C9orf72 suppresses systemic and neural inflammation induced by gut bacteria.

A hexanucleotide-repeat expansion in C9ORF72 is the most common genetic variant that contributes to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia1,2. The C9ORF72 mutation acts through gain- and loss-of-function mechanisms to induce pathways that are implicated in neural degeneration3-9. The expansion is transcribed into a long repetitive RNA, which negatively sequesters RNA-binding proteins5 before its non-canonical translation into neural-toxic dipeptide proteins3,4. The failure of RNA polymerase to read through the mutation also reduces the abundance of the endogenous C9ORF72 gene product, which functions in endolysosomal pathways and suppresses systemic and neural inflammation6-9. Notably, the effects of the repeat expansion act with incomplete penetrance in families with a high prevalence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or frontotemporal dementia, indicating that either genetic or environmental factors modify the risk of disease for each individual. Identifying disease modifiers is of considerable translational interest, as it could suggest strategies to diminish the risk of developing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or frontotemporal dementia, or to slow progression. Here we report that an environment with reduced abundance of immune-stimulating bacteria10,11 protects C9orf72-mutant mice from premature mortality and significantly ameliorates their underlying systemic inflammation and autoimmunity. Consistent with C9orf72 functioning to prevent microbiota from inducing a pathological inflammatory response, we found that reducing the microbial burden in mutant mice with broad spectrum antibiotics-as well as transplanting gut microflora from a protective environment-attenuated inflammatory phenotypes, even after their onset. Our studies provide further evidence that the microbial composition of our gut has an important role in brain health and can interact in surprising ways with well-known genetic risk factors for disorders of the nervous system.

The C9orf72-interacting protein Smcr8 is a negative regulator of autoimmunity and lysosomal exocytosis.

While a mutation in C9ORF72 is the most common genetic contributor to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), much remains to be learned concerning the function of the protein normally encoded at this locus. To elaborate further on functions for C9ORF72, we used quantitative mass spectrometry-based proteomics to identify interacting proteins in motor neurons and found that its long isoform complexes with and stabilizes SMCR8, which further enables interaction with WDR41. To study the organismal and cellular functions for this tripartite complex, we generated Smcr8 loss-of-function mutant mice and found that they developed phenotypes also observed in C9orf72 loss-of-function animals, including autoimmunity. Along with a loss of tolerance for many nervous system autoantigens, we found increased lysosomal exocytosis in Smcr8 mutant macrophages. In addition to elevated surface Lamp1 (lysosome-associated membrane protein 1) expression, we also observed enhanced secretion of lysosomal components-phenotypes that we subsequently observed in C9orf72 loss-of-function macrophages. Overall, our findings demonstrate that C9ORF72 and SMCR8 have interdependent functions in suppressing autoimmunity as well as negatively regulating lysosomal exocytosis-processes of potential importance to ALS.

Functional Green-Emitting Mn2+-doped Zinc Germanate Persistent Luminescent Nanoparticles for Dual-Mode Immunochromatographic Detection.

Immunochromatography is a commonly used immediate detection technique, using signal labels to generate detection signals for rapid medical diagnosis. However, its detection sensitivity is affected by background fluorescence caused by the excitation light source. We have developed an immunochromatographic test strip using Zn2GeO4:Mn2+ (ZGM) persistent luminescent nanoparticles (PLNPs) for immediate fluorescence detection and highly sensitive persistent luminescence (PersL) detection without background fluorescence interference. ZGM emits a strong green light when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) excitation, and its green PersL can persist for over 30 min after the excitation light is turned off. We modified the surface of ZGM with heparin-binding protein (HBP) antibodies to create immunochromatographic test strips for the detection of HBP as the target analyte. Under UV excitation, the chromatography test paper can be visually observed at concentrations as low as 25 ng/mL. After the excitation light source is switched off, PersL can achieve a detection limit of 4.7 ng/mL without background interference. This dual-mode immunochromatographic detection, based on ZGM, shows great potential for in vitro diagnostic applications.

Dosimetric comparison of ZAP-X, Gamma Knife, and CyberKnife stereotactic radiosurgery for single brain metastasis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the dosimetric characteristics of ZAP-X stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for single brain metastasis by comparing with two mature SRS platforms. METHODS: Thirteen patients with single brain metastasis treated with CyberKnife (CK) G4 were selected retrospectively. The prescription dose for the planning target volume (PTV) was 18-24 Gy for 1-3 fractions. The PTV volume ranged from 0.44 to 11.52 cc.Treatment plans of thirteen patients were replanned using the ZAP-X plan system and the Gamma Knife (GK) ICON plan system with the same prescription dose and organs at risk (OARs) constraints. The prescription dose of PTV was normalized to 70% for both ZAP-X and CK, while it was 50% for GK. The dosimetric parameters of three groups included the plan characteristics (CI, GI, GSI, beams, MUs, treatment time), PTV (D2, D95, D98, Dmin, Dmean, Coverage), brain tissue (volume of 100%-10% prescription dose irradiation V100%-V10%, Dmean) and other OARs (Dmax, Dmean),all of these were compared and evaluated. All data were read and analyzed with MIM Maestro. One-way ANOVA or a multisample Friedman rank sum test was performed, where p < 0.05 indicated significant differences. RESULTS: The CI of GK was significantly lower than that of ZAP-X and CK. Regarding the mean value, ZAP-X had a lower GI and higher GSI, but there was no significant difference among the three groups. The MUs of ZAP-X were significantly lower than those of CK, and the mean value of the treatment time of ZAP-X was significantly shorter than that of CK. For PTV, the D95, D98, and target coverage of CK were higher, while the mean of Dmin of GK was significantly lower than that of CK and ZAP-X. For brain tissue, ZAP-X showed a smaller volume from V100% to V20%; the statistical results of V60% and V50% showed a difference between ZAP-X and GK, while the V40% and V30% showed a significant difference between ZAP-X and the other two groups; V10% and Dmean indicated that GK was better. Excluding the Dmax of the brainstem, right optic nerve and optic chiasm, the mean value of all other OARs was less than 1 Gy. For the brainstem, GK and ZAP-X had better protection, especially at the maximum dose. CONCLUSION: For the SRS treating single brain metastasis, all three treatment devices, ZAP-X system, CyberKnife G4 system, and GammaKnife system, could meet clinical treatment requirements. The newly platform ZAP-X could provide a high-quality plan equivalent to or even better than CyberKnife and Gamma Knife, with ZAP-X presenting a certain dose advantage, especially with a more conformal dose distribution and better protection for brain tissue. As the ZAP-X systems get continuous improvements and upgrades, they may become a new SRS platform for the treatment of brain metastasis.

GnRH antagonist protocol versus progestin-primed ovarian stimulation in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: The aim of this meta-analysis was comparing the efficacy of GnRH antagonist (GnRH-ant) protocol and progestin-primed ovarian stimulation (PPOS) in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) women. METHODS: A search was conducted from PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane library, Web of Science, and Scopus databases to collect clinical papers regarding GnRH-ant protocol and PPOS protocol from inception to September 2023. Subsequently, the retrieved documents were screened, and the content of the documents that conformed to the requirements was extracted. Moreover, statistical meta-analyses were conducted using the RevMan 5.4 software. Furthermore, with the use of a star-based system and the Cochrane handbook, the methodological quality of the covered papers was evaluated on the Ottawa-Newcastle scale. RESULTS: A total of eight papers were covered in the meta-analysis, with 2156 PCOS women enrolled (i.e., 1085 patients in the GnRH-ant protocol group and 1071 patients in the PPOS group). As indicated by the meta-analysis results, the PPOS group was correlated with a lower risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) (SMD = 9.24, [95% CI: (2.50, 34.21)], P = 0.0009), more gonadotropin (Gn) dose (SMD = - 0.34, [95% CI: (- 0.56, - 0.13)], P = 0.002) compared with GnRH-ant group. No statistical difference was identified on the oocytes condition and pregnancy outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: As revealed by the data of this study, the progesterone protocol is comparable with the GnRH-ant protocol in oocytes condition and clinical outcomes. The progestin-primed ovarian stimulation could serve as an alternative for polycystic ovarian syndrome women who have failed in GnRH antagonist protocol. The above-described conclusions should be verified by more high-quality papers due to the limitation of the number and quality of included papers. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO registration: CRD42023411284.

A Hybrid Handover Scheme for Vehicular VLC/RF Communication Networks.

Visible light communication (VLC) is a promising complementary technology to its radio frequency (RF) counterpart to satisfy the high quality-of-service (QoS) requirements of intelligent vehicular communications by reusing LED street lights. In this paper, a hybrid handover scheme for vehicular VLC/RF communication networks is proposed to balance QoS and handover costs by considering the vertical handover and horizontal handover together judging from the mobile state of the vehicle. A Markov decision process (MDP) is formulated to describe this hybrid handover problem, with a cost function balancing the handover consumption, delay, and reliability. A value iteration algorithm was applied to solve the optimal handover policy. The simulation results demonstrated the performance of the proposed hybrid handover scheme in comparison to other benchmark schemes.

[Phenotypic and genetic analysis of a Chinese pedigree affected with Hereditary antithrombin deficiency due to a novel variant of SERPINC1 gene].

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical phenotype and genetic characteristics of a Chinese pedigree affected with Hereditary antithrombin deficiency. METHODS: A pedigree diagnosed at the the Second Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Yuying Children's Hospital in June, 2020 was selected as the study subject. Plasma prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), fibrinogen (FIB), and thrombin time (TT) of the probands and their pedigree members were determined using a STA-R automatic coagulation analyzer. Antithrombin activity (AT: A) and antithrombin antigen (AT: Ag) in plasma were determined with chromogenic substrate and immunonephelometry assays. All exons and flanking sequences of the anticoagulant protein gene SERPINC1 were amplified by PCR and subjected to Sanger sequencing. Candidate variants were verified with bioinformatic tools (PolyPhen-2, SIFT, Mutation Taster and PYMOL) to explore their effect on the function and structural conformation of the protein. RESULTS: The probands (II-2, II-10), their brother (II-5) and sons (III-1, III-8) had shown normal PT, APTT, FIB, and TT, but significantly decreased AT: A and AT: Ag, with their levels being 34%, 57%, 56%, 48%, 53% and 13.51 mg/dL, 13.44 mg/dL, 18.39 mg/dL, 17.36 mg/dL, 17.71 mg/dL, respectively. The remaining pedigree members had normal values. Sanger sequencing revealed that the probands and all affected pedigree members had harbored a heterozygous c.851T>C (p.Met284Thr) missense variant in exon 5 of the SERPINC1 gene. Bioinformatic analysis and simulation suggested that the variant has resulted in alteration of hydrogen bonds at the c.851 position, which may affect the structure of the protein. Based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG), the variant was classified as pathogenic (PS1+PM1+PM5+PP1+PP4). CONCLUSION: The probands and other affected members were all diagnosed with type I hereditary AT deficiency, for which the c.851T>C (p.Met284Thr) variant of the SERPINC1 gene may be accountable.

Coverage Analysis for High-Speed Railway Communications with Narrow-Strip-Shaped Cells over Suzuki Fading Channels.

Unlike circular cell coverage in public land mobile communications, narrow-strip-shaped cell coverage should be considered in high-speed railway (HSR) communications. Moreover, for the coverage analysis in HSR communications, most works ignore the effect of small-scale fading, which results in an inaccurate coverage performance evaluation. In this paper, we focus on the coverage analysis for HSR communications with narrow-strip-shaped cells over the Suzuki fading channel, where the composite channel fading includes path loss, lognormal shadowing, and Rayleigh-distributed small-scale fading. Based on the channel model, we first analyze the statistical characteristic of the received signal-to-noise ratio. Then, we derive analytical expressions of the edge coverage probability (ECP) and the percentage of cell coverage area (CCA). To link the edge coverage performance and the average coverage performance of a cell, we express the percentage of CCA as a summation of the ECP and a positive increment. As special cases, we also obtain the coverage performance expressions for the systems without small-scale fading. Through Monte Carlo simulations, the accuracy of the derived expressions is verified. Numerical results also show that the small-scale fading has a strong effect on coverage performance and cannot be ignored. In addition, the effects of key parameters are also discussed.

RhoA suppresses pseudorabies virus replication in vitro.

The porcine pseudorabies virus (PRV) is one of the most devastating pathogens and brings great economic losses to the swine industry worldwide. Viruses are intracellular parasites that have evolved numerous strategies to subvert and utilize different host processes for their life cycle. Among the different systems of the host cell, the cytoskeleton is one of the most important which not only facilitate viral invasion and spread into neighboring cells, but also help viruses to evade the host immune system. RhoA is a key regulator of cytoskeleton system that may participate in virus infection. In this study, we characterized the function of RhoA in the PRV replication by chemical drugs treatment, gene knockdown and gene over-expression strategy. Inhibition of RhoA by specific inhibitor and gene knockdown promoted PRV proliferation. On the contrary, overexpression of RhoA or activation of RhoA by chemical drug inhibited PRV infection. Besides, our data demonstrated that PRV infection induced the disruption of actin stress fiber, which was consistent with previous report. In turn, the actin specific inhibitor cytochalasin D markedly disrupted the normal fibrous structure of intracellular actin cytoskeleton and decreased the PRV replication, suggesting that actin cytoskeleton polymerization contributed to PRV replication in vitro. In summary, our data displayed that RhoA was a host restriction factor that inhibited PRV replication, which may deepen our understanding the pathogenesis of PRV and provide further insight into the prevention of PRV infection and the development of anti-viral drugs.

ortho-C(sp3)-H arylation of aromatic aldehydes using 2-amino-N-methyl-acetamide as a L,L-type transient directing group.

Pd-catalyzed ortho-C(sp3)-H arylation of aromatic aldehydes using 2-amino-N-methyl-acetamide as a simple, efficient and commercially available L,L-type transient directing group (TDG) is reported. The reaction exhibited excellent substrate compatibility and generated the desired products in moderate-to-high yields up to 78%. Further acid-catalyzed cyclization and dehydrative aromatization were also tested, and furnished some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with excellent yields up to 96%. The X-ray crystal structure of a 2-methylbenzaldehyde ortho-C(sp3)-H palladation intermediate was obtained. Then, a plausible reaction mechanism involving the formation of a [5,6]-fused palladacycle was proposed. This approach offers valuable insights for exploiting novel L,L-type TDGs.

Effect of spermidine on ameliorating spermatogenic disorders in diabetic mice via regulating glycolysis pathway.

Diabetes mellitus (DM), a high incidence metabolic disease, is related to the impairment of male spermatogenic function. Spermidine (SPM), one of the biogenic amines, was identified from human seminal plasma and believed to have multiple pharmacological functions. However, there exists little evidence that reported SPM's effects on moderating diabetic male spermatogenic function. Thus, the objective of this study was to investigate the SPM's protective effects on testicular spermatogenic function in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced type 1 diabetic mice. Therefore, 40 mature male C57BL/6 J mice were divided into four main groups: the control group (n = 10), the diabetic group (n = 10), the 2.5 mg/kg SPM-treated diabetic group (n = 10) and the 5 mg/kg SPM-treated diabetic group (n = 10), which was given intraperitoneally for 8 weeks. The type 1 diabetic mice model was established by a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ 120 mg/kg. The results showed that, compare to the control group, the body and testis weight, as well the number of sperm were decreased, while the rate of sperm malformation was significantly increased in STZ-induced diabetic mice. Then the testicular morphology was observed, which showed that seminiferous tubule of testis were arranged in mess, the area and diameter of which was decreased, along with downregulated anti-apoptotic factor (Bcl-2) expression, and upregulated pro-apoptotic factor (Bax) expression in the testes. Furthermore, testicular genetic expression levels of Sertoli cells (SCs) markers (WT1, GATA4 and Vimentin) detected that the pathological changes aggravated observably, such as the severity of tubule degeneration increased. Compared to the saline-treated DM mice, SPM treatment markedly improved testicular function, with an increment in the body and testis weight as well as sperm count. Pro-apoptotic factor (Bax) was down-regulated expression with the up-regulated expression of Bcl-2 and suppression of apoptosis in the testes. What's more, expression of WT1, GATA4, Vimentin and the expressions of glycolytic rate-limiting enzyme genes (HK2, PKM2, LDHA) in diabetic testes were also upregulated by SPM supplement. The evidence derived from this study indicated that the SMP's positive effect on moderating spermatogenic disorder in T1DM mice's testis. This positive effect is delivered via promoting spermatogenic cell proliferation and participating in the glycolytic pathway's activation.

Follicular fluid-derived exosomal miR-143-3p/miR-155-5p regulate follicular dysplasia by modulating glycolysis in granulosa cells in polycystic ovary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by follicular dysplasia. An insufficient glycolysis-derived energy supply of granulosa cells (GCs) is an important cause of follicular dysplasia in PCOS. Follicular fluid (FF) exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs) have been proven to regulate the function of GCs. In this study, exosomes extracted from clinical FF samples were used for transcriptome sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis, and a human ovarian granulocyte tumour cell line (KGN cells) was used for in vitro mechanistic studies. METHODS AND RESULTS: In FF exosomal RNA-seq analysis, a decrease in glycolysis-related pathways was identified as an important feature of the PCOS group, and the differentially expressed miR-143-3p and miR-155-5p may be regulatory factors of glycolysis. By determining the effects of miR-143-3p and miR-155-5p on hexokinase (HK) 2, pyruvate kinase muscle isozyme M2 (PKM2), lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA), pyruvate, lactate and apoptosis in KGN cells, we found that upregulated miR-143-3p expression in exosomes from the PCOS group inhibited glycolysis in KGN cells; knockdown of miR-143-3p significantly alleviated the decrease in glycolysis in KGN cells in PCOS. MiR-155-5p silencing attenuated glycolytic activation in KGN cells; overexpression of miR-155-5p significantly promoted glycolysis in KGN cells in PCOS. In this study, HK2 was found to be the mediator of miR-143-3p and miR-155-5p in FF-derived exosome-mediated regulation of glycolysis in KGN cells. Reduced glycolysis accelerated apoptosis of KGN cells, which mediated follicular dysplasia through ATP, lactate and apoptotic pathways. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, these results indicate that miR-143-3p and miR-155-5p in FF-derived exosomes antagonistically regulate glycolytic-mediated follicular dysplasia of GCs in PCOS. Video Abstract.

Antioxidant for treatment of diabetic complications: A meta-analysis and systematic review.

Antioxidants may provide a complementary treatment for patients with chronic diseases. Nevertheless, studies that have measured the effects of antioxidant on diabetes complications have provided conflicting results. This study aimed to elucidate the association between antioxidant and diabetic complications and to develop robust evidence for clinical decisions by systematic reviews and meta-analysis. PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus databases were searched to collect clinical studies related to the efficacy of antioxidants in the treatment of diabetes complications from inception to May 5, 2021. Statistical meta-analyses were performed using the RevMan 5.4 software. Stata16 software was used to detect publication bias. The data of diabetic nephropathy (DN), diabetic nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and diabetic periodontitis were collected to analyze the effect of antioxidant on diabetes and the above three complications. The meta-analysis results showed that antioxidant treatment was associated with significantly changes in the fasting plasma glucose (FPG) (standardized mean difference [SMD]: - 0.21 [95% confidence interval [CI]: - 0.33, -0.10], p < 0.001), hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (MD: - 0.41 [95% CI: - 0.63, -0.18], p < 0.001), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) (SMD: 0.44 [95% CI: 0.24, 0.63], p < 0.001) and malondialdehyde (MDA) (SMD: - 0.82 [95% CI: - 1.24, -0.41], p < 0.001) than the control group. Antioxidant supplements have the potential to treat three complications of diabetes. In conclusion, the meta-analysis results indicate that antioxidant treatment is effective clinically for diabetes mellitus and its complications.

Performance analysis and parameter optimization for intelligent reflecting mirror array-aided visible light communications.

The effective deployment of an intelligent reflecting mirror array (IRMA) can enhance channel quality and improve the system performance in visible light communications (VLC) systems. This paper focuses on the performance analysis and parameter optimization of an IRMA-aided VLC system. Initially, the channel gains of both line-of-sight (LoS) link and non-LoS links are analyzed. Then, considering the blockage probability of a LoS link, a theoretical expression of the average bit error rate (ABER) is derived. To further improve the system performance, the optimization problems about the parameters of the IRMA are formulated, and schemes are proposed to solve these problems. Moreover, a kind of hardware implementation of the IRMA is provided. Numerical results verify the accuracy of the derived ABER expression and the effectiveness of the proposed schemes.

Nicotinamide mononucleotide improves spermatogenic function in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice via modulating the glycolysis pathway.

Spermatogenic dysfunction is one of the major secondary complications of diabetes; however, the underlying mechanisms remain ill-defined, and there is no available drug or strategy for the radical treatment of diabetic spermatogenic dysfunction. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the protective effects of nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) on testicular spermatogenic function in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. The results show that oral administration of NMN significantly increases the body and testis weight and the number of sperms. Moreover, the abnormal sperm count and the rate of sperm malformation are significantly decreased compared with the saline-treated diabetic mice. Histological analysis reveals that NMN treatment significantly increases the area and diameter of seminiferous tubules, accompanied by an increased number of spermatogenic cells and sperms. Immunohistochemistry and qRT-PCR results show that NMN increases Bcl-2 expression and decreases Bax expression in the testis. NMN also increases the protein expression of Vimentin and the mRNA expressions of WT1 and GATA4. In addition, qRT-PCR, western blot analysis and immunohistochemistry results also show that NMN increases the expressions of glycolysis-related rate-limiting enzymes including HK2, PKM2, and LDHA. In summary, this study demonstrates the protective effects of NMN on the testis in an STZ-induced diabetic mice model. NMN exerts its protective effects via reducing spermatogenic cell apoptosis by regulating glycolysis of Sertoli cells in diabetic mice. This study provides an experimental basis for the future clinical application of NMN in diabetes-induced spermatogenic dysfunction.

Realistic performance analysis for visible light communication with random receivers.

In previous studies, the receivers in indoor visible light communication (VLC) were usually fixed. However, in reality, the receivers in VLC have random locations and orientations. Therefore, it is important to consider these random factors for performance analysis in VLC. In this paper, we consider a typical VLC system with a fixed transmitter and a random receiver. Two types of receivers are investigated: (1) those with random location and (2) those with random orientation. Based on the established system model, the statistical characteristics of the channel were obtained, and closed-form expressions of the average channel capacity and the outage probability were derived, respectively. Finally, numerical results verified the accuracy of derived theoretical expressions. Moreover, the effects of the nominal optical intensity, the dimming target, the transmitter height, the receiver zone's radius, the outage threshold, and the Lambertian emission order on system performance were also provided.

Energy-Efficient Trajectory Optimization for UAV-Based Hybrid FSO/RF Communications with Buffer Constraints.

This paper focuses on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted hybrid free-space optical (FSO)/radio frequency (RF) communication system. Considering the rate imbalance between the FSO and RF links, a buffer is employed at the UAV. Initially, theoretical models of energy consumption and throughput are obtained for the hybrid system. Based on these models, the theoretical expression of the energy efficiency is derived. Then, a nonconvex trajectory optimization problem is formulated by maximizing the energy efficiency of the hybrid system under the buffer constraint, velocity constraint, acceleration constraint, start-end position constraint, and start-end velocity constraint. By using the sequential convex optimization and first-order Taylor approximation, the nonconvex problem is transformed into a convex one. An iterative algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. Numerical results verify the efficiency of the proposed algorithm and also show the effects of buffer size on a UAV's trajectory.

Automatic segmentation of pelvic organs-at-risk using a fusion network model based on limited training samples.

Background: Efficient and accurate methods are needed to automatically segmenting organs-at-risk (OAR) to accelerate the radiotherapy workflow and decrease the treatment wait time. We developed and evaluated the use of a fused model Dense V-Network for its ability to accurately segment pelvic OAR.Material and methods: We combined two network models, Dense Net and V-Net, to establish the Dense V-Network algorithm. For the training model, we adopted 100 kV computed tomography (CT) images of patients with cervical cancer, including 80 randomly selected as training sets, by which to adjust parameters of the automatic segmentation model, and the remaining 20 as test sets to evaluate the performance of the convolutional neural network model. Three representative parameters were used to evaluate the segmentation results quantitatively.Results: Clinical results revealed that Dice similarity coefficient values of the bladder, small intestine, rectum, femoral head and spinal cord were all above 0.87 mm; and Jaccard distance was within 2.3 mm. Except for the small intestine, the Hausdorff distance of other organs was less than 9.0 mm. Comparison of our approaches with those of the Atlas and other studies demonstrated that the Dense V-Network had more accurate and efficient performance and faster speed.Conclusions: The Dense V-Network algorithm can be used to automatically segment pelvic OARs accurately and efficiently, while shortening patients' waiting time and accelerating radiotherapy workflow.

Impact of LED transmitters' radiation pattern on received power distribution in a generalized indoor VLC system.

This paper analyzes the received power distribution of a generalized indoor visible light communication (VLC) system. The generalization includes: both ceiling-mounted and wall-mounted layouts are considered on the transmitting end to cover some special scenarios; a generally applicable sum-of-sine luminous intensity pattern (SSLIP) is used to fit light emitting diodes (LEDs)' radiation curve; the receiver is considered to have a large light receiving area (LRA) with non-uniformly distributed received power. Through mathematical calculation, the expression of received power at any point of the room is derived. Using the expression, the impact of transmitting LEDs' radiation pattern on received power performance is investigated. It is suggested that in the ceiling-mounted scenario, the LED transmitters with sharp luminous intensity patterns have bigger received power variations and shorter optimal receiving distances. In the wall-mounted case in contrast, sharp luminous intensity patterns lead to smaller received power variations and longer optimal receiving distances.