Poly(silyl ether)s as Degradable and Sustainable Materials: Synthesis and Applications.

Polymer research is currently focused on sustainable and degradable polymers which are cheap, easy to synthesize, and environmentally friendly. Silicon-based polymers are thermally stable and can be utilized in various applications, such as columns and coatings. Poly(silyl ether)s (PSEs) are an interesting class of silicon-based polymers that are easily hydrolyzed in either acidic or basic conditions due to the presence of the silyl ether Si-O-C bond. Synthetically, these polymers can be formed in several different ways, and the most effective and environmentally friendly synthesis is dehydrogenative cross coupling, where the byproduct is H2 gas. These polymers have a lot of promise in the polymeric materials field due to their sustainability, thermal stability, hydrolytic degradability, and ease of synthesis, with nontoxic byproducts. In this review, we will summarize the synthetic approaches for the PSEs in the recent literature, followed by the properties and applications of these materials. A conclusion and perspective will be provided at the end.

An enhanced real-time human pose estimation method based on modified YOLOv8 framework.

The objective of human pose estimation (HPE) derived from deep learning aims to accurately estimate and predict the human body posture in images or videos via the utilization of deep neural networks. However, the accuracy of real-time HPE tasks is still to be improved due to factors such as partial occlusion of body parts and limited receptive field of the model. To alleviate the accuracy loss caused by these issues, this paper proposes a real-time HPE model called CCAM - Person based on the YOLOv8 framework. Specifically, we have improved the backbone and neck of the YOLOv8x-pose real-time HPE model to alleviate the feature loss and receptive field constraints. Secondly, we introduce the context coordinate attention module (CCAM) to augment the model's focus on salient features, reduce background noise interference, alleviate key point regression failure caused by limb occlusion, and improve the accuracy of pose estimation. Our approach attains competitive results on multiple metrics of two open-source datasets, MS COCO 2017 and CrowdPose. Compared with the baseline model YOLOv8x-pose, CCAM-Person improves the average precision by 2.8% and 3.5% on the two datasets, respectively.

Evaluating the use of unmanned aerial vehicles for spray applications in mountain Nanguo pear orchards.

BACKGROUND: Nanguo pear is a distinctive pear variety in northeast China, grown mainly in mountainous areas. Due to terrain limitations, ground-based pesticide application equipment is difficult to use. This limitation could be overcome by using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for pesticide application in Nanguo pear orchards. This study evaluated the spraying performance of two UAVs in the Nanguo pear orchards and compared them with a manually used backpack electric sprayer (BES). The study also analyzed the effect of canopy size on droplet deposition and ground loss, and evaluated two sampling methods, leaf sampling and telescopic rod sampling. RESULTS: Compared to BESs, droplet deposition is lower for UAVs, but the actual pesticide active ingredient deposition is not necessarily lower given the solution concentration. The droplet deposition varies among different UAVs due to structural differences. Under the same UAV operating parameters, droplet deposition on trees with smaller canopy sizes is typically greater than that on trees with larger canopy sizes, and the ground loss was also more severe. Although telescopic rod sampling is a quick and convenient method, it can only reflect the trend of droplet deposition, and the data error is greater compared with leaf sampling. CONCLUSION: UAVs can achieve better droplet deposition in mountainous Nanguo pear orchards and does almost no harm to the operators compared with the BES. However, canopy size needs to be considered to adjust the application volume rate. Telescopic rods can be used for qualitative analyses, but are not recommended for quantitative analyses. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry.

Effects of continuous positive airway pressure on blood pressure in patients with resistant hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea: a systematic review and meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials / Efeitos da pressão positiva contínua nas vias aéreas na pressão arterial em pacientes com hipertensão resistente e apneia obstrutiva do sono: revisão sistemática e meta-análise de seis ensaios clínicos controlados aleatórios

ABSTRACT Objective: To evaluate systematically the effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on blood pressure in patients with resistant hypertension and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, ScienceDirect, and the Web of Science were searched for studies investigating the effects of CPAP on blood pressure in patients with resistant hypertension and OSA. The selected studies underwent quality assessment and meta-analysis, as well as being tested for heterogeneity. Results: Six randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled estimates of the changes in mean systolic blood pressure and mean diastolic blood pressure (as assessed by 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring) were −5.40 mmHg (95% CI: −9.17 to −1.64; p = 0.001; I2 = 74%) and −3.86 mmHg (95% CI: −6.41 to −1.30; p = 0.00001; I2 = 79%), respectively. Conclusions: CPAP therapy can significantly reduce blood pressure in patients with resistant hypertension and OSA.

RESUMO Objetivo: Avaliar sistematicamente os efeitos da continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP, pressão positiva contínua nas vias aéreas) na pressão arterial em pacientes com hipertensão resistente e apneia obstrutiva do sono (AOS). Métodos: Estudos que investigassem os efeitos da CPAP na pressão arterial em pacientes com hipertensão resistente e AOS foram buscados nos seguintes bancos de dados eletrônicos: Cochrane Library; PubMed; ScienceDirect e Web of Science. Os estudos selecionados foram submetidos a avaliação de qualidade, meta-análise e teste de heterogeneidade. Resultados: Foram incluídos na meta-análise seis ensaios clínicos controlados aleatórios. As estimativas combinadas das alterações das médias de pressão arterial sistólica e pressão arterial diastólica (medidas por meio de monitoração ambulatorial da pressão arterial durante 24 h) foram de −5,40 mmHg (IC95%: −9,17 a −1,64; p = 0,001; I2 = 74%) e −3,86 mmHg (IC95%: −6,41 a −1,30; p = 0,00001; I2 = 79%), respectivamente. Conclusões: O tratamento com CPAP é capaz de reduzir significativamente a pressão arterial em pacientes com hipertensão resistente e AOS.