3D Object Detection Based on Attention and Multi-Scale Feature Fusion.

Three-dimensional object detection in the point cloud can provide more accurate object data for autonomous driving. In this paper, we propose a method named MA-MFFC that uses an attention mechanism and a multi-scale feature fusion network with ConvNeXt module to improve the accuracy of object detection. The multi-attention (MA) module contains point-channel attention and voxel attention, which are used in voxelization and 3D backbone. By considering the point-wise and channel-wise, the attention mechanism enhances the information of key points in voxels, suppresses background point clouds in voxelization, and improves the robustness of the network. The voxel attention module is used in the 3D backbone to obtain more robust and discriminative voxel features. The MFFC module contains the multi-scale feature fusion network and the ConvNeXt module; the multi-scale feature fusion network can extract rich feature information and improve the detection accuracy, and the convolutional layer is replaced with the ConvNeXt module to enhance the feature extraction capability of the network. The experimental results show that the average accuracy is 64.60% for pedestrians and 80.92% for cyclists on the KITTI dataset, which is 1.33% and 2.1% higher, respectively, compared with the baseline network, enabling more accurate detection and localization of more difficult objects.

Lightweight Hot-Spot Fault Detection Model of Photovoltaic Panels in UAV Remote-Sensing Image.

Photovoltaic panels exposed to harsh environments such as mountains and deserts (e.g., the Gobi desert) for a long time are prone to hot-spot failures, which can affect power generation efficiency and even cause fires. The existing hot-spot fault detection methods of photovoltaic panels cannot adequately complete the real-time detection task; hence, a detection model considering both detection accuracy and speed is proposed. In this paper, the feature extraction part of YOLOv5 is replaced by the more lightweight Focus structure and the basic unit of ShuffleNetv2, and then the original feature fusion method is simplified. Considering that there is no publicly available infrared photovoltaic panel image dataset, this paper generates an infrared photovoltaic image dataset through frame extraction processing and manual annotation of a publicly available video. Consequently, the number of parameters of the model was 3.71 M, mAP was 98.1%, and detection speed was 49 f/s. A comprehensive comparison of the accuracy, detection speed, and model parameters of each model showed that the indicators of the new model are superior to other detection models; thus, the new model is more suitable to be deployed on the UAV platform for real-time photovoltaic panel hot-spot fault detection.

FGF21 mitigates atherosclerosis via inhibition of NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated vascular endothelial cells pyroptosis.

Fibroblast growth factor 21(FGF21) is an endocrine cytokine that targets inflammation and atherosclerosis (AS). However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of the FGF21 anti-AS effect remain to be explored. Pyroptosis induced by hyperlipidemia or oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) in vascular endothelial cells (VECs) is a significant step in the advancement of AS. This work aimed to evaluate the mechanisms and functioning of FGF21 against AS using an atherosclerotic animal model and oxLDL mimic in vitro. We found that exogenous treatments with FGF21 significantly reduced the aortic sinus plaque area and ameliorated dyslipidemia in apoE-/- mice. FGF21 attenuated the expression of pyroptosis-related proteins both in vivo and in vitro. Possibly, FGF21 improves mitochondrial function, inhibits mitochondrial division, and reduces ROS production by maintaining mitochondrial dynamics and function to reduce NLRP3 related pyroptosis and inhibits VECs endoplasmic reticulum stress, thereby exerting an anti-atherosclerotic effect.

In vitro wheat protoplast cytotoxicity of polystyrene nanoplastics.

Nanoplastics are an emerging environmental pollutant, having a potential risk to the terrestrial ecosystem. In the natural environment, almost all the micro-or nano-plastics will be aged by many factors and their characterizations of the surface will be modified. However, the toxicity and mechanism of the modified polystyrene nanoparticles (PS-NPs) to plant cells are not clear. In the study, the amino- and carboxyl-modified PS-NPs with different sizes (20 and 200 nm) were selected as the typical representatives to investigate their effects on protoplast cell viability, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in the cell and the leakage of cell-inclusion and apoptosis. The results indicated that the 20 nm amino-modified PS-NPs (PS-20A) could significantly damage the structure of the cell, especially the cell membrane, chloroplast and mitochondrion. After being modified by amino group, smaller size nanoplastics had the potential to cause more severe damage. In addition, compared with carboxyl-modified PS-NPs, the amino-modified PS-NPs induced more ROS production and caused higher membrane permeability/lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage. Apoptosis assay indicated that the proportion of viable cells in the PS-20A treatment decreased significantly, and the proportion of necrotic cells increased by four times. This study provides new insights into the toxicity and damage mechanism of PS-NPs to terrestrial vascular plants at the cellular level, and guides people to pay attention to the quality and safety of agricultural products caused by nanoplastics.

Microplastic particles alter wheat rhizosphere soil microbial community composition and function.

The wide existence of microplastics (MPs) in the terrestrial systems is proved by -many studies, and their presence could potentially change the soil chem-physical properties and processes. Various types of microplastics may have different behaviors, inducing distinct effects on the soil ecosystems. However, the knowledge of microplastic impacts on rhizosphere soil bacterial community structure is limited. In our study, three types of microplastics, i.e., polyethylene (PE), polyvinylchloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS), with the same particle size (200 µm) and concentration (2%) were used to investigate their influences on the rhizosphere soil bacterial communities. Results revealed that the alpha diversities (richness, evenness and diversity) of microbiota in the rhizosphere soil were variously decreased by the microplastics, especially the PE MPs. The relative abundance of some various phyla and genera related to pollution degradation was miscellaneously increased, indicating that the MPs with different characterizations may have miscellaneous biodegradation pathways. Moreover, the PICRUSt2 analysis demonstrated that PS decreased most functional category levels and led to a decrease of bacterial genus number, however, PE and PVC improved metabolic pathways and xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism. Our findings offer important knowledge of how the microplastics with different characterizations influence rhizosphere soil bacterial communities and their related function.

LncRNA growth arrest-specific transcript 5 targets miR-21 gene and regulates bladder cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis through PTEN.

The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism by which growth arrest-specific transcript 5 (GAS5) regulates bladder cancer cells. Bladder cancer samples were collected and tested for experiment. Dual-luciferase reporter assay was used to verify the downstream target genes for GAS5 and miR-21. The expression level of GAS5 was decreased and that of miR-21 was increased, indicating a negative correlation between the two. Patients with high GAS5 level and low miR-21 level had relatively longer survival rates. GAS5 inhibited bladder cancer cells proliferation and promoted apoptosis, and miR-21 had the opposite effects. MiR-21 was a direct target for GAS5, whereas phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) was a direct target gene of miR-21. Low expression of miR-21 could reverse the proliferative and antiapoptotic effects caused by GAS5 silencing. High levels of GAS5 and low levels of miR-21 might be associated with a higher survival rate in bladder cancer patients. GAS5 could exert antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects on bladder cancer cells through miR-21 and PTEN.

The relationship between smoking and stroke: A meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability for adult men and women worldwide, and a number of studies have explored the influences of smoking on stroke. However, few studies have discussed the relationship between stroke and smoking with consideration of the following factors: sex, the number of cigarettes smoked per day, stroke subtype, and the follow-up duration. Consequently, we aimed to extend previous work by using a systematic review to explore the relationship between stroke and cigarette smoking in reference to the above factors. METHODS: A systematic review was conducted using the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register databases and the following search criteria: ["stroke" (MeSH) and "smoking" (MeSH)]. All analyses were conducted with Stata, and funnel plots and Egger regression asymmetry tests were used to assess publication bias. RESULTS: The meta-analysis included 14 studies involving 303134 subjects. According to the meta-analysis, smokers had an overall increased risk of stroke compared with nonsmokers, with a pooled odds ratio (OR) of 1.61 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.34-1.93, P < .001). A subgroup analysis conducted based on smoking status revealed ORs of 1.92 (95% CI: 1.49-2.48) for current smokers and 1.30 (95% CI: 0.93-1.81) for former smokers. In addition, the relationship between stroke of any type and smoking status was also statistically significant; current smokers had an increased risk of stoke compared with nonsmokers (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.04-2.07, P < .001), which was influenced by sex (men: OR: 1.54, 95% CI: 1.11-2.13, P = .002; women: OR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.45-2.44, P < .023). From the analysis, we also observed that passive smoking increased the overall risk of stroke by 45% (OR: 1.45, 95% CI: 1.0-2.11, P < .05). Based on the dose-response meta-analysis, the risk of stroke increased by 12% for each increment of 5 cigarettes per day.

5-aminolevulinic acid mediated photodynamic therapy inhibits survival activity and promotes apoptosis of A375 and A431 cells.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 5-aminolaevulinic acid mediated photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) on the survival activity and apoptosis of human melanoma cell line A375 and non-melanoma skin carcinoma cell line A431 cells. The mechanism for cellular apoptosis was explored. METHODS: The cell survival activity was determined by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and the proportion of apoptotic cells was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) staining. The expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9 protein were assessed by western blot. The subcellular localization of cytochrome c was comparatively investigated by immunohistochemistry between pre-ALA-PDT and post- ALA-PDT. RESULTS: ALA-PDT significantly inhibited the survival activity of A375 cells and A431 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The optimum inhibition efficiencies for A375 cells and A431 cells were obtained at 0.6 mM ALA at 4 h and 8 h after ALA-PDT, respectively. The phenomena of apoptosis were observed in ALA-PDT treated cells by TUNEL assay. The apoptotic rates of A375 cells and A431 cells were 90.0% and 61.5% at 6 h after ALA-PDT, respectively. Apoptosis induced by ALA-PDT involved in down-regulation of Bcl-2 protein, up-regulation of Bax protein and cleaved-PARP protein. It was observed that the expression of cleaved- caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9 proteins in A375 cells and A431 cells gradually increased in 2 h and 4 h but decreased at 4-6 h and 6-8 h after ALA-PDT, respectively. In apoptosis cells immunohistochemical localization show that cytochrome C diffused from the mitochondria into the cytosol. CONCLUSION: ALA-PDT could significantly inhibit the survival activity of A375 and A431 cells. The apoptosis induced by ALA-PDT in A375 and A431 cells was related to the caspase-dependent death-receptor pathway and Cytochrome c-dependent mitochondrial pathway.

Antiproliferative effect of Dendrobium catenatum Lindley polypeptides against human liver, gastric and breast cancer cell lines.

Dendrobium catenatum Lindley is a precious plant with both dietary and medicinal applications. However, the antiproliferative activity of D. catenatum-derived peptides has not been investigated. In this study, the whole proteins of D. catenatum were extracted, hydrolysis with three proteases (alcalase 2.4L, alcalase 37017 and trypsin) was performed, and gel filtration chromatography was employed to obtain nine fractions. Fraction A3 possessed the best antiproliferative activity in vitro, with percentage inhibitions of 73.38%, 78.91% and 86.8% against HepG-2, SGC-7901 and MCF-7 cancer cells, respectively, and an inhibition of only 5.52% against L-O2 normal liver cells at 500 µg mL(-1). Subsequently, mass spectrometry revealed the existence of 10 alcalase-derived peptides in fraction A3, and the sequences of the three most abundant peptides were determined by de novo sequencing as: RHPFDGPLLPPGD, RCGVNAFLPKSYLVHFGWKLLFHFD and KPEEVGGAGDRWTC. Moreover, these peptides were synthesized and their antiproliferative activities in vitro were also confirmed. This suggests that fraction A3 may be promising for use in food and pharmaceutical applications.

[Characteristics and the impact factors of acid rain in Fuzhou and Xiamen 1992-2012].

Based on the observed acid rain data, synoptic situations and mass concentrations of atmospheric pollutants data from 1992 to 2012, the temporal variation characteristics and the impact factors of acid rain were analyzed in Fuzhou and Xiamen. The results showed that acid rain and non-acid rain accounted for 38.1% and 61.9% respectively in Fuzhou, 40.6% and 59.4% respectively in Xiamen. The annual average pH was 4.1-5.5 in Fuzhou. Acid rain pollution alleviated after 2007 in Fuzhou, and alleviated after 2006 in Xiamen. Acid rain was more serious in winter and spring than in summer and autumn. Precipitation intensity could affect the acidity of rain. Acid rain was observed more serious in southeast, southwest, west and northwest wind in Fuzhou, and more serious in northeast, southwest, west and northwest wind in Xiamen. Acid rain was most severe under the condition of transformed surface cold high, while most light under the conditions of typhoon (intertropical convergence zone) and outside of typhoon (intertropical convergence zone). There was a negative correlation between the mass concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, such as SO2, NO2, PM10, and the pH of rain in Fuzhou.