Estimation of Blood Alcohol Concentration From Smartphone Gait Data Using Neural Networks.

Driving is a dynamic activity, which requires quick reflexes and decision making in order to respond to sudden changes in traffic conditions. Alcohol consumption impairs motor and cognitive skills, and causes many driving-related accidents annually. Passive methods of proactively detecting drivers who are too drunk to drive in order to notify them and prevent accidents, have recently been proposed. The effects of alcohol on a drinker's gait (walk) is a reliable indicator of their intoxication level. In this paper, we investigate detecting drinkers' intoxication levels from their gait by using neural networks to analyze sensor data gathered from their smartphone. Using data gathered from a large controlled alcohol study, we perform regression analysis using a Bi-directional Long Short Term Memory (Bi-LSTM) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architectures to predict a person's Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) from their smartphone's accelerometer and gyroscope data. We innovatively proposed a comprehensive suite of pre-processing techniques and model-specific extensions to vanilla CNN and bi-LSTM models, which are well thought out and adapted specifically for BAC estimation. Our Bi-LSTM architecture achieves an RMSE of 0.0167 and the CNN architecture achieves an RMSE of 0.0168, outperforming state-of-the-art intoxication detection models using Bayesian Regularized Multilayer Perceptrons (MLP) (RMSE of 0.017) and the Random Forest (RF), with hand-crafted features. Moreover, our models learn features from raw sensor data, obviating the need for hand-crafted features, which is time consuming. Moreover, they achieve lower variance across folds and are hence more generalizable.

Occurrence of Pratylenchus coffeae Causing Root Rot of Soybean in Shandong Province of China.

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is a very important commercial crop in China (Li et al. 2019). Pratylenchus coffeae (Zimmermann, 1898) Filipjev & Schuurmans Stekhoven, 1941, is one of the most important root-lesion nematodes that invade the roots of many crops. In August 2018, five root and soil samples were collected in a soybean field, near Xipan village in Linshu county of Linyi City, Shandong Province, China (Fig. S1), to investigate the occurrence of root-lesion nematodes. The collected plants (cv. Lindou No.10) were growing poorly and the roots showed distinct brown lesions (Fig. S2). Pratylenchus spp. were extracted using the modified Baermann funnel method for 2 days (Hooper et al. 2005). On average, 395 root-lesion nematodes per kg of soil and 36 root-lesion nematodes per gram of fresh roots were extracted. The extracted root-lesion nematodes were disinfected with 0.3% streptomycin sulfate and cultured on carrot disks for propagation at 25°C. The species identification was based on morphological and molecular criteria. Key morphological features were determined for females and males. Measurements of females (n = 16) included body length = 561.0 µm ± 37.6 (standard deviation) (520.5 to 654.0 µm), tail length = 30.0 µm ± 1.9 (27.0 to 33.5 µm), stylet = 16.0 µm ± 0.6 (15.0 to 17.5 µm), a = 28.2 ± 2.3 (23.7 to 31.5), b = 6.4 ± 0.5 (5.7 to 7.3), c = 18.7 ± 1.8 (15.7 to 23.8), and V = 80.8% ± 2.1 (76.5 to 83.8%). Measurements of males (n = 16): body length = 511.0 µm ± 28.1 (range= 475.5 to 566.0 µm), tail length = 26.0 µm ± 1.3 (23.5 to 28.5 µm), stylet = 15.0 µm ± 0.5 (14.5 to 16.0 µm), spicule length = 17.0 µm ± 0.9 (16.0 to 18.5 µm), a = 30.8 ± 1.5 (28.0 to 33.2), b = 6.1 ±0.4 (5.6 to 6.9), and c = 19.8 ± 1.3 (18.1 to 22.2) (Fig. S3). All the morphological features of this population matched the description of P. coffeae (Castillo and Vovlas, 2007). DNA was extracted from an individual female as described previously (Wang et al. 2011). The rDNA-internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and the D2/D3 region of the 28S rRNA gene were amplified by primers 18S/26S (Vrain et al. 1992) and D2A/D3B (De Ley et al. 1999), respectively. The PCR products were purified and sequenced. The obtained sequences of the ITS region (1,253 bp) and the D2/D3 region of 28S rRNA (781 bp) were deposited in GenBank. The ITS sequences of the root-lesion nematode obtained in this study (GenBank Accession no. MT879294) exhibited 99% identity with several P. coffeae sequences available in the GenBank (e.g., KR106219, MT586756, KY424205, and MN749379), and the obtained D2/D3 region sequence (MT879295) exhibited 100% identity with several P. coffeae sequences (e.g., MT586754, MN750755, MK829009, and MH730447). Both morphological and molecular data confirmed the presence of P. coffeae. To confirm reproduction on soybean, the obtained root-lesion nematode population was used in a greenhouse (25°C) assay to fulfill modified Koch's postulates. About 20 days after sowing, eight pots, each with one soybean plant (Lindou No.10) were inoculated with 1000 P. coffeae. The inoculated plants were kept in 1.5 L pots containing 1.2 L sterilized soil. Eight pots of uninoculated soybeans were used as the control. Ten weeks later, the inoculated roots were washed and brown lesions were observed. The number of nematodes/pot was approximately 7360 in soil and 796 in roots, and the reproduction factor was 8.16. Root-lesion nematodes and symptoms were not observed in control groups. P. coffeae has only been reported on soybean in Zhejiang (Wei et al. 2013) and Henan Province (Li et al. 2019) of China. To our knowledge, this is the first report of P. coffeae infecting soybean in Shandong Province, China. Since the root-lesion nematode can cause considerable damage to soybean, care should be taken to prevent the spread of P. coffeae to other regions in China.

Analysis of nasal cavity morphology and nasolabial development of the normal Han ethnic people under age of 12.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to establish the three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction model of nasal cavity for China's Han ethnic population (0-12 years) by laser scanning and photogrammetry, and thus to elucidate the developmental mechanism of nasal cavity morphology and nasolabial region. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 260 normal people of the Han ethnic aged 0-12 were recruited as subjects, among whom 60 were scanned for nasal cavity morphology in order to get reconstructed models with the computer engineering software. Photogrammetry was performed for the remaining 200 subjects to measure the 7 parameters that reflect vertically or horizontally the anatomical features of the nasolabial region. RESULTS: The interior morphology of nasal cavity was accurately established by 3D laser scanning and photogrammetry with the optimal morphology of nasal cavity simulated through 3D reconstruction. Development of nasal cavity and nasolabial region was also analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: The 3D laser scanning analysis is the ideal method to analyze the interior morphology of nasal cavity by reconstructing the normal interior morphology of nasal cavity and quantitatively analyze the change of nasal cavity morphology with age. Photogrammetry can be applied to conduct the morphological measurement for the nasolabial region and, thus, assessing the development of the nasolabial region with age, which provides information for choosing the timing and options of surgery in treating harelip and nasal deformity.

Effects of transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation on the imbalance of Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells following thoracotomy of patients with lung cancer.

An imbalance in the various T lymphocytes, including T-helper (Th)1, Th2 and Th17 cells, and regulatory T (Treg) cells, has been associated with immune dysfunction, and may occur following thoracotomy of patients with lung cancer. The use of transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (TAES) has previously been demonstrated to exert immunoregulatory effects; therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate whether TAES was able to attenuate postoperative immune suppression in patients with lung cancer. Thoracic surgical patients with lung cancer (n=27) underwent TAES (frequency, 2/100 Hz; intensity, 4-12 mA) at the bilateral large intestine 4, pericardium 6, small intestine 3 and San Jiao 6 acupuncture points for 30 min, prior to incision, and at 20, 44, 68, 92 and 116 h following thoracotomy. The number of Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells, and the protein and mRNA expression levels of related cytokines were measured by flow cytometry, ELISA and polymerase chain reaction, respectively. The balance of Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells in the peripheral blood of patients with lung cancer was disrupted following thoracotomy. TAES administration increased the percentage of Th1 and Th17 cells, the protein expression levels of interleukin (IL)-2 and interferon-γ, the mRNA expression levels of T-bet and RAR-related orphan receptor-γt, and decreased the percentage of Th2 cells, IL-10 protein expression levels, and GATA binding protein 3 mRNA expression levels. The results of the present study demonstrated that TAES was able to partially attenuate the postoperative immune depression of patients with lung cancer, by regulating the balance of Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg cells, and the expression levels of related cytokines and transcription factors; therefore, TAES may be considered to be a promising strategy for treating postoperative immune dysfunction in patients with lung cancer.

Lack of association between the cyclooxygenase 2 -765G>C polymorphism and prostate cancer risk: a meta-analysis.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2) -765G>C (rs20417) polymorphism and prostate cancer (PC) risk using meta-analysis. A systematic literature search was performed using the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases by using the terms "cyclooxygenase-2/COX-2/PTGs2", "polymorphism" or "variation", and "prostate" and "cancer" or "carcinoma" to identify relevant articles up to June 14, 2014. Crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were assessed for PC risk associated with COX2 -765G>C polymorphism using fixed- and random-effect models. We identified a total of nine publications, including 5952 cases and 5078 controls, to investigate the effect of COX2 -765G>C on PC risk, and found no significant association in any genetic model tested (CC vs GG: OR = 0.993, 95%CI = 0.923-1.068; GC+CC vs GG: OR = 1.041, 95%CI = 0.931-1.103; CC vs GC+GG: OR = 0.858, 95%CI = 0.689-1.067; CC vs GG: OR = 0.871, 95%CI = 0.689-1.086; GC vs GG: OR = 1.032, 95%CI = 0.945-1.127). Power analysis and tests for publication bias ensured the reliability of our results. This meta-analysis suggested that the functional COX2 -765G>C polymorphism, located in the COX2 gene promoter, is unlikely to be associated with PC risk. However, additional larger, well-designed studies are still required to reach a conclusive result on this issue.

Associations between SOX2 and miR-200b expression with the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of patients with glioma.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between microRNA (miR)-200b and sex determining region Y-box 2 (SOX2) expression with gender, age, clinical staging and pathological staging in 123 patients with glioma. The results revealed higher miR-200b expression levels in the glioma tissue than in the normal brain tissues, and a reduction in miR-200b expression with increasing pathological grading of the gliomas. Immunohistochemistry revealed a 53.7% gross expression rate of SOX2 in the glioma tissues. SOX2 and miR-200b expression levels were significantly correlated with the histological grading of the gliomas (P<0.05); however, no associations were observed with patient gender, age, pathological classification or clinical staging of the glioma (P>0.05). In patients with grade I and II gliomas, no correlation was detected between miR-200b and SOX2, while a significant correlation was observed in grade III and IV gliomas. A median 52-month follow-up revealed 1-, 3- and 5-year gross survival rates of 82.1, 50.0 and 30.7%, respectively, in the 123 patients with a glioma. Univariate analysis revealed no association between survival rate and patient age, gender, Karnofsky Performance Scale score, histological grading or clinical staging (P>0.05). However, miR-200b and SOX2 were independent prognostic factors for glioma (P<0.05). Patients with positive SOX2 expression exhibited a significantly reduced 5-year survival rate, compared with those with negative SOX2 expression (P<0.001). Furthermore, a significantly higher 5-year survival rate was observed in patients with high miR-200b expression than those with low miR-200b expression (P<0.001). The results indicated that SOX2 and miR-200b expression levels are associated with the histological grading of gliomas, but do not correlate with patient gender or age, or the pathological classification or clinical staging of the gliomas. Thus, miR-200b and SOX2 offer useful independent prognostic factors for glioma.