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Bi2Te3-based thin films are gaining recognition for their remarkable room temperature thermoelectric performance. Beyond the conventional "process-composition-performance" paradigm, it is highly desirable to explore new methods to enhance their performance further. Here, we designed a sandwich-structured Ag/PZT/PVDF/Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3(BST) thin film device and effectively regulated the performance of the BST film by controlling the polarization state of the PZT/PVDF layers. Results indicate that polarization induces interlayer charge redistribution and charge transfer between PZT/PVDF and BST, thereby achieving the continuous modulation of the electrical transport characteristics of BST films. Finally, following polarization at a saturation voltage of 3 kV, the power factor of the BST film increased by 13% compared to the unpolarized condition, reaching 20.8 µW cm-1 K-2. Furthermore, a device with 7 pairs of P-N legs was fabricated, achieving a cooling temperature difference of 11.0 K and a net cooling temperature difference of 2.4 K at a current of 10 mA after the saturation polarization of the PZT/PVDF layer. This work reveals the critical effect of introducing ferroelectric layer polarization to achieve excellent thermoelectric performance of the BST film.
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Active surveillance (AS) is the primary strategy for managing patients with low or favorable-intermediate risk prostate cancer (PCa). Identifying patients who may benefit from AS relies on unpleasant prostate biopsies, which entail the risk of bleeding and infection. In the current study, we aimed to develop a radiomics model based on prostate magnetic resonance images to identify AS candidates non-invasively. A total of 956 PCa patients with complete biopsy reports from six hospitals were included in the current multicenter retrospective study. The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines were used as reference standards to determine the AS candidacy. To discriminate between AS and non-AS candidates, five radiomics models (i.e., eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) AS classifier (XGB-AS), logistic regression (LR) AS classifier, random forest (RF) AS classifier, adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) AS classifier, and decision tree (DT) AS classifier) were developed and externally validated using a three-fold cross-center validation based on five classifiers: XGBoost, LR, RF, AdaBoost, and DT. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), accuracy (ACC), sensitivity (SEN), and specificity (SPE) were calculated to evaluate the performance of these models. XGB-AS exhibited an average of AUC of 0.803, ACC of 0.693, SEN of 0.668, and SPE of 0.841, showing a better comprehensive performance than those of the other included radiomic models. Additionally, the XGB-AS model also presented a promising performance for identifying AS candidates from the intermediate-risk cases and the ambiguous cases with diagnostic discordance between the NCCN guidelines and the Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System assessment. These results suggest that the XGB-AS model has the potential to help identify patients who are suitable for AS and allow non-invasive monitoring of patients on AS, thereby reducing the number of annual biopsies and the associated risks of bleeding and infection.
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The bottom-up construction of artificial cells is beneficial for understanding cell working mechanisms. The glycolysis metabolism mimicry inside artificial cells is challenging. Herein, the glycolytic pathway (Entner-Doudoroff pathway in archaea) is reconstituted inside artificial cells. The glycolytic pathway comprising glucose dehydrogenase (GDH), gluconate dehydratase (GAD), and 2-keto-3-deoxygluconate aldolase (KDGA) converts glucose molecules to pyruvate molecules. Inside artificial cells, pyruvate molecules are further converted into alanine with the help of alanine dehydrogenase (AlaDH) to build a metabolic pathway for synthesizing amino acid. On the other hand, the pyruvate molecules from glycolysis stimulate the living mitochondria to produce ATP inside artificial cells, which further trigger actin monomers to polymerize to form actin filaments. With the addition of methylcellulose inside the artificial cell, the actin filaments form adjacent to the inner lipid bilayer, deforming the artificial cell from a spherical shape to a spindle shape. The spindle-shaped artificial cell reverses to a spherical shape by depolymerizing the actin filament upon laser irradiation. The glycolytic pathway and its further extension to produce amino acids (or ATP) inside artificial cells pave the path to build functional artificial cells with more complicated metabolic pathways.
Subject(s)
Amino Acids , Artificial Cells , Glycolysis , Amino Acids/metabolism , Amino Acids/chemistry , Artificial Cells/metabolism , Artificial Cells/chemistryABSTRACT
In the dynamic field of deep reinforcement learning, the self-attention mechanism has been increasingly recognized. Nevertheless, its application in discrete problem domains has been relatively limited, presenting complex optimization challenges. This article introduces a pioneering deep reinforcement learning algorithm, termed Attention-based Actor-Critic with Priority Experience Replay (A2CPER). A2CPER combines the strengths of self-attention mechanisms with the Actor-Critic framework and prioritized experience replay to enhance policy formulation for discrete problems. The algorithm's architecture features dual networks within the Actor-Critic model-the Actor formulates action policies and the Critic evaluates state values to judge the quality of policies. The incorporation of target networks aids in stabilizing network optimization. Moreover, the addition of self-attention mechanisms bolsters the policy network's capability to focus on critical information, while priority experience replay promotes training stability and reduces correlation among training samples. Empirical experiments on discrete action problems validate A2CPER's adeptness at policy optimization, marking significant performance improvements across tasks. In summary, A2CPER highlights the viability of self-attention mechanisms in reinforcement learning, presenting a robust framework for discrete problem-solving and potential applicability in complex decision-making scenarios.
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Purpose: The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of Sema4D in the pathogenesis of senescence-associated choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and to explore its underlying mechanisms. Methods: In this study, we utilized a model of laser-induced CNV in both young (3 months old) and old (18 months old) mice, including those with or without Sema4D knockout. The expression and localization of Sema4D in CNV were assessed using PCR, Western blot, and immunostaining. Subsequently, the morphological and imaging examinations were used to evaluate the size of CNV and vascular leakage. Finally, the expression of M2 markers, senescence-related markers, and molecules involved in the RhoA/ROCK pathway was detected. Results: We found that Sema4D was predominantly expressed in macrophages within CNV lesions, and both the mRNA and protein levels of Sema4D progressively increased following laser photocoagulation, a trend more pronounced in old mice. Moreover, Sema4D knockout markedly inhibited M2 polarization in senescent macrophages and reduced the size and leakage of CNV, particularly in aged mice. Mechanistically, aging was found to upregulate RhoA/ROCK signaling, and knockout of Sema4D effectively suppressed the activation of this pathway, with more significant effects observed in aged mice. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that the deletion of Sema4D markedly inhibited M2 macrophage polarization through the suppression of the RhoA/ROCK pathway, ultimately leading to the attenuation of senescence-associated CNV. These data indicate that targeting Sema4D could offer a promising approach for gene editing therapy in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.
Subject(s)
Choroidal Neovascularization , Disease Models, Animal , Macrophages , Mice, Inbred C57BL , Mice, Knockout , Semaphorins , Signal Transduction , rho-Associated Kinases , rhoA GTP-Binding Protein , Animals , Choroidal Neovascularization/metabolism , Choroidal Neovascularization/genetics , Choroidal Neovascularization/pathology , Mice , Macrophages/metabolism , rho-Associated Kinases/metabolism , Semaphorins/genetics , Semaphorins/metabolism , Signal Transduction/physiology , rhoA GTP-Binding Protein/metabolism , Antigens, CD/metabolism , Antigens, CD/genetics , Blotting, Western , Male , Fluorescein AngiographyABSTRACT
Introduction: Eosinophilic gastrointestinal diseases (EGIDs) are rare and heterogeneous diseases characterized by excessive eosinophilic infiltration of the digestive system. D-dimer levels and its possible association with disease course were not reported. Case series: We reported a series of three EGID cases presenting with high levels of D-dimer. No evidence for potential venous thromboembolism was found through computed tomography pulmonary angiogram and vascular ultrasounds. Moreover, D-dimer levels decreased after short-time systemic prednisolone administration, accompanied by remission of clinical symptoms and decrease of peripheral eosinophil counts and IgE levels. Conclusion: Elevation of D-dimer in EGID may not represent thrombotic events but is possibly associated with disease severity. More population-based studies are needed to delineate the potential relationship among D-dimer, thrombosis, and inflammation in EGID.
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PURPOSE: Bladder neck contracture (BNC) is a rare but intolerant complication after transurethral surgery of prostate. The present study aims to investigate the incidence and risk factors of BNC in patients diagnosed benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) and following transurethral resection or enucleation of the prostate (TURP/TUEP). METHODS: This retrospective study included 1008 BPH individuals who underwent transurethral surgery of the prostate between January 2017 and January 2022. Patients' demographics, medical comorbidities, urologic characteristics, perioperative parameters, and the presence of BNC were documented. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to identify the risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 2% (20/1008) BPH patients developed BNC postoperatively and the median occurring time was 5.8 months. Particularly, the incidences of BNC were 4.7% and 1.3% in patients underwent Bipolar-TURP and TUEP respectively. Preoperative urinary tract infection (UTI), elevated PSA, smaller prostate volume (PV), bladder diverticulum (BD), and B-TURP were significantly associated with BNC in the univariate analysis. Further multivariate logistic regression demonstrated preoperative UTI (OR 4.04, 95% CI 2.25 to 17.42, p < 0.001), BD (OR 7.40, 95% CI 1.83 to 31.66, p < 0.001), and B-TURP (OR 3.97, 95% CI 1.55 to 10.18, p = 0.004) as independent risk factors. All BNC patients were treated with transurethral incision of the bladder neck (TUIBN) combined with local multisite injection of betamethasone. During a median follow-up of 35.8 months, 35% (7/20) of BNC patients recurred at a median time of 1.8 months. CONCLUSION: BNC was a low-frequency complication following transurethral surgery of prostate. Preoperative UTI, BD, and B-TURP were likely independent risk factors of BNC. TUIBN combined with local multisite injection of betamethasone may be promising choice for BNC treatment.
Subject(s)
Contracture , Prostatic Hyperplasia , Male , Humans , Urinary Bladder , Prostate , Retrospective Studies , Prostatic Hyperplasia/surgery , Contracture/epidemiology , Contracture/etiology , BetamethasoneABSTRACT
Background: The objective of this study was to explore the perioperative outcomes of single-plane posterior retroperitoneoscopic adrenalectomy (SPRA) guided by indocyanine green dye (ICG) fluorescence imaging. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients who underwent SPRA from April to September 2023 in our center was conducted. Patients were divided into the ICG group and the non-ICG group, based on whether they received intraoperative ICG fluorescence guided or not. Baseline and perioperative data were recorded and analyzed by R software (R 4.3.1). Results: A total of 23 patients were enrolled in the study, with 12 in the ICG group and 11 in the non-ICG group. The demographics including age, gender, body mass index, or American Society of Anesthesiologists classification showed no significant differences between groups. There were obvious advantages in shortening adrenal gland localization time and total operative time, as well as reducing estimated blood loss in the ICG group compared with the non-ICG group (5.58 ± 0.36 minutes vs 7.55 ± 0.62 minutes, p < 0.001; 27.50 ± 5.46 minutes vs 45.00 ± 10.99 minutes, p < 0.001; 22.91 ± 7.57 mL vs 54.54 ± 18.90 mL, p < 0.001; respectively). Furthermore, patients in the ICG group exhibited significantly lower visual analog pain scale scores at 24 hours postoperatively and at discharge (p = 0.001 and p = 0.006, respectively). The oral intake intervals, hospital stays, and perioperative complications were comparable between groups. Conclusions: ICG-guided SPRA could be a safe and effective procedure for patients with adrenal tumors. This technique improves the accuracy and efficacy of adrenal gland localization and has shown benefits in perioperative outcomes. The use of ICG fluorescence guidance represents a promising clinical application.
Subject(s)
Adrenal Gland Neoplasms , Laparoscopy , Humans , Indocyanine Green , Adrenalectomy/methods , Retrospective Studies , Adrenal Gland Neoplasms/surgery , Length of Stay , Laparoscopy/methodsABSTRACT
The Bi0.5 Sb1.5 Te3 (BST) thin film shows great promise in harvesting low-grade heat energy due to its excellent thermoelectric performance at room temperature. In order to further enhance its thermoelectric performance, specifically the power factor and output power, new approaches are highly desirable beyond the common "composition-structure-performance" paradigm. This study introduces ferroelectric polarization engineering as a novel strategy to achieve these goals. A Pb(Zr0.52 Ti0.48 )O3 /Bi0.5 Sb1.5 Te3 (PZT/BST) hybrid film is fabricated via magnetron sputtering. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate PZT polarization's influence on charge redistribution and interlayer charge transfer at the PZT/BST interface, facilitating adjustable carrier transport behavior and power factor of the BST film. As a result, a 26.7% enhancement of the power factor, from unpolarized 12.0 to 15.2 µW cm-1 K-2 , is reached by 2 kV out-of-plane downward polarization of PZT. Furthermore, a five-leg generator constructed using this PZT/BST hybrid film exhibits a maximum output power density of 13.06 W m-2 at ΔT = 39 K, which is 20.8% higher than that of the unpolarized one (10.81 W m-2 ). The research presents a new approach to enhance thermoelectric thin films' power factor and output performance by introducing ferroelectric polarization engineering.
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INTRODUCTION: Pediatric urolithiasis is a less common disease with a steadily increasing incidence of 10.6 % per year. The comprehensive management of pediatric urolithiasis is more challenging than in adults, and published studies of endourological treatment in children have small sample sizes and older mean ages, which may not be representative of the overall pediatric population, especially in infants and toddlers. This study aimed to report results of retrograde ureteroscopy for treating pediatric ureteral stones in infants and toddlers (<3 years) from a single center in China. METHODS: Demographic and surgical data of infants and toddlers with ureteral stones who underwent retrograde URS were retrospectively analyzed from January 2015 to September 2022. RESULTS: The mean age of 100 infants (73 boys and 27 girls) was 19.6 ± 7.6 months and stone burden was 0.27 (0.11-0.52) cm³. 111 procedures were performed for all children due to 11 patients with bilateral ureteric stones were simultaneously treated. Among them, 70.3 % were semi-rigid URS, 12.6 % were Micro-URS and 17.1 % were flexible URS. SFR was up to 96 %, the median operation time and hospitalization days were 35.0 (25.0-50.0) minutes and 6.0 (5.0-6.0) days, respectively. 15 (15.0 %) infants had postoperative fever (Grade I), and complications above grade I were not observed. DISCUSSIONS: This research reported the largest sample size of infant and toddler ureteric stones (under 3 years old) and shared optimal management strategies for these special populations. Compared to other related studies, we had a higher SFR due to diverse management strategies and reasonable application of pre-operative ureteric stents. The most important potential reason why our complication rate was relatively higher might be the younger population under 3 years old. In additionally, the reason of long hospitalization was maybe some patients underwent staged surgeries during one hospitalization. Those results indicated the robust effectiveness of URS for infants. This study has limitations, including its retrospective single-center design, absence of long-term follow-up data, and potential variability in surgical outcomes due to differences in surgeons' experience. CONCLUSIONS: The experience of endourologic procedures for 100 infant and toddler patients with ureteric stones from a Chinese single center was reported. And URS showed its effectiveness and safety for those special populations based on its high SFR and low complication rate.
Subject(s)
Ureteral Calculi , Ureteroscopy , Humans , Ureteroscopy/methods , Male , Infant , Retrospective Studies , Female , Ureteral Calculi/surgery , China/epidemiology , Treatment Outcome , Child, Preschool , East Asian PeopleABSTRACT
Constructing a synthetic community system helps scientist understand the complex interactions among species in a community and its environment. Herein, a two-species community is constructed with species A (artificial cells encapsulating pH-responsive molecules and sucrose) and species B (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), which causes the environment to exhibit pH oscillation behaviour due to the generation and dissipation of CO2. In addition, a three-species community is constructed with species A' (artificial cells containing sucrose and G6P), species B, and species C (artificial cells containing NAD+ and G6PDH). The solution pH oscillation regulates the periodical release of G6P from species A'; G6P then enters species C to promote the metabolic reaction that converts NAD+ to NADH. The location of species A' and B determines the metabolism behaviour in species C in the spatially coded three-species communities with CA'B, CBA', and A'CB patterns. The proposed synthetic community system provides a foundation to construct a more complicated microecosystem.
Subject(s)
NAD , Sucrose , Hydrogen-Ion ConcentrationABSTRACT
Cuproptosis, caused by excessively high copper concentrations, is urgently exploited as a potential cancer therapeutic. However, the mechanisms underlying the initiation, propagation, and ultimate execution of cuproptosis in tumors remain unknown. Here, we show that copper content is significantly elevated in gastric cancer (GC), especially in malignant tumors. Screening reveals that METTL16, an atypical methyltransferase, is a critical mediator of cuproptosis through the m6A modification on FDX1 mRNA. Furthermore, copper stress promotes METTL16 lactylation at site K229 followed by cuproptosis. The process of METTL16 lactylation is inhibited by SIRT2. Elevated METTL16 lactylation significantly improves the therapeutic efficacy of the copper ionophore- elesclomol. Combining elesclomol with AGK2, a SIRT2-specific inhibitor, induce cuproptosis in gastric tumors in vitro and in vivo. These results reveal the significance of non-histone protein METTL16 lactylation on cuproptosis in tumors. Given the high copper and lactate concentrations in GC, cuproptosis induction becomes a promising therapeutic strategy for GC.
Subject(s)
Apoptosis , Stomach Neoplasms , Humans , Copper , Lactic Acid , Methyltransferases/genetics , RNA, Messenger/genetics , Sirtuin 2 , Stomach Neoplasms/geneticsABSTRACT
Purpose: To investigate the characteristics of the lipid profiling in meibum of patients with chronic ocular graft-versus-host disease (coGVHD) and to detect the potential influence of anti-inflammatory therapy on these differential lipids. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 25 coGVHD patients and 13 non-coGVHD after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Among those with coGVHD, 14 had prior topical treatment (coGVHD(T)), and 11 did not (coGVHD(WT)). All participants completed ocular surface disease index questionnaire and received slit lamp examination, Schirmer's test without anesthesia, ocular surface interferometer, and meibography. Binocular meibum was collected and pooled for lipidomic analysis by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: One hundred and twenty differential lipid species were found among the three groups (96 of coGVHD(WT) vs. non-coGVHD, 78 of coGVHD(WT) vs. coGVHD(T), and three of non-coGVHD vs. coGVHD(T)). Compared with non-coGVHD group, coGVHD(WT) group had a significant abnormality of meibum composition, showing a significant decrease in glycerolipids, and an increase in glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids. Similar changes were also observed when coGVHD(WT) versus coGVHD(T). CoGVHD severity was negatively associated with mono-unsaturated triglycerides (TG), (ß = -214.7; 95% CI, -363.9 to -65.5; P = 0.006) and poly-unsaturated TG (ß = -4019.9; 95% CI, -7758.1 to -281.6; P = 0.036). Intensity of immunosuppression was negatively associated with mono-unsaturated TG (ß = -162.4; 95% CI, -268.6 to -56.2; P = 0.004) and positively associated with phosphatidylcholine (ß = 332.0; 95% CI, 19.2-644.8; P = 0.038). Conclusions: Altered meibum in coGVHD is characterized by a decrease of glycerolipids and an increase of glycerophospholipids and may be significantly reversed by topical anti-inflammatory therapy.
Subject(s)
Graft vs Host Disease , Lipidomics , Humans , Cross-Sectional Studies , Tears , Graft vs Host Disease/diagnosis , GlycerophospholipidsABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To assess the effect of anti-allergic therapy on sleep quality of children with allergic conjunctivitis (AC) and their parents. METHODS: This prospective single-arm intervention study included 54 AC child-parent dyads. Chinese versions of the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were used to assess the sleep quality of children and their parents, respectively. RESULTS: CSHQ and PSQI total scores were significantly decreased after treatment, with fewer children and parents reporting poor sleep quality. Part impaired sleep behaviors of children and parents can recover to the normal levels. Sleep quality improved greater in children with a severe type of AC, those with worse baseline signs, and without other allergic diseases. For both children and parents, greater improvements in sleep quality were associated with longer treatment duration and with worse baseline sleep quality. CONCLUSION: Successful management of AC improves sleep quality for both children and their parents.
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The adsorption and detachment processes of n-dodecane (C12H26) molecules were studied on silica surfaces with variable surface chemistry (Q2, Q3, Q4 environments), using molecular dynamics simulations. The area density of the silanol groups varied from 9.4 to 0 per nm2. The shrinking of the oil-water-solid contact line was a key step for the oil detachment, due to water diffusion on the three-phase contact line. The simulation results showed that oil detachment was easier and faster on a perfect Q3 silica surface which had (≡Si(OH))-type silanol groups, due to the H-bond formation between the water and silanol groups. When the surfaces contained more Q2 crystalline type which had (≡Si(OH)2)-type silanol groups, less oil detached, due to the formations of H-bonds among the silanol groups. There were no silanol groups on the Si-OH 0 surface. Water cannot diffuse on the water-oil-silica contact line, and oil cannot detach from the Q4 surface. The detachment efficiency of oil from the silica surface not only depended on the area density, but also on the types of silanol groups. The density and type of silanol groups depend on the crystal cleavage plane, particle size, roughness, and humidity.
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BACKGROUND: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), characterized by the degeneration of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and photoreceptors, is the leading cause of irreversible vision impairment among the elderly. RPE senescence is an important contributor to AMD and has become a potential target for AMD therapy. HTRA1 is one of the most significant susceptibility genes in AMD, however, the correlation between HTRA1 and RPE senescence hasn't been investigated in the pathogenesis of AMD. METHODS: Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were used to detect HTRA1 expression in WT and transgenic mice overexpressing human HTRA1 (hHTRA1-Tg mice). RT-qPCR was used to detect the SASP in hHTRA1-Tg mice and ARPE-19 cells infected with HTRA1. TEM, SA-ß-gal was used to detect the mitochondria and senescence in RPE. Retinal degeneration of mice was investigated by fundus photography, FFA, SD-OCT and ERG. The RNA-Seq dataset of ARPE-19 cells treated with adv-HTRA1 versus adv-NC were analyzed. Mitochondrial respiration and glycolytic capacity in ARPE-19 cells were measured using OCR and ECAR. Hypoxia of ARPE-19 cells was detected using EF5 Hypoxia Detection Kit. KC7F2 was used to reduce the HIF1α expression both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: In our study, we found that RPE senescence was facilitated in hHTRA1-Tg mice. And hHTRA1-Tg mice became more susceptible to NaIO3 in the development of oxidative stress-induced retinal degeneration. Similarly, overexpression of HTRA1 in ARPE-19 cells accelerated cellular senescence. Our RNA-seq revealed an overlap between HTRA1-induced differentially expressed genes associated with aging and those involved in mitochondrial function and hypoxia response in ARPE-19 cells. HTRA1 overexpression in ARPE-19 cells impaired mitochondrial function and augmented glycolytic capacity. Importantly, upregulation of HTRA1 remarkably activated HIF-1 signaling, shown as promoting HIF1α expression which mainly located in the nucleus. HIF1α translation inhibitor KC7F2 significantly prevented HTRA1-induced cellular senescence in ARPE-19 cells, as well as improved the visual function in hHTRA1-Tg mice treated with NaIO3. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed elevated HTRA1 contributes to the pathogenesis of AMD by promoting cellular senescence in RPE through damaging mitochondrial function and activating HIF-1 signaling. It also pointed out that inhibition of HIF-1 signaling might serve as a potential therapeutic strategy for AMD. Video Abstract.
Subject(s)
Retinal Degeneration , Aged , Humans , Animals , Mice , Retinal Pigment Epithelium , Signal Transduction , Mitochondria , Cell NucleusABSTRACT
With the development of multimedia technology, the number of 3D models on the web or in databases is becoming increasingly larger and larger. It becomes more and more important to classify and retrieve 3D models. 3D model classification plays important roles in the mechanical design field, education field, medicine field and so on. Due to the 3D model's complexity and irregularity, it is difficult to classify 3D model correctly. Many methods of 3D model classification pay attention to local features from 2D views and neglect the 3D model's contour information, which cannot express it better. So, accuracy the of 3D model classification is poor. In order to improve the accuracy of 3D model classification, this paper proposes a method based on EfficientNet and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to classify 3D models, in which view feature and shape feature are used. The 3D model is projected into 2D views from different angles. EfficientNet is used to extract view feature from 2D views. Shape descriptors D1, D2, D3, Zernike moment and Fourier descriptors of 2D views are adopted to describe the 3D model and CNN is applied to extract shape feature. The view feature and shape feature are combined as discriminative features. Then, the softmax function is used to determine the 3D model's category. Experiments are conducted on ModelNet 10 dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves better than other methods.
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The adhesion G-protein-coupled receptor is a seven-transmembrane receptor protein with a complex structure. Impaired GPR56 has been found to cause developmental damage to the human brain, resulting in intellectual disability and motor dysfunction. To date, studies on gpr56 deficiency in zebrafish have been limited to the nervous system, and there have been no reports of its systemic effects on juvenile fish at developmental stages. In order to explore the function of gpr56 in zebrafish, the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing system was used to construct a gpr56-knockout zebrafish. Subsequently, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at the transcriptional level between the 3 days post fertilization (dpf) homozygotes of the gpr56 mutation and the wildtype zebrafish were analyzed via RNA-seq. The results of the clustering analysis, quantitative PCR (qPCR), and in situ hybridization demonstrated that the expression of innate immunity-related genes in the mutant was disordered, and multiple genes encoding digestive enzymes of the pancreatic exocrine glands were significantly downregulated in the mutant. Motor ability tests demonstrated that the gpr56-/- zebrafish were more active, and this change was more pronounced in the presence of cold and additional stimuli. In conclusion, our results revealed the effect of gpr56 deletion on the gene expression of juvenile zebrafish and found that the gpr56 mutant was extremely active, providing an important clue for studying the mechanism of gpr56 in the development of juvenile zebrafish.
Subject(s)
Transcriptome , Zebrafish , Animals , Humans , Mutation , Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled/metabolism , Zebrafish/genetics , Zebrafish/metabolism , Zebrafish Proteins/metabolismABSTRACT
Few-shot class-incremental learning (FSCIL) faces the challenges of memorizing old class distributions and estimating new class distributions given few training samples. In this study, we propose a learnable distribution calibration (LDC) approach, to systematically solve these two challenges using a unified framework. LDC is built upon a parameterized calibration unit (PCU), which initializes biased distributions for all classes based on classifier vectors (memory-free) and a single covariance matrix. The covariance matrix is shared by all classes, so that the memory costs are fixed. During base training, PCU is endowed with the ability to calibrate biased distributions by recurrently updating sampled features under supervision of real distributions. During incremental learning, PCU recovers distributions for old classes to avoid 'forgetting', as well as estimating distributions and augmenting samples for new classes to alleviate 'over-fitting' caused by the biased distributions of few-shot samples. LDC is theoretically plausible by formatting a variational inference procedure. It improves FSCIL's flexibility as the training procedure requires no class similarity priori. Experiments on CUB200, CIFAR100, and mini-ImageNet datasets show that LDC respectively outperforms the state-of-the-arts by 4.64%, 1.98%, and 3.97%. LDC's effectiveness is also validated on few-shot learning scenarios.
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Objective: Increasing evidence suggests that gut microbiota is involved in the occurrence and progression of urinary system diseases such as clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). However, the mechanism of how alteration of gut metagenome promotes ccRCC remains unclear. Here we aim to elucidate the association of specific gut bacteria and their metabolites with ccRCC. Methods: In a pilot case-control study among 30 ccRCC patients (RCC group) and 30 healthy controls (Control group), 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing were analyzed from fecal samples collected prior to surgery or hospitalization. Alpha diversity and beta diversity analysis of the gut microbiota were performed, and differential taxa were identified by multivariate statistics. Meanwhile, serum metabolism was measured by UHPLC-MS, and differential genes were identified based on the TCGA database. Results: Alpha diversity found there were no significant microbial diversity differences of gut microbiota between the RCC group and the Control group. However, beta diversity analysis showed that the overall structures of the two groups were significantly separated (p = 0.008). Random Forests revealed the relative abundances of 20 species differed significantly between the RCC group and the Control group, among which nine species were enriched in the RCC group such as Desulfovibrionaceae, and 11 species were less abundant such as four kinds of Lactobacillus. Concomitantly, serum level of taurine, which was considered to be consumed by Desulfovibrionaceae and released by Lactobacillus, has decreased in the RCC group. In addition, macrophage-related genes such as Gabbr1 was upregulated in ccRCC patients. Conclusion: Reduction of protective bacteria, proliferation of sulfide-degrading bacteria Desulfovibrionaceae, reduction of taurine, and enrichment of macrophage related genes might be the risk predictors of ccRCC.