Application of Edge Computing in Structural Health Monitoring of Simply Supported PCI Girder Bridges.

This study proposes an innovative method for structural health monitoring of simply supported PCI girder bridges based on dynamic strain and edge computing. Field static and dynamic load tests were conducted on a bridge consisting of a span with newly replaced PCI girders and numerous spans with old PCI girders. Both the static and dynamic test results showed that the flexural rigidity of the old PCI girders decreased significantly due to deterioration. To improve the efficiency of on-site monitoring data transmission and data analysis, this study developed a smart dynamic strain gauge node with the function of edge computing. Continuous data with a sampling frequency of 100 Hz were computed at the sensor node. Among the computed results, only the maximum dynamic strain data caused by the passage of the heaviest vehicle within 1 min were transmitted. The on-site monitoring results indicated that under routine traffic conditions, the dynamic strain response of the new PCI girder was smaller than that of the deteriorated PCI girder. When the monitored dynamic strain response has a tendency to magnify, attention should be paid to the potential prestress loss or other deterioration behaviors of the bridge.

Methoxyhispolon Methyl Ether, a Hispolon Analog, Thwarts the SRC/STAT3/BCL-2 Axis to Provoke Human Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cell Apoptosis In Vitro.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with few treatment options. A promising TNBC treatment approach is targeting the oncogenic signaling pathways pivotal to TNBC initiation and progression. Deregulated activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is fundamental to driving TNBC malignant transformation, highlighting STAT3 as a promising TNBC therapeutic target. Methoxyhispolon Methyl Ether (MHME) is an analog of Hispolon, an anti-cancer polyphenol found in the medicinal mushroom Phellinus linteus. Still, MHME's anti-cancer effects and mechanisms remain unknown. Herein, we present the first report about MHME's anti-TNBC effect and its action mechanism. We first revealed that MHME is proapoptotic and cytotoxic against human TNBC cell lines HS578T, MDA-MB-231, and MDA-MB-463 and displayed a more potent cytotoxicity than Hispolon's. Mechanistically, MHME suppressed both constitutive and interleukin 6 (IL-6)-induced activation of STAT3 represented by the extent of tyrosine 705-phosphorylated STAT3 (p-STAT3). Notably, MHME-evoked apoptosis and clonogenicity impairment were abrogated in TNBC cells overexpressing a dominant-active mutant of STAT3 (STAT3-C); supporting the blockade of STAT3 activation is an integral mechanism of MHME's cytotoxic action on TNBC cells. Moreover, MHME downregulated BCL-2 in a STAT3-dependent manner, and TNBC cells overexpressing BCL-2 were refractory to MHME-induced apoptosis, indicating that BCL-2 downregulation is responsible for MHME's proapoptotic effect on TNBC cells. Finally, MHME suppressed SRC activation, while v-src overexpression rescued p-STAT3 levels and downregulated apoptosis in MHME-treated TNBC cells. Collectively, we conclude that MHME provokes TNBC cell apoptosis through the blockade of the SRC/STAT3/BCL-2 pro-survival axis. Our findings suggest the potential of applying MHME as a TNBC chemotherapy agent.

Maximum confidence hidden markov modeling for face recognition.

This paper presents a hybrid framework of feature extraction and hidden Markov modeling(HMM) for two-dimensional pattern recognition. Importantly, we explore a new discriminative training criterion to assure model compactness and discriminability. This criterion is derived from hypothesis test theory via maximizing the confidence of accepting the hypothesis that observations are from target HMM states rather than competing HMM states. Accordingly, we develop the maximum confidence hidden Markov modeling (MC-HMM) for face recognition. Under this framework, we merge a transformation matrix to extract discriminative facial features. The closed-form solutions to continuous-density HMM parameters are formulated. Attractively, the hybrid MC-HMM parameters are estimated under the same criterion and converged through the expectation-maximization procedure. From the experiments on FERET and GTFD facial databases, we find that the proposed method obtains robust segmentation in presence of different facial expressions, orientations, etc. In comparison with maximum likelihood and minimum classification error HMMs, the proposed MC-HMM achieves higher recognition accuracies with lower feature dimensions.

Subxiphoid single-incision thoracoscopic bilateral ablative sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis.

We describe the first case of severe palmar hyperhidrosis treated with single-incision subxiphoid thoracoscopic ablative sympathectomy, bilaterally, at T3 level. The single-incision subxiphoid thoracoscopic approach required only a 2-cm incision in the upper abdomen. In addition, the technique does not cause postoperative intercostal neuropathy and postoperative pain is minimal as the intercostal space is bypassed. Total operative time was ∼60 min and the volume of blood loss was 10 ml. The patient was discharged from the hospital the next day with complete remission of her symptoms. Excess palmar sweating released after operation and there was no compensatory sweating after a 6-month follow-up.