated with the consumption of eggs from the Wanshan Hg mining area in Southwest China. The results showed that THg concentrations in HPEs varied within a range of 10.5–809 ng/g (with a geometric mean (GM) of 64.1 ± 2.7 ng/g), whereas MeHg levels spanned from 1.3 to 291 ng/g (GM, 23.1 ± 3.4 ng/g). Remarkably, in half of all eggs, as well as those collected from regions significantly impacted by mining activities, THg concentrations exceeded the permissible maximum allowable value for fresh eggs (50 ng/g). Consumption of these eggs resulted in increased exposure risks associated with THg and MeHg, with GM values ranging from 0.024 to 0.17 µg/kg BW/day and 0.0089–0.066 µg/kg BW/day, respectively. Notably, the most substantial daily dosage was observed among children aged 2–3 years. The study found that consuming HPEs could result in a significant IQ reduction of 34.0 points for the whole mining area in a year. These findings highlight the potential exposure risk, particularly concerning MeHg, stemming from the consumption of local HPEs by residents in mining areas, thereby warranting serious consideration within the framework of Hg exposure risk assessment in mining locales.

BackgroundThe thyroid gland is one of the organs sensitive to ionizing radiation, and there are few studies on the effects of long-term exposure to low doses of ionizing radiation on the thyroid gland of radiation workers. ObjectiveTo investigate thyroid abnormalities in workers in medical radiology departments in Guangdong Province and to identify potential influencing factors of thyroid abnormalities. MethodsA total of 1657 radiation workers from 48 hospitals in Guangdong Province were selected as survey subjects using convenience sampling, and their personal dose monitoring results and health examination information were retrospectively analyzed to determine the factors affecting thyroid abnormalities. ResultsThe M (P25, P75) of thyroid absorbed dose (DT) was 1.55 (0.65, 3.96) mGy in the 1657 investigated workers. The attribute-specific medians of DT were 1.29, 1.38, 1.99, and 3.51 mGy for departments of diagnostic radiology, interventional radiology, radiotherapy, and nuclear medicine, respectively; and 1.10, 1.55, and 1.80 mGy for job titles of nurse, technician, and physician, respectively. Differences in DT by gender, age, years of radiological work, age of radiation exposure onset, occupational category, and job title were statistically significant (Z=−6.35, H=708.52, 918.20, 31.19, 95.64, 39.28, P

IntroductionRecent neurosurgical applications based on artificial intelligence (AI) have demonstrated its potential in surgical planning and anatomical measurement. We aimed to evaluate the performance of an AI planning software application on screw length/diameter selection and insertion accuracy in comparison with freehand surgery.MethodsA total of 45 patients with 208 pedicle screw placements on thoracolumbar segments were included in this analysis. The novel AI planning software was developed based on a deep learning model. AI-based pedicle screw placements were selected on the basis of preoperative computed tomography (CT) data, and freehand surgery screw placements were observed based on postoperative CT data. The performance of AI pedicle screw placements was evaluated on the components of screw length, diameter, and Gertzbein grade in comparison with the results achieved by freehand surgery.ResultsAmong 208 pedicle screw placements, the average screw length/diameters selected by the AI model and used in freehand surgery were 48.65 ± 5.99 mm/7.39 ± 0.42 mm and 44.78 ± 2.99 mm/6.1 ± 0.27 mm, respectively. Among AI screw placements, 85.1% were classified as Gertzbein Grade A (no cortical pedicle breach); among free-hand surgery placements, 64.9% were classified as Gertzbein Grade A.ConclusionThe novel AI planning software application could provide an accessible and safe pedicle screw placement strategy in comparison with traditional freehand pedicle screw placement strategies. The choices of pedicle screw dimensional parameters made by the model, including length and diameter, may provide potential inspiration for real clinical discretion.

BackgroundRadiation-induced liver damage is a major complication for primary liver cancer and other upper abdominal tumors during radiation therapy. The early biological effects of radiation-induced liver damage at different doses of radiation and its mechanisms of action have not yet been elucidated. ObjectiveTo establish X-ray-induced radioactive mouse liver damage model and explore the level of oxidative stress and its correlation with nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1). MethodsA total of 24 male C57BL/6J mice aged 6 weeks were randomly divided into 4 groups (control, 0.8 Gy, 1.6 Gy, and 4 Gy), with 6 mice in each group. X-rays irradiated the whole body of mice singly in each dose group. At 24 h after radiation, histopathological changes in mouse liver were evaluated; peripheral blood cell count, serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, as well as liver tissue superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, malondialdehyde (MDA) level, reduced glutathione (GSH) level, and 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) level were measured; real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect liver tissue NF-κB p65 and TGF-β1 mRNA expression levels; the correlations of oxidative stress indicators with NF-κB p65 and TGF-β1 mRNA expression levels were analyzed by Pearson correlation. ResultsCompared with the control group, at 24 h after different doses of X-ray radiation, early injury-related histopathological changes were observed in liver, and the serum levels of AST and ALT were significantly increased in the 4 Gy group (P

Amino acid (AA) was used as a green grafting agent to functionalize polyepoxysuccinic acid (PESA), and three AA-modified PESA (AA-PESA) CaCO3 scale inhibitors were obtained to change the structural singleness of PESA and further improve its comprehensive properties. The structures of AA-PESA were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance hydrogen (1HNMR) spectroscopy. The molecular weights of AA-PESA were analyzed by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The synthesis technology of AA-PESA was optimized by single-factor and orthogonal experiments. The CaCO3 scale inhibition performance of AA-PESA was studied by the static scale-inhibition method, and the scale inhibition mechanism was analyzed. Results showed that AA-PESAs had the same synthesis process: n(PESA):n(AA) = 1:0.625, reaction temperature of 95 °C, and reaction time of 2 h. In the water system with pH 7.0–8.5, agent concentration of 8–10 mg/L, action period of 10–14 h, ambient temperature

Abstract Background Radiation-induced brain injury (RIBI) is the most serious complication of radiotherapy in patients with head and neck tumors, which seriously affects the quality of life. Currently, there is no effective treatment for patients with RIBI, and identifying new treatment that targets the pathological mechanisms of RIBI is urgently needed. Methods Immunofluorescence staining, western blotting, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR), co-culture of primary neurons and microglia, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and CRISPR–Cas9-mediated gene editing techniques were employed to investigate the protective effects and underlying mechanisms of pregabalin that ameliorate microglial activation and neuronal injury in the RIBI mouse model. Results Our findings showed that pregabalin effectively repressed microglial activation, thereby reducing neuronal damage in the RIBI mouse model. Pregabalin mitigated inflammatory responses by directly inhibiting cytoplasmic translocation of high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), a pivotal protein released by irradiated neurons which induced subsequent activation of microglia and inflammatory cytokine expression. Knocking out neuronal HMGB1 or microglial TLR2/TLR4/RAGE by CRISPR/Cas9 technique significantly inhibited radiation-induced NF-κB activation and pro-inflammatory transition of microglia. Conclusions Our findings indicate the protective mechanism of pregabalin in mitigating microglial activation and neuronal injury in RIBI. It also provides a therapeutic strategy by targeting HMGB1-TLR2/TLR4/RAGE signaling pathway in the microglia for the treatment of RIBI.

This paper presents the design and development of a high-resolution 3D ultrasound imaging system based on a 1 × 256 piezoelectric ring array, achieving an accuracy of 0.1 mm in both ascending and descending modes. The system achieves an imaging spatial resolution of approximately 0.78 mm. A 256 × 32 cylindrical sensor array and a digital phantom of breast tissue were constructed using the k-Wave toolbox. The signal is acquired layer by layer using 3D acoustic time-domain simulation, resulting in the collection of data from each of the 32 layers. The 1 × 256 ring array moves on a vertical trajectory from the chest wall to the nipple at a constant speed. A data set was collected at intervals of 1.5 mm, resulting in a total of 32 data sets. Surface rendering and volume rendering algorithms were used to reconstruct 3D ultrasound images from the volume data obtained via simulation so that the smallest simulated reconstructed lesion had a diameter of 0.3 mm. The reconstructed three-dimensional image derived from the experimental data exhibits the contour of the breast model along with its internal mass. Reconstructable dimensions can be achieved up to approximately 0.78 mm. The feasibility of applying the system to 3D breast ultrasound imaging has been demonstrated, demonstrating its attributes of resolution, precision, and exceptional efficiency.

Ultrasound is a powerful and versatile technology that has been applied extensively in medicine and scientific research. The development of miniature underwater robots focuses on achieving specific tasks, such as surveys and inspections in confined spaces. However, traditional sonar has limited use in micro underwater robots due to its large size and heavy power demands. Conversely, capacitive micromechanical ultrasonic transducers (CMUTs) offer various advantages, including a wide bandwidth, compact size, and integration feasibility. These attributes make CMUTs a candidate for obstacle avoidance in micro underwater robots. Hence, a novel CMUT structure using Si-Si bonding is proposed. In this design, a membrane isolation layer replaces the cavity bottom isolation layer, simplifying the process and improving bond reliability. A finite element model of the CMUT was constructed in COMSOL and numerically assessed for the CMUT’s operating frequency, collapse voltage, and submerged depth. The CMUT, manufactured using micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology, undergoes waterproofing with PDMS—A material with similar acoustic impedance to water and corrosion resistance. Underwater tests reveal the CMUT’s resonant frequency in water as approximately 2 MHz, with a −3 dB bandwidth of 108.7%, a transmit/receive beam width of 7.3°, and a standard deviation of measured distance from the true distance of less than 0.05. These outcomes suggest that CMUTs hold promise in obstacle avoidance applications for fish-shaped underwater robots.

The Method for Object-based Diagnostic Evaluation (MODE) is applied to evaluate the SMS-WARMS, ECMWF, and GFS models for spatial verification of their performance of rainstorm forecast for three landing typhoons in East China in 2018. The results show that: (1) The MODE method is more advanced than the traditional method in typhoon precipitation verification. It can provide more diagnostic information to reflect the prediction error of the model through various verification indices such as centroid distance, area, and axis angle etc. (2) The results of MODE indicate that the SMS-WARMS prediction is superior to the ECMWF and GFS predictions in terms of spatial predictions of heavy rainfall over 50 mm for the three landing typhoons, particularly for the rainfall over 100 mm. (3) The predicted intensity of rainfall by the regional model is stronger than that by the global models, reflecting the advantages of regional model in predicting typhoon heavy rainfall. (4) The SMS-WARMS model tends to over-predict the area of typhoon heavy rainfall, while ECMWF and GFS tend to under-predict.

Mycorrhizal inoculation was widely reported to alleviate the damage resulting from NaCl by various physiological ways. However, the symbiotic benefit under distant NaCl concentrations and the relationship among different responsive physiological processes were elusive. In this study, saline resistant plant Xanthoceras sorbifolium was selected as the experimental material and five concentrations of NaCl in the presence or absence of Arbuscular Mycorrhiza Fungi (AMF) were conducted, in order to understand the differences and similarities on the photosynthesis, antioxidant activity, and osmotic adjustment between arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) plants and non-arbuscular mycorrhizal (NM) plants. Under low salt stress, X. sorbifolium can adapt to salinity by accumulating osmotic adjustment substances, such as soluble protein and proline, increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) activity, and glutathione (GSH). However, under high concentrations of NaCl [240 and 320 mM (mmol·L−1)], the resistant ability of the plants significantly decreased, as evidenced by the significant downregulation of photosynthetic capacity and biomass compared with the control plants in both AM and NM groups. This demonstrates that the regulatory capacity of X. sorbifolium was limiting, and it played a crucial role mainly under the conditions of 0–160 mM NaCl. After inoculation of AMF, the concentration of Na+ in roots was apparently lower than that of NM plants, while Gs (Stomatal conductance) and Ci (Intercellular CO2 concentration) increased, leading to increases in Pn (Net photosynthetic rate) as well. Moreover, under high salt stress, proline, soluble protein, GSH, and reduced ascorbic acid (ASA) in AM plants are higher in comparison with NM plants, revealing that mycorrhizal symbiotic benefits are more crucial against severe salinity toxicity. Meanwhile, X. sorbifolium itself has relatively high tolerance to salinity, and AMF inoculation can significantly increase the resistant ability against NaCl, whose function was more important under high concentrations.

ST7 Staphylococcus aureus is highly prevalent in humans, pigs, as well as food in China; however, staphylococcal food poisoning (SFP) caused by this ST type has rarely been reported. On May 13, 2017, an SFP outbreak caused by ST7 S. aureus strains occurred in two campuses of a kindergarten in Hainan Province, China. We investigated the genomic characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of ST7 SFP strains combined with the 91 ST7 food-borne strains from 12 provinces in China by performing whole-genome sequencing (WGS). There was clear phylogenetic clustering of seven SFP isolates. Six antibiotic genes including blaZ, ANT (4′)-Ib, tetK, lnuA, norA, and lmrS were present in all SFP strains and also showed a higher prevalence rate in 91 food-borne strains. A multiple resistance plasmid pDC53285 was present in SFP strain DC53285. Among 27 enterotoxin genes, only sea and selx were found in all SFP strains. A ФSa3int prophage containing type A immune evasion cluster (sea, scn, sak, and chp) was identified in SFP strain. In conclusion, we concluded that this SFP event was caused by the contamination of cakes with ST7 S. aureus. This study indicated the potential risk of new emergencing ST7 clone for SFP.

Radiation therapy is a standard treatment for head and neck tumors. However, patients often exhibit cognitive impairments following radiation therapy. Previous studies have revealed that hippocampal dysfunction, specifically abnormal hippocampal neurogenesis or neuroinflammation, plays a key role in radiation-induced cognitive impairment. However, the long-term effects of radiation with respect to the electrophysiological adaptation of hippocampal neurons remain poorly characterized. We found that mice exhibited cognitive impairment 3 months after undergoing 10 minutes of cranial irradiation at a dose rate of 3 Gy/min. Furthermore, we observed a remarkable reduction in spike firing and excitatory synaptic input, as well as greatly enhanced inhibitory inputs, in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. Corresponding to the electrophysiological adaptation, we found reduced expression of synaptic plasticity marker VGLUT1 and increased expression of VGAT. Furthermore, in irradiated mice, long-term potentiation in the hippocampus was weakened and GluR1 expression was inhibited. These findings suggest that radiation can impair intrinsic excitability and synaptic plasticity in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons.

High-resolution observations of typhoon boundary layer above 100 m are rare as traditional wind towers are generally below 100 m, which limits the study of typhoon boundary layer and engineering applications such as wind-resistant design of tall buildings and wind turbines in typhoon-prone regions. In this study, boundary layer winds of super typhoon Lekima (2019) are observed, simulated and analyzed. Together with traditional wind tower, Doppler wind lidar is utilized for observations of typhoon boundary layer in order to obtain measured data above 100 m. Besides, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation based on Large Eddy Simulation (LES) method is conducted to further investigate the impact of complex terrain on the near-surface wind characteristics. The results show that the power law fits the mean wind speed profile well below 100 m. However, before and after the typhoon lands, a local reverse or low-level jet occurs in the mean wind speed profile at the height of 100–300 m, which cannot be depicted by the power law. Meanwhile, the turbulence intensity increases with height and experiences larger fluctuations. In addition, there is a significant negative correlation between the ground elevation and power exponents of the fitted mean wind speed profiles. This study provides useful information to better understand wind characteristics of the typhoon boundary layer.

AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) coordinated formation can expand the detection range, improve detection efficiency, and complete complex tasks, which requires each AUV to have the ability to track and locate. A wake detector provides a new technical approach for AUV cooperative formation warfare. Now, most of the existing artificial lateral line detectors are for one-dimensional flow field applications, which are difficult to use for wake detection of AUVs. Therefore, based on the pressure gradient sensing mechanism of the canal neuromasts, we apply Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) technology to develop a lateral line-inspired MEMS wake detector. The sensing mechanism, design, and fabrication are demonstrated in detail. Experimental results show the detector’s sensitivity is 147 mV·(m/s)−1, and the detection threshold is 0.3 m/s. In addition, the vector test results verify it has vector-detecting capacity. This wake detector can serve AUVs wake detection and tracking technology, which will be promising in AUV positioning and coordinated formation.

With advances in new materials and technologies, there has been increasing research focused on flexible sensors. However, in most flexible pressure sensors made using new materials, it is challenging to achieve high detection sensitivity across a wide pressure range. Although traditional silicon-based sensors have good performance, they are not formable and, because of their rigidity and brittleness, they are not suitable for fitting with soft human skin, which limits their application in wearable devices to collect various signals. Silicon nanomembranes are ultra-thin, flexible materials with excellent piezoresistive properties, and they can be applied in various fields, such as in soft robots and flexible devices. In this study, we developed a flexible pressure sensor based on the use of silicon nanomembranes (with a thickness of only 340 nm) as piezoresistive units, which were transferred onto a flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. The flexible pressure sensor operated normally in the range of 0–200 kPa, and the sensitivity of the sensor reached 0.0185 kPa−1 in the low-pressure range of 0–5 kPa. In the high-pressure range of 5–200 kPa, the sensitivity of the sensor was maintained at 0.0023 kPa−1. The proposed sensor exhibited a fast response and excellent long-term stability and could recognize human movements, such as the bending of fingers and wrist joints, while maintaining a stable output. Thus, the developed flexible pressure sensor has promising applications in body monitoring and wearable devices.

In light of a need for low-frequency, high sensitivity and broadband cardiac murmur signal detection, the present work puts forward an integrated MEMS-based heart sound sensor with a hollow concave ciliary micro-structure. The advantages of a hollow MEMS structure, in contrast to planar ciliated micro-structures, are that it reduces the ciliated mass and enhances the operating bandwidth. Meanwhile, the area of acoustic-wave reception is enlarged by the concave architecture, thereby enhancing the sensitivity at low frequencies. By rationally designing the acoustic encapsulation, the loss of heart acoustic distortion and weak cardiac murmurs is reduced. As demonstrated by experimentation, the proposed hollow MEMS structure cardiac sound sensor has a sensitivity of up to −206.9 dB at 200 Hz, showing 6.5 dB and 170 Hz increases in the sensitivity and operating bandwidth, respectively, in contrast to the planar ciliated MEMS sensor. The SNR of the sensor is 26.471 dB, showing good detectability for cardiac sounds.

Marine acoustic sensors can detect underwater acoustic information. The cilium micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) vector hydrophone (CVH) is the core component of the ocean noise measurement system. The performance of the CVH, especially its self-noise, has received widespread attention. In this paper, we propose a solution to improve the performance of the CVH using an array to detect environmental noise in a complex deep-water environment. We analyzed the self-noise source of the CVH and the noise suppression principle of the four-unit MEMS vector hydrophone (FUVH). In addition, we designed the pre-circuit of the FUVH, completed the cross-beam structure by the MEMS processing, and packaged a FUVH. Then, we tested the performance of a packaged FUVH. Finally, the experimental results show that the FUVH reduces the self-noise voltage power spectrum by 6 dB compared to the CVH structure. The FUVH achieves better linearity at low frequencies without reducing the bandwidth and sensitivity. In addition, it minimizes the equivalent self-noise levels by 5.18 and 5.14 dB in the X and Y channels, respectively.

ObjectiveOur aim was to compare the clinical outcomes of patients treated with bevacizumab combined with corticosteroids and those with bevacizumab monotherapy from a radiation-induced brain necrosis (RN) registry cohort (NCT03908502).MethodsWe utilized clinical data from a prospective RN registry cohort (NCT03908502) from July 2017 to June 2020. Patients were considered eligible if they had symptomatic RN after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and received bevacizumab (5 mg/kg, two to four cycles) with a minimum follow-up time of 3 months. The primary outcome was a 2-month response rate determined by MRI and clinical symptoms. Secondary outcomes included quality of life [evaluated by the abbreviated World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire] and cognitive function (evaluated by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale) at 2 months, RN recurrence during follow-up, and adverse events.ResultsA total of 123 patients (34 in the combined therapy group and 89 in the monotherapy group) were enrolled in our study with a median follow-up time of 0.97 year [interquartile range (IQR) = 0.35–2.60 years]. The clinical efficacy of RN did not differ significantly between patients in these two groups [odds ratio (OR) = 1.642, 95%CI = 0.584–4.614, p = 0.347]. Furthermore, bevacizumab combined with corticosteroids did not reduce recurrence compared with bevacizumab monotherapy [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.329, 95%CI = 0.849–2.079, p = 0.213]. The most common adverse events of bevacizumab were hypertension (17.89%), followed by nosebleed (8.13%) and fatigue (8.13%). There was no difference in grade 2 or more severe adverse events between the two groups (p = 0.811).InterpretationOur results showed that the treatment strategy of combining bevacizumab with corticosteroids did not lead to better clinical outcomes for RN patients with a background of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

The study of impedance matching between a transducer and its working medium is an important part of acoustic transducer design. The traditional quarter wavelength matching (Q-matching) scheme is not suitable for broadband capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers. To mitigate this issue, a 0–3 composite broadband matching layer based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate/TiO2 particles is designed to achieve electrical insulation and efficient acoustic energy transfer of underwater capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) devices. In this work, the coherent potential approximation model is used to analyze the properties of 0–3 composite materials. Samples are prepared for performance testing to determine the proportion of TiO2 particles that enable the 0–3 composite materials to have the same longitudinal acoustic impedance as water. The CMUT device is packaged by a spin coating and pouring process, and its performance tests are carried out. The experimental results show that the central frequency of the transducer remains at 1.74 MHz, the −6 dB fractional bandwidth increases from 97.3% to 100.3%, the 3 dB directional main beam width increases from 8.3° to 10.3°, the side lobes decrease significantly, and the device has good reception sensitivity. These values imply that the 0–3 composite material has good matching performance, and this matching scheme has the advantages of high efficiency and wide bandwidth. This broadband matching method endows CMUTs with great advantages in underwater detection systems, and it facilitates underwater ultrasonic imaging of CMUT.

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) lays a foundation for the utilization of heterosis in soybean. The soybean CMS line SXCMS5A is an excellent CMS line exhibiting 100% male sterility. Cytological analysis revealed that in SXCMS5A compared to its maintainer SXCMS5B, its tapetum was vacuolated and abnormally developed. To identify the genes and metabolic pathways involving in pollen abortion of SXCMS5A, a comparative transcriptome analysis was conducted between SXCMS5A and SXCMS5B using flower buds. A total of 372,973,796 high quality clean reads were obtained from 6 samples (3 replicates for each material), and 840 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, including 658 downregulated and 182 upregulated ones in SXCMS5A compared to SXCMS5B. Among them, 13 DEGs, i.e., 12 open reading frames (ORFs) and 1 COX2, were mitochondrial genome genes in which ORF178 and ORF103c were upregulated in CMS lines and had transmembrane domain(s), therefore, identified as CMS candidate mitochondrial genes of SXCMS5A. Furthermore, numerous DEGs were associated with pollen wall development, carbohydrate metabolism, sugar transport, reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism and transcription factor. Some of them were further confirmed by quantitative real time PCR analysis between CMS lines with the same cytoplasmic source as SXCMS5A and their respective maintainer lines. The amount of soluble sugar and adenosine triphosphate and the activity of catalase and ascorbic acid oxidase showed that energy supply and ROS scavenging decreased in SXCMS5A compared to SXCMS5B. These findings provide valuable information for further understanding the molecular mechanism regulating the pollen abortion of soybean CMS.

As a widely clinical detection method, ultrasonography (US) has been applied to the diagnosis of breast cancer. In this paper, the multi-element synthetic aperture focusing (M-SAF) is applied to the ring array of breast ultrasonography (US) imaging, which addresses the problem of low imaging quality due to the single active element for each emission and the reception in the synthetic aperture focusing. In order to determine the optimal sub-aperture size, the formula is derived for calculating the internal sound pressure of the ring array with a 200 mm diameter, and the sound pressure distribution is analyzed. The ring array with 1024 elements (1024 ring array) is established in COMSOL Multiphysics 5.6, and the optimal sub-aperture size is 16 elements, according to the sound field beam simulation and the directivity research. Based on the existing experimental conditions, the ring array with 256 elements (256 ring array) is simulated and verified by experiments. The simulation has a spatial resolution evaluation in the k-Wave toolbox, and the experiment uses nylon rope and breast model imaging. The results show that if the sub-aperture size has four elements, the imaging quality is the highest. Specifically, the spatial resolution is the best, and the sound pressure amplitude and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) are maintained at a high level in the reconstructed image. The optimal sub-aperture theory is verified by the two kinds of ring arrays, which also provide a theoretical basis for the application of the multi-element synthetic aperture focusing technology (M-SAF) in ring arrays.

Autonomous profiling observation of full-depth marine turbulence is very important for ocean research. Anisotropic turbulence near the boundary layer needs to be observed well. However, there is lack of high-spatial-resolution and high-sensitivity methods to fulfill vector turbulence observation. Hence, a highly sensitive bullet-headed MEMS shear probe for observing ocean vector turbulence is developed in this manuscript. The sensing mechanism, design and fabrication are demonstrated in detail. In order to meet the bandwidth requirements for observing ocean turbulence, we perform wet-mode simulations of probe structure to achieve an eigenfrequency of 490 Hz. Through sensitivity calibration experiments, it achieves a sensitivity of 4.84 × 10−2 V·m·s2/kg, which is much higher than those of shear probes reported previously. In addition, the vector test validates that the probe can measure ocean vector turbulence. The results show that the proposed probe is promising in autonomous profiling observation of marine turbulence.

The biomedical acoustic signal plays an important role in clinical non-invasive diagnosis. In view of the deficiencies in early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases, acoustic properties of S1 and S2 heart sounds are utilized. In this paper, we propose an integrated concave cilium MEMS heart sound sensor. The concave structure enlarges the area for receiving sound waves to improve the low-frequency sensitivity, and realizes the low-frequency and high-sensitivity characteristics of an MEMS heart sound sensor by adopting a reasonable acoustic package design, reducing the loss of heart sound distortion and faint heart murmurs, and improving the auscultation effect. Finally, experimental results show that the integrated concave ciliated MEMS heart sound sensor’s sensitivity reaches −180.6 dB@500 Hz, as compared with the traditional bionic ciliated MEMS heart sound sensor; the sensitivity is 8.9 dB higher. The sensor has a signal-to-noise ratio of 27.05 dB, and has good heart sound detection ability, improving the accuracy of clinical detection methods.

Single crystals of Ho2O3-doped Y2O3 stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) with different Y2O3 and Ho2O3 contents were grown by the optical floating zone method. XRD and Raman spectra were measured and showed that crystal samples all had tetragonal structures. Measurements of positron annihilation lifetime spectra indicated that the increase in Y2O3 concentration led to the increases of defects and mean positron lifetime, which enhanced the scattering of light and reduced the luminous intensity and the quantum yield (QY) of the crystal. Under the excitation at 446 nm, photoluminescence (PL) spectra of Ho2O3-doped YSZ crystals showed emission peaks at 540, 551, 670, and 757 nm corresponding to Ho3+ transitions from 5S2, 5F4, 5F5, and 5I4 excited states to the 5I8 ground state, respectively. At low Ho2O3-doped concentrations (0.10–0.50 mol%), the overall emission intensity increased with Ho2O3 contents, reached the maximum value at 0.50 mol%, then decreased with higher Ho2O3 contents, probably as a result of increased non-radiative relaxation caused by increased interactions between Ho3+ ions. Quenching of the PL occurred at Ho2O3 concentrations > 0.5 mol% and due to the electric dipole–dipole interaction. The calculated chromaticity coordinates (CIE) were approximately (0.307, 0.683) and the color purity achieved 99.6%. The results showed that Ho2O3: YSZ crystals were suitable for green light-emitting devices.

Capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers (CMUTs) have broad application prospects in medical imaging, flow monitoring, and nondestructive testing. CMUT arrays are limited by their fabrication process, which seriously restricts their further development and application. In this paper, a vacuum-sealed device for medical applications is introduced, which has the advantages of simple manufacturing process, no static friction, repeatability, and high reliability. The CMUT array suitable for medical imaging frequency band was fabricated by a silicon wafer bonding technology, and the adjacent array devices were isolated by an isolation slot, which was cut through the silicon film. The CMUT device fabricated following this process is a 4 × 16 array with a single element size of 1 mm × 1 mm. Device performance tests were conducted, where the center frequency of the transducer was 3.8 MHz, and the 6 dB fractional bandwidth was 110%. The static capacitance (29.4 pF) and center frequency (3.78 MHz) of each element of the array were tested, and the results revealed that the array has good consistency. Moreover, the transmitting and receiving performance of the transducer was evaluated by acoustic tests, and the receiving sensitivity was −211 dB @ 3 MHz, −213 dB @ 4 MHz. Finally, reflection imaging was performed using the array, which provides certain technical support for the research of two-dimensional CMUT arrays in the field of 3D ultrasound imaging.

Silicon nano-film is essential for the rapidly developing fields of nanoscience and flexible electronics, due to its compatibility with the CMOS process. Viscoelastic PDMS material can adhere to Si, SiO2, and other materials via intermolecular force and play a key role in flexible electronic devices. Researchers have studied many methods of transfer printing silicon nano-films based on PDMS stamps with pyramid microstructures. However, only large-scale transfer printing processes of silicon nano-films with line widths above 20 μm have been reported, mainly because the distribution of pyramid microstructures proposes a request on the size of silicon nano-films. In this paper, The PDMS base to the curing agent ratio affects the adhesion to silicon and enables the transfer, without the need for secondary alignment photolithography, and a flat stamp has been used during the transfer printing, with no requirement for the attaching pressure and detaching speed. Transfer printing of 20 μm wide structures has been realized, while the success rate is 99.3%. The progress is promising in the development of miniature flexible sensors, especially flexible hydrophone.

Capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is an ultrasonic transducer based on the microelectromechanical system (MEMS). CMUT elements are easily made into a high-density array, which will increase the hardware complexity. In order to reduce the number of active channels, this paper studies the grating lobes generated by CMUT periodic sparse array (PSA) pairs. Through the design of active element positions in the transmitting and receiving processes, the simulation results of effective aperture and beam patterns show that the common grating lobes (CGLs) generated by the transmit and receive array are eliminated. On the basis of point targets imaging, a CMUT linear array with 256 elements is used to carry out the PSA pairs experiment. Under the same sparse factor (SF), the optimal sparse array configuration can be selected to reduce the imaging artifacts. This conclusion is of great significance for the application of CMUT in three-dimensional ultrasound imaging.

Seed number is one of the key traits related to plant evolution/domestication and crop improvement/breeding. In rapeseed germplasm, the seed number per pod (SNPP) shows a very wide variation from several to nearly 30; however, the underlying causations/mechanisms for this variation are poorly known. In the current study, the genetic and cytological bases for the natural variation of SNPP in rapeseed was firstly and systematically investigated using the representative four high-SNPP and five low-SNPP lines. The results of self- or cross-pollination experiment between the high- and low-SNPP lines showed that the natural variation of SNPP was mainly controlled by maternal effect (mean = 0.79), followed by paternal effect (mean = 0.21). Analysis of the data using diploid seed embryo–cytoplasmic–maternal model further showed that the maternal genotype, embryo, and cytoplasm effects, respectively, explained 47.6, 35.2, and 7.5% of the genetic variance. In addition, the analysis of combining ability showed that for the SNPP of hybrid F1 was mainly determined by the general combining ability of parents (63.0%), followed by special combining ability of parental combination (37.0%). More importantly, the cytological observation showed that the SNPP difference between the high- and low-SNPP lines was attributable to the accumulative differences in its components. Of which, the number of ovules, the proportion of fertile ovules, the proportion of fertile ovules to be fertilized, and the proportion of fertilized ovules to develop into seeds accounted for 30.7, 18.2, 7.1, and 43.9%, respectively. The accordant results of both genetic and cytological analyses provide solid evidences and systematic insights to further understand the mechanisms underlying the natural variation of SNPP, which will facilitate the development of high-yield cultivars in rapeseed.

Purpose. To explore the possible role of MIF and Th17 cells in the thyroid-specific autoimmune damage of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). Material and Methods. We enrolled 40 HT patients and 30 healthy controls and divided HT patients into euthyroid subset (n=22) and subclinical or overt hypothyroidism subset (n=18). The percentages of Th17 cells and expressions of MIF, interleukin 17A (IL-17A) mRNA in PBMCs, as well as serum concentrations of MIF, and IL-17A, and thyroid functions, and thyroid-specific autoantibodies (TPOAb, TgAb) were detected by flow cytometry, real-time RT-PCR, ELISA, and ECLIA in all subjects. Results. MIF mRNA, IL-17A mRNA expressions and Th17 cells percentages, serum MIF, and IL-17A protein levels were all significantly higher in HT patients, even in euthyroid subgroup. Additionally, the differences became more obvious in dysfunction subgroup. Importantly, both MIF levels and Th17 cells percentage were positively correlated with serum TPOAb, TgAb, and thyrotropin (TSH) levels in HT patients. Conclusions. These data suggest that MIF and Th17 cells increased dynamically and positively correlated with the markers of thyroid autoimmune damage, which indicated that interaction between MIF and Th17 cells may participate in the pathogenesis and development of thyroid-specific autoimmunity in HT.