Effects of o-cresol on the growth and biochemical compositions in marine microalgae.

To assess the toxic effects of o-cresol on marine organisms, Skeletonema costatum and Phaeodactylum tricornutum were chosen as test subjects to investigate its impact on growth and biochemical compositions. The results indicated that the 96-h EC50 values for o-cresol in S. costatum and P. tricornutum were 7.99 mg/L and 13.28 mg/L, respectively, demonstrating a moderate and slight toxicity level. Conversely, the maximum no-effect concentration (NOEC) for o-cresol in S. costatum and P. tricornutum were 2.43 mg/L and 0.43 mg/L, respectively, classifying their chronic toxicity grades as negligible and low toxic. Following a 96-h exposure period, the content of photosynthetic pigments in S. costatum did not significantly differ from the control group (P > 0.05). Conversely, the levels of total protein, total lipid, and carbohydrate in microalgae were significantly induced (P < 0.05) as the concentration of o-cresol increased. Higher concentrations of o-cresol generally stimulated the synthesis of biochemical compositions in algae cells, which serves as an active defense mechanism in response to pollution stress. To comprehensively evaluate the potential risk of o-cresol to marine ecosystems, it is crucial to strengthen its toxicity studies on marine fish and crustaceans in the future.

PEg TRAnsfer Workflow recognition challenge report: Do multimodal data improve recognition?

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: In order to be context-aware, computer-assisted surgical systems require accurate, real-time automatic surgical workflow recognition. In the past several years, surgical video has been the most commonly-used modality for surgical workflow recognition. But with the democratization of robot-assisted surgery, new modalities, such as kinematics, are now accessible. Some previous methods use these new modalities as input for their models, but their added value has rarely been studied. This paper presents the design and results of the "PEg TRAnsfer Workflow recognition" (PETRAW) challenge with the objective of developing surgical workflow recognition methods based on one or more modalities and studying their added value. METHODS: The PETRAW challenge included a data set of 150 peg transfer sequences performed on a virtual simulator. This data set included videos, kinematic data, semantic segmentation data, and annotations, which described the workflow at three levels of granularity: phase, step, and activity. Five tasks were proposed to the participants: three were related to the recognition at all granularities simultaneously using a single modality, and two addressed the recognition using multiple modalities. The mean application-dependent balanced accuracy (AD-Accuracy) was used as an evaluation metric to take into account class balance and is more clinically relevant than a frame-by-frame score. RESULTS: Seven teams participated in at least one task with four participating in every task. The best results were obtained by combining video and kinematic data (AD-Accuracy of between 93% and 90% for the four teams that participated in all tasks). CONCLUSION: The improvement of surgical workflow recognition methods using multiple modalities compared with unimodal methods was significant for all teams. However, the longer execution time required for video/kinematic-based methods(compared to only kinematic-based methods) must be considered. Indeed, one must ask if it is wise to increase computing time by 2000 to 20,000% only to increase accuracy by 3%. The PETRAW data set is publicly available at www.synapse.org/PETRAW to encourage further research in surgical workflow recognition.

Genome-wide survey and expression analysis of the OSCA gene family in rice.

BACKGROUND: Reception of and response to exogenous and endogenous osmotic changes is important to sustain plant growth and development, as well as reproductive formation. Hyperosmolality-gated calcium-permeable channels (OSCA) were first characterised as an osmosensor in Arabidopsis and are involved in the perception of extracellular changes to trigger hyperosmolality-induced [Ca(2+)]i increases (OICI). To explore the potential biological functions of OSCAs in rice, we performed a bioinformatics and expression analysis of the OsOSCA gene family. RESULTS: A total of 11 OsOSCA genes were identified from the genome database of Oryza sativa L. Japonica. Based on their sequence composition and phylogenetic relationship, the OsOSCA family was classified into four clades. Gene and protein structure analysis indicated that the 11 OsOSCAs shared similar structures with their homologs in Oryza sativa L. ssp. Indica, Oryza glaberrima, and Oryza brachyantha. Multiple sequence alignment analysis revealed a conserved DUF221 domain in these members, in which the first three TMs were conserved, while the others were not. The expression profiles of OsOSCA genes were analysed at different stages of vegetative growth, reproductive development, and under osmotic-associated abiotic stresses. We found that four and six OsOSCA genes showed a clear correlation between the expression profile and osmotic changes during caryopsis development and seed imbibition, respectively. Orchestrated transcription of three OsOSCAs was strongly associated with the circadian clock. Moreover, osmotic-related abiotic stress differentially induced the expression of 10 genes. CONCLUSION: The entire OSCA family is characterised by the presence of a conserved DUF221 domain, which functions as an osmotic-sensing calcium channel. The phylogenetic tree of OSCA genes showed that two subspecies of cultivated rice, Oryza sativa L. ssp. Japonica and Oryza sativa L. ssp. Indica, are more closely related than wild rice Oryza glaberrima, while Oryza brachyantha was less closely related. OsOSCA expression is organ- and tissue-specific and regulated by different osmotic-related abiotic stresses in rice. These findings will facilitate further research in this gene family and provide potential target genes for generation of genetically modified osmotic-stress-resistant plants.

Electron migration behavior of Au/Cu multilayer films on Si substrates under UV radiation.

Au/Cu multilayer films were plated by the magnetron sputtering method on p-Si(100) substrates. The sample temperature was changed from room temperature to 44 °C under UV radiation in a vacuum within 120 minutes, and then remained stable with treatment time increased. Meanwhile, the surface roughness was changed from 4.2 nm to 5.9 nm and then also remained stable. But the interface width of Au/Cu still continued to increase during that steady stage. The calculation results show that the concentration gradient of Cu atoms fell to 2.24 in 360 minutes from 3.45 at the beginning. The increase of defects in the grain boundaries of the Au layer was induced by UV radiation, because the Cu element had a smaller work function relative to the Au element and it was more likely to migrate to the surface layer through the grain boundaries of the Au layer.