Two machine learning approaches for predicting cyanobacteria abundance in aquaculture ponds.

Cyanobacteria blooms in aquaculture ponds harm the harvesting of aquatic animals and threaten human health. Therefore, it is crucial to identify key drivers and develop methods to predict cyanobacteria blooms in aquaculture water management. In this study, we analyzed monitoring data from 331 aquaculture ponds in central China and developed two machine learning models - the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression model and the random forest (RF) model - to predict cyanobacterial abundance by identifying the key drivers. Simulation results demonstrated that both machine learning models are feasible for predicting cyanobacterial abundance in aquaculture ponds. The LASSO model (R2 = 0.918, MSE = 0.354) outperformed the RF model (R2 = 0.798, MSE = 0.875) in predicting cyanobacteria abundance. Farmers with well-equipped aquaculture ponds that have abundant water monitoring data can use the nine environmental variables identified by the LASSO model as an operational solution to accurately predict cyanobacteria abundance. For crude ponds with limited monitoring data, the three environmental variables identified by the RF model provide a convenient solution for useful cyanobacteria prediction. Our findings revealed that chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) were the two most important predictors in both models, indicating that organic carbon concentration had a close relationship with cyanobacteria growth and should be considered a key metric in water monitoring and pond management of these aquaculture ponds. We suggest that monitoring of organic carbon coupled with phosphorus reduction in feed usage can be an effective management approach for cyanobacteria prevention and to maintain a healthy ecological state in aquaculture ponds.

Effects of Massa Medicata Fermentata on the intestinal pathogenic flagella bacteria and visceral hypersensitivity in rats with irritable bowel syndrome.

Objective: To investigate the effect of Massa Medicata Fermentata (MMF) on the changes of pathogenic flagellar bacteria and visceral hypersensitivity in rats with diarrhea irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Methods: Thirty adult SD rats were randomly divided into normal control group (n = 10), model control group (n = 10), and MMF group (n = 10). Acetic acid enema combined with restraint stress was used to build the IBS-D visceral hypersensitivity model; Abdominal withdrawal reflex (AWR) test was used to assess the visceral sensitivity of rats; 16SrRNA sequencing was used to analyze the changes of intestinal bacteria in each group, and the content of pathogenic flagellated bacteria were quantitatively counted; The content of flagellin in colonic mucosa was detected by ELISA; TLR5 protein in colonic mucosa of rats was detected by Western Blot. Results: After IBS-D modeling, the visceral sensitivity of rats was significantly higher in the model control group than that in the normal control group (p = 0.0061), while it was significantly decreased in MMF group compared with the model control group (p = 0.0217), but without significant difference compared with the normal control group (p = 0.6851). The number of fecal Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in the model group were significantly decreased compared with the normal control group (p < 0.0001); While they were significantly increased in the MMF group compared with the model control group and normal control group (p = 0.009; p < 0.0001). The amount of fecal pathogenic flagellated bacteria in the model group was significantly increased compared with the normal control group (p = 0.001); However it was significantly reduced in MMF group compared with the model group (p = 0.026), which has no statistically difference with the normal control group (p = 0.6486). The content of flagellin in colonic mucosa was significantly increased in the model group when compared with the normal control group (p < 0.0001), and it was decreased in MMF group compared with the normal control group (p < 0.0001), but there was no statistical difference with the normal control group (p = 0.6545). The expression level of TLR5 protein in colonic mucosa of rat was significantly increased in model control group compared with the normal control group (p = 0.0034), However, it was significantly decreased in MMF group compared with normal control group (p = 0.0019), but it was no statistical difference with the normal control group (p = 0.7519). Conclusion: MMF can reduce visceral hypersensitivity by decreasing the content of pathogenic flagellated bacteria and their flagellin and inhibiting its specific receptor TLR5 protein expression in colonic mucosa in IBS-D rats.

Association of Helicobacter pylori enrichment in colorectal adenoma tissue on clinical and pathological features of adenoma.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the enrichment of Helicobacter pylori (Hp) in adenoma tissue of patients with colorectal adenoma, and analyze the correlation between the enrichment and the clinical and pathological characteristics of colorectal adenoma. METHODS: The data of 1,622 patients undergoing gastrointestinal endoscopy in the Endoscopy Center of Wenzhou Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Hospital affiliated to Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from January 2019 to June 2021 were retrospectively collected. The general data, gastric Hp infection, clinical and pathological features of colorectal adenoma, methylene blue staining of adenoma Hp, immunohistochemistry of adenoma Hp and immunofluorescence staining of adenoma TLR5 protein. were compared between the colorectal adenoma group (743 cases) and the control group (879 cases). RESULTS: There were 361 gastric Hp positive cases in the colorectal adenoma group, with a positive rate of 48.59%, and 331 gastric Hp positive cases in the control group, with a positive rate of 37.66%, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Gastric Hp infection significantly correlates with the Hp enrichment in colorectal adenomas (OR: 28.449; 95%CI: 18.188-44.500; P < 0.001). Moreover, we found that Hp enrichment in colorectal adenomas was correlated with the diameter, pathological type, and malignancy of adenoma (OR: 3.536; 3.652; 2.833; all P < 0.001). Expression TLR5 protein was also increased in Hp-enriched adenoma tissue. CONCLUSION: There is a correlation between gastric Hp infection and intestinal Hp enrichment. The intestinal Hp enrichment significantly correlates with the clinical and pathological characteristics of colorectal adenomas, and its tumor-promoting effect may be related to the up-regulation of mucosal TLR5 expression.

Chronic wide-field imaging of brain hemodynamics in behaving animals.

Chronically monitoring cerebral activities in awake and freely moving status is very important in physiological and pathological studies. We present a novel standalone micro-imager for monitoring the cerebral blood flow (CBF) and total hemoglobin (HbT) activities in freely moving animals using the laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) and optical intrinsic signal (OIS) methods. A new cranial window method, using contact lens and wide field optics, is also proposed to achieve the chronic and wide-field imaging of rat's cerebral cortex. The hemodynamic activities of rats' cortex were measured for the first time without restriction of cables or fibers in awake and behaving animals. Chronic imaging showed the increase of CBF and HbT in motor cortex when the rats were climbing on the cage wall. Interestingly, the CBF activation of supplying vessel was smaller than that of parenchyma. Furthermore, after the climbing, CBF demonstrated fully return to the baseline while HbT showed a delayed recovery. The standalone micro-imager technology provides new possibilities of brain imaging in cognitive neuroscience studies.

Entropy analysis reveals a simple linear relation between laser speckle and blood flow.

Dynamic laser speckles contain motion information of scattering particles which can be estimated by laser speckle contrast analysis (LASCA). In this work, an entropy-based method was proposed to provide a more robust estimation of motion speed. An in vitro flow simulation experiment confirmed a simple linear relation between entropy, exposure time, and speed. A multimodality optical imaging setup is developed to validate the advantages of the entropy method based on laser speckle imaging, green light imaging, and fluorescence imaging. The entropy method overcomes traditional LASCA with less noisy interference, and extracts more visible and detailed vasculatures in vivo. Furthermore, the entropy method provides a more accurate estimation and a stable pattern of blood flow activations in the rat's somatosensory area under multitrial hand paw stimulations.

[Analysis on formula raw materials application of health food containing Gardeniae fructus].

In this article we built formula database of health food containing Gardeniae Fructus with Traditional Chinese Medicine Inheritance Support System (V2.0). And on this basis, use data mining method such as association rules of the software, to analyze commonly used formula raw materials or materials combination of formula containing Gardeniae Fructus and raw material application having assisted function formula to protect chemical liver injury. The result shows that of the 71 health food formulas containing Gardeniae Fructus, most used materials are Gardeniae Fructus, Lycii Fructus, Angelica Sinensis Radix, Poria and so on. Commonly used materials combination mostly are Gardeniae Fructus and Lycii Fructus, Gardeniae Fructus and Angelica Sinensis Radix, Gardeniae Fructus and Poria, Gardeniae Fructus and Paeonia. There are nearly 18 healthcare functions of the health food containing Gardeniae Fructus, and most of these are assisted functions to protect chemical liver injury, and then immune modulating function. Of 23 formulas containing Gardeniae Fructus having assisted function formula to protect chemical liver injury, Gardeniae Fructus usually combined with traditional Chinese medicine which nourishs blood and liver such as Pueraria, Lycii Fructus, Hawthorn, Paeonia and Turnjujube. Analyzing formula raw materials application of health food containing Gardeniae Fructus contributes a lot to the further development and utilization.

[Hyperspectral characteristics of Carthamus tinctorius in Xinjiang region].

Investigation of traditional Chinese medicine resources is the most important issue of the protection and use of traditional Chinese medicine resources. Real-time monitoring of medicinal plant species and coverage of an area are of great significance to the sustainable development of the medicinal plant species diversity and ecological environment. Flower has unique spectral characteristics. Comparing the vegetative stage through the flowering stage it is easier to identify species. The flowering stage is a critical period for identifying species with remote sensing. Carthamus tinctorius as a traditional Chinese medicine resources in XinJiang region, attracted widespread attention in recent years. In this paper, the hyperspectral data of canopy and other vegetation canopy was measured in 2011. The spectral curve was analyzed, the result indicated that C. tinctorius canopy and the canopy after picking showed absorption peak near 770 nm, the first derivative of red edge spectra and invert-Gaussian model were analyzed, the result indicated that there was significant difference between C. tinctorius canopy and other vegetation canopy. The proposed method is designed to provide initial theoretical foundation for growth condition and physiological parameters of C. tinctorius, and make theoretical groundwork for the distribution and elaborate monitoring of C. tinctorius in future.

[Estimating medicinal yield of Seutellaria baicalensis in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region based on 3S technology].

Resources survey of traditional Chinese medicine and reserves estimation are found to be the most important issues for the protection and utilization of traditional Chinese medicine resources, this paper used multi-spatial resolution remote sensing images (RS) , geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) , to establish Scutellaria resources survey of 3S data platform. Combined with the traditional field survey methods, small-scale habitat types were established based on different skullcap reserve estimation model, which can estimate reserves of the wild Scutellaria in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and improve the estimation accuracy. It can provide an important parameter for the fourth national survey of traditional Chinese medicine resources and traditional Chinese medicine reserves estimates based on 3S technology by multiple spatial scales model.

The fabrication of ferromagnetic nanocontact structure.

In this paper, we report the fabrication of permalloy nanocontact structures with greatly improved surface and edge smoothness. Magnetic sputtering and thermal evaporation were used for metal film deposition, and lift-off and dry etching techniques were employed for nanocontact structure patterning. The compositional properties of the resulting nanocontacts were investigated using energy dispersive analysis of X-ray (EDAX). Atom force microscope and scanning electron microscope were used for morphological characterisation. We found that high quality permalloy nanocontact structures can be obtained by using the combination of thermal evaporation and lift-off with optimised processing parameters; meanwhile, in the case of depositing metal films using magnetic sputtering, dry etching technique rather than lift-off was used for improved surface morphology of the nanostructures.

Fabrication of nanopores for biomacromolecule detection.

Nanopores embedded in a thin membrane with diameter below 10 nm are suitable for the biomacromolecule detection. For such purpose, in this study, we developed a technique of how to obtain small nanopores in silicon nitride films using a focused-ion-beam (FIB) system. By changing the process parameters, such as the beam current, the film thickness of the membrane and the ion beam exposure time, the diameter of the nanopore can be tuned. Under an optimized condition, high quality nanopores with diameter as low as 6 nm was fabricated on a 7 nm thick membrane. Our result suggests that FIB direct writing technique might be a suitable approach for biomacromolecule detector fabrication.

Transport comparison of multiwall carbon nanotubes by contacting outer shell and all shells.

Carbon nanotubes, particularly multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) can serve as interconnects in nanoelectronic devices and integrated circuits because of their extremely large current-carrying capacity. Many experimental results about the transport properties of individual MWCNTs by contacting outer shell or all shells have been reported. In this work, a compatible method with integrated circuit manufacturing process was presented to compare the transport property of an individual multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) by contacting outer shell only and all shells successively. First of the Ti/Au electrodes contacting outer shell only were fabricated onto the nanotube through the sequence of electron beam lithography (EBL) patterning, metal deposition and lift-off process. After the characterization of its transport property, focused ion beam (FIB) was used to drill holes through the same nanotube at the as-deposited electrodes. Then new contact to the holes and electrodes were made by ion-induced deposition of tungsten from W(CO)6 precursor gas. The transport results indicated that the new contact to all shells can clear up the intershell resistance and the electrical conductance of the tube can be improved about 8 times compared to that of by contacting outer shell only.