Uncovering the genetic profiles underlying the intrinsic organization of the human cerebellum.

The functional diversity of the human cerebellum is largely believed to be derived more from its extensive connections rather than being limited to its mostly invariant architecture. However, whether and how the determination of cerebellar connections in its intrinsic organization interact with microscale gene expression is still unknown. Here we decode the genetic profiles of the cerebellar functional organization by investigating the genetic substrates simultaneously linking cerebellar functional heterogeneity and its drivers, i.e., the connections. We not only identified 443 network-specific genes but also discovered that their co-expression pattern correlated strongly with intra-cerebellar functional connectivity (FC). Ninety of these genes were also linked to the FC of cortico-cerebellar cognitive-limbic networks. To further discover the biological functions of these genes, we performed a "virtual gene knock-out" by observing the change in the coupling between gene co-expression and FC and divided the genes into two subsets, i.e., a positive gene contribution indicator (GCI+) involved in cerebellar neurodevelopment and a negative gene set (GCI-) related to neurotransmission. A more interesting finding is that GCI- is significantly linked with the cerebellar connectivity-behavior association and many recognized brain diseases that are closely linked with the cerebellar functional abnormalities. Our results could collectively help to rethink the genetic substrates underlying the cerebellar functional organization and offer possible micro-macro interacted mechanistic interpretations of the cerebellum-involved high order functions and dysfunctions in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Network localization of transient global amnesia beyond the hippocampus.

BACKGROUND: Transient global amnesia is common in the older adult, but the cause and mechanism remain unclear. Focal brain lesions allow for causal links between the lesion location and resulting symptoms, and we based on the reported TGA-causing lesions and used lesion network mapping to explore the causal neuroanatomical substrate of TGA. METHODS: Fifty-one cases of transient global amnesias with DWI lesions from the literature were identified, and clinical data were extracted and analyzed. Next, we mapped each lesion volume onto a reference brain and computed the network of regions functionally connected to each lesion location using a large normative connectome dataset. RESULTS: Lesions primarily occurred in the hippocampus, and in addition to the hippocampus, there are also other locations of TGA-causing lesions such as the cingulate gyrus, anterior thalamic nucleus (ATN), putamen, caudate nucleus, corpus callosum, fornix. More than 90% of TGA-causing lesions inside the hippocampus were functionally connected with the default mode network (DMN). CONCLUSION: Structural abnormality in the hippocampus was the most consistently reported in TGA, and besides the hippocampus, lesions occurring at several other brain locations also could cause TGA. The DMN may also be involved in the pathophysiology of TGA. According to the clinical and neuroimaging characteristics, TGA may be a syndrome with multiple causes and cannot be treated simply as a subtype of TIA.

Distributed Relative Localization Algorithms for Multi-Robot Networks: A Survey.

For a network of robots working in a specific environment, relative localization among robots is the basis for accomplishing various upper-level tasks. To avoid the latency and fragility of long-range or multi-hop communication, distributed relative localization algorithms, in which robots take local measurements and calculate localizations and poses relative to their neighbors distributively, are highly desired. Distributed relative localization has the advantages of a low communication burden and better system robustness but encounters challenges in the distributed algorithm design, communication protocol design, local network organization, etc. This paper presents a detailed survey of the key methodologies designed for distributed relative localization for robot networks. We classify the distributed localization algorithms regarding to the types of measurements, i.e., distance-based, bearing-based, and multiple-measurement-fusion-based. The detailed design methodologies, advantages, drawbacks, and application scenarios of different distributed localization algorithms are introduced and summarized. Then, the research works that support distributed localization, including local network organization, communication efficiency, and the robustness of distributed localization algorithms, are surveyed. Finally, popular simulation platforms are summarized and compared in order to facilitate future research and experiments on distributed relative localization algorithms.

Effects of Weak Bedding Plane, Fault, and Extreme Rainfall on the Landslide Event of a High Cut-Slope.

High cut-slopes are widespread in engineering constructions and often converted into landslides. Some extreme circumstances facilitate the landslide process, such as the weak bedding plane, rainfall, and faults. Therefore, this paper intends to offer insights into the influence of the weak bedding plane, extreme rainfall as well as faults on the landslide process of the high cut-slope. In this paper, the Anling landslide in Anhui Province, China, is selected as an example. Geological surveys, displacement monitoring, data analysis, as well as numerical simulation are carried out. The entire excavation construction and landslide deformation process are simulated to reveal the formation mechanism of the landslide using the finite difference code, FLAC3D. The effects of the fault on the landslide and the effectiveness of adjusting protection measures by adding piles are investigated on the basis of the finite difference analysis. According to monitoring data and numerical simulation, the weak bedding plane and extreme rainfall are considered the main factors leading to the Anling landslide. Field investigation and numerical experiments indicate that the fault shall facilitate and accelerate the landslide process. The construction of piles in a suitable position for the landslide is a reasonable and economical measure to stabilize the landslide.

Germination of grass species in soil affected by crude oil contamination.

Many grass species exist in the oil exploration areas of North Dakota. The objective of this study was to evaluate seed germination of 65 grass species affected by crude oil. Germination of all species was reduced by crude oil, ranging from 4.3 to 100%. Twenty-eight species were tolerant, 29 moderately tolerant, 6 moderately sensitive, and 2 sensitive. Based on the tolerance levels, the following were used to further test the dose response to crude oil: strong creeping red fescue (Festuca rubra L. ssp. rubra), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), orchardgrass (Dactylis glomerata L.), buffalograss [Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.], little bluestem [Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash], witchgrass (Panicum capillare L.), sand dropseed [Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.) Gray], Johnsongrass [Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.], and smooth crabgrass [Digitaria ischaemum (Schreb.) Schreb. ex Muhl.]. The EC50 of germination and biomass was effective in ranking the 9 species. Buffalograss, sand dropseed, and orchardgrass were ranked as the most tolerant species with EC50 values of 0.1, > highest concentration tested, 0.05 m3 m-3 (P < 0.05), respectively. Smooth crabgrass and little bluestem were ranked as most sensitive with EC50 values of 0.03 and 0.04 m3 m-3 (P < 0.05), respectively. Buffalograss showed the lowest germination (10.4%) and biomass reduction (25%) (P < 0.05).

Context Impacts in Accelerometer-Based Walk Detection and Step Counting.

Walk detection (WD) and step counting (SC) have become popular applications in the recent emergence of wearable devices. These devices monitor user states and process data from MEMS-based accelerometers and optional gyroscope sensors. Various algorithms have been proposed for WD and SC, which are generally sensitive to the contexts of applications, i.e., (1) the locations of sensor placement; (2) the sensor orientations; (3) the user's walking patterns; (4) the preprocessing window sizes; and (5) the sensor sampling rates. A thorough understanding of how these dynamic factors affect the algorithms' performances is investigated and compared in this paper. In particular, representative WD and SC algorithms are introduced according to their design methodologies. A series of experiments is designed in consideration of different application contexts to form an experimental dataset. Different algorithms are then implemented and evaluated on the dataset. The evaluation results provide a quantitative performance comparison indicating the advantages and weaknesses of different algorithms under different application scenarios, giving valuable guidance for algorithm selection in practical applications.

The inhibition of lamellar hydroxyapatite and lamellar magnetic hydroxyapatite on the migration and adhesion of breast cancer cells.

Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles have been reported to exhibit potent anti-tumor effects in some cancer cells. In our previous study, we have successfully synthesized two types of hydroxyapatite nanoparticles, laminated hydroxyapatite (L-HAp) and laminated magnetic hydroxyapatite (LM-HAp). In this study, we wanted to investigate the effects of L-HAp and LM-HAp with various concentrations on human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Cell proliferation was assessed with a MTT colorimetric assay. Scratch and adhesion assays were used to detect the effects of these two materials on migration and adhesion. The expressions of integrin ß1 and Akt were measured by Western blotting. Our results showed that L-HAp and LM-HAp had little cell cytotoxicity and significantly reduced cell mobility and adhesion. LM-HAp showed greater inhibitor ability on migration and adhesion of MDA-MB-231 cells. Moreover, results from western blotting showed that L-HAp and LM-HAp impacted the phosphorylation of integrin ß1, but showed no regular impact on Akt. This study suggests that L-HAp and LM-HAp may be potential anti-tumor and delivery system for breast cancer therapy.

DMS: Low-overlap Registration of 3D Point Clouds with Double-layer Multi-scale Star-graph.

Registering 3D point clouds with low overlap is challenging in 3D computer vision, primarily due to difficulties in identifying small overlap regions and removing correspondence outliers. We observe that the neighborhood similarity can be utilized to detect point correspondence, and the consistent neighborhood correspondence can be used as a criterion to detect robust overlapping regions. So that a Double-layer Multi-scale Star-graph (DMS) structure is proposed to detect robust correspondences using two different types of multi-scale star-graphs. The first-layer Multi-scale Neighbor Feature Star-graphs (MNFS) takes each point as the center and its multi-scale nearest neighbors as the leaves. The MNFS enables to establish the initial correspondence candidate set between the two point clouds based on multi-scale neighborhood topology and feature similarity. Subsequently, each pair of corresponding points find their nearest neighbors within the correspondence sets to construct a Multi-scale Matching Star-graphs (MMS) on each side, so the mutual correspondence relationships between the MMS vertices are identified. These identified mutual correspondences are treated as vertices to construct the Multi-scale Correspondence Star-graphs (MCS), that indicate the relationships among the correspondences. We design edge weight and vertex weight criterion in MCS to detect only the robust correspondence set that has strong neighborhood consistency, so as to reject the outliers. Finally, the point cloud registration is conducted based on the detected robust correspondence. The experimental results demonstrate clearly that the proposed DMS method exhibits superior robustness when compared to existing state-of-the-art registration algorithms. The code of this study will be available at https://github.com/HualongCao/DMS.

VSFormer: Mining Correlations in Flexible View Set for Multi-view 3D Shape Understanding.

View-based methods have demonstrated promising performance in 3D shape understanding. However, they tend to make strong assumptions about the relations between views or learn the multi-view correlations indirectly, which limits the flexibility of exploring inter-view correlations and the effectiveness of target tasks. To overcome the above problems, this paper investigates flexible organization and explicit correlation learning for multiple views. In particular, we propose to incorporate different views of a 3D shape into a permutation-invariant set, referred to as View Set, which removes rigid relation assumptions and facilitates adequate information exchange and fusion among views. Based on that, we devise a nimble Transformer model, named VSFormer, to explicitly capture pairwise and higher-order correlations of all elements in the set. Meanwhile, we theoretically reveal a natural correspondence between the Cartesian product of a view set and the correlation matrix in the attention mechanism, which supports our model design. Comprehensive experiments suggest that VSFormer has better flexibility, efficient inference efficiency and superior performance. Notably, VSFormer reaches state-of-the-art results on various 3d recognition datasets, including ModelNet40, ScanObjectNN and RGBD. It also establishes new records on the SHREC'17 retrieval benchmark. The code and datasets are available at https://github.com/auniquesun/VSFormer.

Comparative Analysis of Human-Chimpanzee Divergence in Brain Connectivity and its Genetic Correlates.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are humans' closest living relatives, making them the most directly relevant comparison point for understanding human brain evolution. Zeroing in on the differences in brain connectivity between humans and chimpanzees can provide key insights into the specific evolutionary changes that might have occured along the human lineage. However, conducting comparisons of brain connectivity between humans and chimpanzees remains challenging, as cross-species brain atlases established within the same framework are currently lacking. Without the availability of cross-species brain atlases, the region-wise connectivity patterns between humans and chimpanzees cannot be directly compared. To address this gap, we built the first Chimpanzee Brainnetome Atlas (ChimpBNA) by following a well-established connectivity-based parcellation framework. Leveraging this new resource, we found substantial divergence in connectivity patterns across most association cortices, notably in the lateral temporal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex between the two species. Intriguingly, these patterns significantly deviate from the patterns of cortical expansion observed in humans compared to chimpanzees. Additionally, we identified regions displaying connectional asymmetries that differed between species, likely resulting from evolutionary divergence. Genes associated with these divergent connectivities were found to be enriched in cell types crucial for cortical projection circuits and synapse formation. These genes exhibited more pronounced differences in expression patterns in regions with higher connectivity divergence, suggesting a potential foundation for brain connectivity evolution. Therefore, our study not only provides a fine-scale brain atlas of chimpanzees but also highlights the connectivity divergence between humans and chimpanzees in a more rigorous and comparative manner and suggests potential genetic correlates for the observed divergence in brain connectivity patterns between the two species. This can help us better understand the origins and development of uniquely human cognitive capabilities.

Macaque Brainnetome Atlas: A multifaceted brain map with parcellation, connection, and histology.

The rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta) is a crucial experimental animal that shares many genetic, brain organizational, and behavioral characteristics with humans. A macaque brain atlas is fundamental to biomedical and evolutionary research. However, even though connectivity is vital for understanding brain functions, a connectivity-based whole-brain atlas of the macaque has not previously been made. In this study, we created a new whole-brain map, the Macaque Brainnetome Atlas (MacBNA), based on the anatomical connectivity profiles provided by high angular and spatial resolution ex vivo diffusion MRI data. The new atlas consists of 248 cortical and 56 subcortical regions as well as their structural and functional connections. The parcellation and the diffusion-based tractography were evaluated with invasive neuronal-tracing and Nissl-stained images. As a demonstrative application, the structural connectivity divergence between macaque and human brains was mapped using the Brainnetome atlases of those two species to uncover the genetic underpinnings of the evolutionary changes in brain structure. The resulting resource includes: (1) the thoroughly delineated Macaque Brainnetome Atlas (MacBNA), (2) regional connectivity profiles, (3) the postmortem high-resolution macaque diffusion and T2-weighted MRI dataset (Brainnetome-8), and (4) multi-contrast MRI, neuronal-tracing, and histological images collected from a single macaque. MacBNA can serve as a common reference frame for mapping multifaceted features across modalities and spatial scales and for integrative investigation and characterization of brain organization and function. Therefore, it will enrich the collaborative resource platform for nonhuman primates and facilitate translational and comparative neuroscience research.

Fast and Accurate Classification of Meta-Genomics Long Reads With deSAMBA.

There is still a lack of fast and accurate classification tools to identify the taxonomies of noisy long reads, which is a bottleneck to the use of the promising long-read metagenomic sequencing technologies. Herein, we propose de Bruijn graph-based Sparse Approximate Match Block Analyzer (deSAMBA), a tailored long-read classification approach that uses a novel pseudo alignment algorithm based on sparse approximate match block (SAMB). Benchmarks on real sequencing datasets demonstrate that deSAMBA enables to achieve high yields and fast speed simultaneously, which outperforms state-of-the-art tools and has many potentials to cutting-edge metagenomics studies.

Adult-onset Still's disease successfully treated with Chinese herbal medicine: A case report with 15-month follow-up.

Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare but clinically well-known, polygenic, and systemic autoinflammatory disease, which is characterized by spiking fever, evanescent skin rash, arthralgia, and sore throat. The application of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and glucocorticoids, which are first-line therapies of AOSD, is limited due to their side effects such as liver injury or disorder of blood glucose. Therefore, patients who suffer from systemic diseases in China prefer to seek help from Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), which is an important part of complementary and alternative medicine. In this case, we report a 28-year-old male badminton coach presenting with a 15-day history of fever and skin rash, accompanied by sore throat, fatigue, myalgia and chills. Additionally, hepatosplenomegaly, multiple lymphadenopathies, aminotransferase abnormality, and elevated inflammatory factor levels were observed during hospitalization. Infectious diseases, solid tumors, hematological diseases, and common autoimmune diseases were excluded. Not benefitting from antibiotic therapy, the patient was finally diagnosed with AOSD, after a careful examination, then showed rapid remission after a six-week treatment with CHM granules based on Xiaochaihu Decoction and Yinqiao Powder. After stopping the treatment, there was no relapse within a 15-month follow-up period. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first well-documented case of this successful treatment. The present case report suggests that CHM is a reliable choice for complementary and alternative therapy for AOSD, but confirming the utility of CHM for AOSD requires further support from prospective studies.

Numerical simulation data on landslide generated impulse waves affected by the reservoir geometry.

The data article provided time series of water surface elevation and wave parameters of landslide generated impulse waves affected by reservoir geometry. Two types of generalized reservoir geometries were investigated by the numerical method of Tsunami Squares-converging reservoir geometries and diverging reservoir geometries. 14 numerical reservoir models with expansion angle of 0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25° and 30° were performed. Time series of water surface elevation at the propagation distance of 2 km for the converging and diverging reservoir models were obtained from 70 numerical wave gauges, which allows to analyse the effect of reservoir geometries on wave characteristics generated by landslide. The wave profiles of section C at different propagation distance were also investigated in order to improve the understanding of wave characteristics at different positions. Furthermore, wave parameters (wave height, wave amplitude and wave trough) of different propagation distance for all reservoir geometries were present in the article. These data were used in Zhang et al., 2019 [1].

Assessment of plant water status in winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) based on canopy spectral indices.

Rapid and non-destructive estimation of plant water status is essential for adjusting field practices and irrigation schemes of winter wheat. The objective of this study was to find new combination spectral indices based on canopy reflectance for the estimation of plant water status. Two experiments with different irrigation regimes were conducted in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. The canopy spectra were collected at different growth stages of winter wheat. The raw and derivative reflectance of canopy spectra showed obvious responses to the change of plant water status. Except for equivalent water thickness (EWT), other water metrics had good relationships with new combination spectral indices (R2>0.7). An acceptable model of canopy water content (CWC) was established with the best spectral index (RVI (1605, 1712)). Models of leaf water content (LWC) and plant water content (PWC) had better performances. Optimal spectral index of LWC was FDRVI (687, 531), having R2, RMSE and RPD of 0.77, 2.181 and 2.09; R2, RMSE and RPD of 0.87, 2.652 and 2.34 for calibration and validation, respectively. And PWC could be well estimated with FDDVI (688, 532) (R2, RMSE and RPD of 0.79, 3.136 and 2.21; R2, RMSE and RPD of 0.83, 3.702 and 2.18 for calibration and validation, respectively). Comparing the performances of estimation models, the new combination spectral indices FDRVI (687, 531) based on canopy reflectance improved the accuracy of estimation of plant water status. Besides, based on FDRVI (687, 531), LWC was the optimal water metrics for plant water status estimation.

Effect of over-consolidation and shear rate on the residual strength of soils of silty sand in the Three Gorges Reservoir.

Estimation of the residual strength of the soil on the landslide sliding surface is essential for analyzing reactivated landslides. This study investigated the influence of over-consolidation ratio (OCR) and shear rate on the residual strength of SM-type (silty sand) landslide soils in the Three Gorge Reservoir using ring shear tests under drained conditions. A series of ring shear tests were conducted to measure the drained residual strength under over-consolidation ratios of 1-12 and shear rates of 0.06-30.00 mm/min. Test results showed that residual strengths of SM-type landslide soils were not affected significantly by the over-consolidation process. The effect of shear rate on residual strength did not exhibit a regular pattern at shear rates of 0.06-10.00 mm/min, and behaved negatively at a high shear rate of 30 mm/min. The reduction in residual strength at higher shear rates may be attributable to increases in the water content of the shear zone and the amount of finer particles, due to particle breakage and/or larger grains being pushed from the shear zone.

Surface controlled calcium phosphate formation on three-dimensional bacterial cellulose-based nanofibers.

Studies on the early calcium phosphate (Ca-P) formation on nanosized substrates may allow us to understand the biomineralization mechanisms at the molecular level. In this work, in situ formation of Ca-P minerals on bacterial cellulose (BC)-based nanofibers was investigated, for the first time, using the X-ray absorption near-edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy. In addition, the influence of the surface coating of nanofibers on the formation of Ca-P minerals was determined. Combined with XRD analysis, XANES results revealed that the nascent precursor was ACP (amorphous calcium phosphate) which was converted to TCP (ß-tricalcium phosphate), then OCP (octacalcium phosphate), and finally to HAP (hydroxyapatite) when phosphorylated BC nanofibers were the templates. However, the formation of nascent precursor and its transformation process varied depending on the nature of the coating material on nanofibrous templates. These results provide new insights into basic mechanisms of mineralization and can lead to the development of novel bioinspired nanostructured materials.

Ion uptake in tall fescue as affected by carbonate, chloride, and sulfate salinity.

Turfgrass nutrient uptake may be differentially affected by different salts. The objective of this study was to compare nutrient uptake in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) as affected by carbonate, chloride, and sulfate under iso-osmotic, iso-Na+ strength conditions. 'Tar Heel II' and 'Wolfpack' cultivars were subjected to NaCl, Na2CO3, Na2SO4, CaCl2, NaCl+ CaCl2, Na2CO3+ CaCl2, and Na2SO4+ CaCl2, in the range of 0 to 225 mM. There was no cultivar difference regarding K, Na, Mg, and Mn content in shoots. 'Tar Heel II' had higher shoot Ca content than 'Wolfpack', which were 6.9 and 5.7 g kg(-1), respectively. In general, K+/Na+ ratio decreased with increasing salt concentrations, which reached <1 at about 87.5 mM in Na2CO3 treatment. All salt treatments decreased Mg content in shoot tissues, especially in Na2CO3 and treatments containing CaCl2. Both Ca and Mg content in shoot were higher in the NaCl treatment than the Na2SO4 and Na2CO3 treatments. All salt treatments except Na2CO3 had higher Mn content in shoots compared to the control. In conclusion, nutrient uptake was differently affected by carbonate, chloride, and sulfate which are different in pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and osmotic potential at the same concentration. Adding Ca to the sodium salts increased Ca content and balanced K+/Na+ in shoots, but did not increase Mg content, which was below sufficient level. Maintaining Mg content in shoots under salinity stress was recommended. The physiological impact of elevated Mn content in shoot under salinity stress requires further study.

Preparation of three-dimensional braided carbon fiber-reinforced PEEK composites for potential load-bearing bone fixations. Part I. Mechanical properties and cytocompatibility.

In this study, we focused on fabrication and characterization of three-dimensional carbon fiber-reinforced polyetheretherketone (C3-D/PEEK) composites for orthopedic applications. We found that pre-heating of 3-D fabrics before hot-pressing could eliminate pores in the composites prepared by 3-D co-braiding and hot-pressing techniques. The manufacturing process and the processing variables were studied and optimum parameters were obtained. Moreover, the carbon fibers were surface treated by the anodic oxidization and its effect on mechanical properties of the composites was determined. Preliminary cell studies with mouse osteoblast cells were also performed to examine the cytocompatibility of the composites. Feasibility of the C3-D/PEEK composites as load-bearing bone fixation materials was evaluated. Results suggest that the C3-D/PEEK composites show good promising as load-bearing bone fixations.