scEWE: high-order element-wise weighted ensemble clustering for heterogeneity analysis of single-cell RNA-sequencing data.

With the emergence of large amount of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data, the exploration of computational methods has become critical in revealing biological mechanisms. Clustering is a representative for deciphering cellular heterogeneity embedded in scRNA-seq data. However, due to the diversity of datasets, none of the existing single-cell clustering methods shows overwhelming performance on all datasets. Weighted ensemble methods are proposed to integrate multiple results to improve heterogeneity analysis performance. These methods are usually weighted by considering the reliability of the base clustering results, ignoring the performance difference of the same base clustering on different cells. In this paper, we propose a high-order element-wise weighting strategy based self-representative ensemble learning framework: scEWE. By assigning different base clustering weights to individual cells, we construct and optimize the consensus matrix in a careful and exquisite way. In addition, we extracted the high-order information between cells, which enhanced the ability to represent the similarity relationship between cells. scEWE is experimentally shown to significantly outperform the state-of-the-art methods, which strongly demonstrates the effectiveness of the method and supports the potential applications in complex single-cell data analytical problems.

Investigation the mechanism of iron overload-induced colonic inflammation following ferric citrate exposure.

Iron overload occurs due to excessive iron intake compared to the body's demand, leading to iron deposition and impairment of multiple organ functions. Our previous study demonstrated that chronic oral administration of ferric citrate (FC) caused colonic inflammatory injury. However, the precise mechanism underlying this inflammatory response remains unclear. The current study aims to investigate the mechanism by which iron overload induced by FC exposure leads to colonic inflammation. To accomplish this, mice were orally exposed to three different concentrations of FC (71 mg/kg/bw (L), 143 mg/kg/bw (M) and 286 mg/kg/bw (H)) for continuous 16 weeks, with the control group receiving ultrapure water (C). Exposure to FC caused disturbances in the excretory system, altered colonic flora alpha diversity, and enriched pathogenic bacteria, such as Mucispirillum, Helicobacter, Desulfovibrio, and Shigella. These changes led to structural disorders of the colonic flora and an inflammatory response phenotype characterized by inflammatory cells infiltration, atrophy of intestinal glands, and irregular thickening of the intestinal wall. Mechanistic studies revealed that FC-exposure activated the NF-κB signaling pathway by up-regulating TLR4, MyD88, and NF-κB mRNA levels and protein expression. This activation resulted in increased production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, further contributing to the colonic inflammation. Additionally, in vitro experiments in SW480 cells confirmed the activation of NF-κB signaling pathway by FC exposure, consistent with the in vivo findings. The significance of this study lies in its elucidation of the mechanism by which iron overload caused by FC exposure leads to colonic inflammation. By identifying the role of pathogenic bacteria and the NF-κB signaling pathway, this study could potentially offer a crucial theoretical foundation for the research on iron overload, as well as provide valuable insights for clinical iron supplementation.

Association of glycemic control with hypertension in patients with diabetes: a population-based longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes increases the risk of hypertension morbidity, but whether this association is varied with glycemic control remains unknown. We aimed to examine the association of glycemic control with hypertension among individuals with diabetes. METHODS: Data was from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) between 2011 and 2018. Participants were categorized as having adequate glycemic control (HbA1c < 7%) and inadequate glycemic uncontrol (HbA1c ≥ 7%) by combining blood glucose tests and physician's diagnoses in 2011. Incident hypertension was ascertained through self-reported physician diagnoses from 2011 to 2018. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the effect of glycemic control on hypertension. RESULTS: Among 436 participants with diabetes in this study, 102 met the glycemic control standard, and 334 were insufficient glycemic control. During 7 years of follow-up, 141 individuals developed hypertension. Compared with adequate glycemic control, the hazard ratio of inadequate glycemic control on hypertension was 1.54 (95% CI, 1.07-2.21) in the multivariate model. Additionally, the influence of glycemic control on hypertension varied based on educational attainment and the presence of depressive symptoms (P for interaction < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Insufficient glycemic control was associated with a higher risk of hypertension among individuals with diabetes. Notably, the effect of glycemic control on hypertension was more pronounced among those with lower educational attainment and those exhibiting depressive symptoms. These findings underscore the significance of vigilant glycemic monitoring, educational background considerations, and mental health assessments in managing diabetic individuals.

Better preservation of erectile function in localized prostate cancer patients with modern proton therapy: Is it cost-effective?

BACKGROUND: Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) has gradually been recognized as favorable curative treatment for localized prostate cancer (PC). However, the high rate of erectile dysfunction (ED) after traditional photon-based SBRT remains an ongoing challenge that greatly impacts the quality of life of PC survivors. Modern proton therapy allows higher conformal SBRT delivery and has the potential to reduce ED occurrence but its cost-effectiveness remains uninvestigated. METHODS: A Markov decision model was designed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of proton SBRT versus photon SBRT in reducing irradiation-related ED. Base-case evaluation was performed on a 66-year-old (median age of PC) localized PC patient with normal pretreatment erectile function. Further, stratified analyses were performed for different age groups (50, 55, 60, 65, 70, and 75 years) and threshold analyses were conducted to estimate cost-effective scenarios. A Chinese societal willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold (37,653 US dollars [$])/quality-adjusted life-year [QALY]) was adopted. RESULTS: For the base case, protons provided an additional 0.152 QALY at an additional cost of $7233.4, and the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was $47,456.5/QALY. Protons was cost-effective for patients ≤62-year-old at the WTP of China (≤66-year-old at a WTP of $50,000/QALY; ≤73-year-old at a WTP of $100,000/QALY). For patients at median age, once the current proton cost ($18,000) was reduced to ≤$16,505.7 or the patient had a life expectancy ≥88 years, protons were cost-effective at the WTP of China. CONCLUSIONS: Upon assumption-based modeling, the results of current study support the use of proton SBRT in younger localized PC patients who are previously potent, for better preservation of erectile function. The findings await further validation using data from future comparative clinical trials.

Optimizing oropharyngeal cancer management by using proton beam therapy: trends of cost-effectiveness.

BACKGROUND: Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a new-emerging cancer treatment in China but its treatment costs are high and not yet covered by Chinese public medical insurance. The advanced form of PBT, intensity-modulated proton radiation therapy (IMPT), has been confirmed to reduce normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) as compared to conventional intensity-modulated photon-radiation therapy (IMRT) in patients with oropharyngeal cancer (OPC). Herein, we evaluated the cost-effectiveness and applicability of IMPT versus IMRT for OPC patients in China, aiming at guiding the proper use of PBT. METHODS: A 7-state Markov model was designed for analysis. Base-case evaluation was performed on a 56-year-old (median age of OPC in China) patient under the assumption that IMPT could provide a 25% NTCP-reduction in long-term symptomatic dysphagia and xerostomia. Model robustness was examined using probabilistic sensitivity analysis, cohort analysis, and tornado diagram. One-way sensitivity analyses were conducted to identify the cost-effective scenarios. IMPT was considered as cost-effective if the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was below the societal willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold. RESULTS: Compared with IMRT, IMPT provided an extra 0.205 quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) at an additional cost of 34,926.6 US dollars ($), and had an ICER of $170,082.4/ QALY for the base case. At the current WTP of China ($33,558 / QALY) and a current IMPT treatment costs of $50,000, IMPT should provide a minimum NTCP-reduction of 47.5, 50.8, 55.6, 63.3 and 77.2% to be considered cost-effective for patient age levels of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50-year-old, respectively. For patients at the median age level, reducing the current IMPT costs ($50,000) to a $30,000 level would make the minimum NTCP-reduction threshold for "cost-effective" decrease from 91.4 to 44.6%, at the current WTP of China (from 69.0 to 33.5%, at a WTP of $50,000 / QALY; and from 39.7 to 19.1%, at a WTP of $100,000 / QALY). CONCLUSIONS: Cost-effective scenarios of PBT exist in Chinese OPC patients at the current WTP of China. Considering a potential upcoming increase in PBT use in China, such cost-effective scenarios may further expand if a decrease of proton treatment costs occurs or an increase of WTP level.

Cost-effectiveness analysis of proton beam therapy for treatment decision making in paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers in China.

BACKGROUND: Cost-effectiveness is a pivotal consideration for clinical decision making of high-tech cancer treatment in developing countries. Intensity-modulated proton radiation therapy (IMPT, the advanced form of proton beam therapy) has been found to improve the prognosis of the patients with paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers compared with intensity-modulated photon-radiation therapy (IMRT). However, the cost-effectiveness of IMPT has not yet been fully evaluated. This study aimed at evaluating the cost-effectiveness of IMPT versus IMRT for treatment decision making of paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers in Chinese settings. METHODS: A 3-state Markov model was designed for cost-effectiveness analysis. A base case evaluation was performed on a patient of 47-year-old (median age of patients with paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers in China). Model robustness was examined by probabilistic sensitivity analysis, Markov cohort analysis and Tornado diagram. Cost-effective scenarios of IMPT were further identified by one-way sensitivity analyses and stratified analyses were performed for different age levels. The outcome measure of the model was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). A strategy was defined as cost-effective if the ICER was below the societal willingness-to-pay (WTP) threshold of China (30,828 US dollars ($) / quality-adjusted life year (QALY)). RESULTS: IMPT was identified as being cost-effective for the base case at the WTP of China, providing an extra 1.65 QALYs at an additional cost of $38,928.7 compared with IMRT, and had an ICER of $23,611.2 / QALY. Of note, cost-effective scenarios of IMPT only existed in the following independent conditions: probability of IMPT eradicating cancer ≥0.867; probability of IMRT eradicating cancer ≤0.764; or cost of IMPT ≤ $52,163.9. Stratified analyses for different age levels demonstrated that IMPT was more cost-effective in younger patients than older patients, and was cost-effective only in patients ≤56-year-old. CONCLUSIONS: Despite initially regarded as bearing high treatment cost, IMPT could still be cost-effective for patients with paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers in China. The tumor control superiority of IMPT over IMRT and the patient's age should be the principal considerations for clinical decision of prescribing this new irradiation technique.

Validation of the care providers version of the Rainbow Model of Integrated Care-measurement tool in Chinese primary care systems.

BACKGROUND: The original Rainbow Model of Integrated Care Measurement Tool (RMIC-MT) is based on the Rainbow Model of Integrated Care (RMIC), which provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for integrated care. To translate and adapt the original care provider version of the RMIC-MT and evaluate its psychometric properties by a pilot study in Chinese primary care systems. METHODS: The translation and adaptation process were performed in four steps, forward and back-translation, experts review and pre-testing. We conducted a cross-sectional study with 1610 community care professionals in all 79 community health stations in the Nanshan district. We analyzed the distribution of responses to each item to study the psychometric sensitivity. Exploratory factor analysis with principal axis extraction method and promax rotation was used to assess the construct validity. Cronbach's alpha was utilized to ascertain the internal consistency reliability. Lastly, confirmation factor analysis was used to evaluate the exploratory factor analysis model fit. RESULTS: During the translation and adaptation process, all 48 items were retained with some detailed modifications. No item was found to have psychometric sensitivity problems. Six factors (person- & community-centeredness, care integration, professional integration, organizational integration, cultural competence and technical competence) with 45 items were determined by exploratory factor analysis, accounting for 61.46% of the total variance. A standard Cronbach's alpha of 0.940 and significant correlation among all items in the scale (> 0.4) showed good internal consistency reliability of the tool. And, the model passed the majority of goodness-to-fit test by confirmation factor analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The results showed initial satisfactory psychometric properties for the validation of the Chinese RMIC-MT provider version. Its application in China will promote the development of people-centered integrated primary care. However, further psychometric testing is needed in multiple primary care settings with both public and private community institutes.

A SVM and SLIC Based Detection Method for Paddy Field Boundary Line.

Visual based route and boundary detection is a key technology in agricultural automatic navigation systems. The variable illumination and lack of training samples has a bad effect on visual route detection in unstructured farmland environments. In order to improve the robustness of the boundary detection under different illumination conditions, an image segmentation algorithm based on support vector machine was proposed. A superpixel segmentation algorithm was adopted to solve the lack of training samples for a support vector machine. A sufficient number of superpixel samples were selected for extraction of color and texture features, thus a 19-dimensional feature vector was formed. Then, the support vector machine model was trained and used to identify the paddy ridge field in the new picture. The recognition F1 score can reach 90.7%. Finally, Hough transform detection was used to extract the boundary of the ridge field. The total running time of the proposed algorithm is within 0.8 s and can meet the real-time requirements of agricultural machinery.

Benzodipyrrole-2,6-dione-3,7-diylidenedimalononitrile Derivatives for Air-Stable n-Type Organic Field-Effect Transistors: Critical Role of N-Alkyl Substituent on Device Performance.

Benzodipyrrole-2,6-dione-3,7-diylidenedimalononitriles (BDPMs) were synthesized as active materials for the use in air-stable n-type organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), whose optical and electrochemical properties were examined. BDPM-based small molecules exhibit deep lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels, which are required in air-stable n-type OFETs. An OFET device that was based on BDPM-But and fabricated by vapor deposition provided a maximum electron mobility of 0.131 cm2 V-1 s-1 under ambient conditions.

Association of living arrangements with depressive symptoms among older adults in China: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Depression is regarded as a major public health concern in our society. While living arrangements as a structural factor of social support may contribute to older adults' depression. Our study aims to investigate the association between living arrangements and depressive symptoms among older adults in the whole China, and to explore whether such influences differ by genders. METHODS: Data were obtained from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. The sample was comprised of 6001 individuals aged ≥60 years. Depressive symptoms were measured by the 10-item Short-Form Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression. Independent variables were divided into 4 groups, considering living with/without a spouse and living with/without a child. The multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the relationship between living arrangements and depressive symptoms in four models. RESULTS: Compared with living only with a spouse, people living with a spouse and child, or living alone were more likely to have depressive symptoms (odds ratio = 1.23 95% CI 1.06-1.42 and 1.40 95% CI 1.03-1.92, respectively). Women were more associated with depressive symptoms (odds ratio = 2.13), but there were no significant associations between living arrangements and depressive symptoms among women. Men living with a spouse and a child had stronger positively depressive symptoms (odds ratio = 1.37). CONCLUSIONS: Older adults living alone, or living with both a child and spouse were more likely to have depressive symptoms. It is important to provide more social services for those older adult, particularly for men living with a spouse and child.

An Improved Convolutional Neural Network Based Approach for Automated Heartbeat Classification.

With age, our blood vessels are prone to aging, which induces cardiovascular disease. As an important basis for diagnosing heart disease and evaluating heart function, the electrocardiogram (ECG) records cardiac physiological electrical activity. Abnormalities in cardiac physiological activity are directly reflected in the ECG. Thus, ECG research is conducive to heart disease diagnosis. Considering the complexity of arrhythmia detection, we present an improved convolutional neural network (CNN) model for accurate classification. Compared with the traditional machine learning methods, CNN requires no additional feature extraction steps due to the automatic feature processing layers. In this paper, an improved CNN is proposed to automatically classify the heartbeat of arrhythmia. Firstly, all the heartbeats are divided from the original signals. After segmentation, the ECG heartbeats can be inputted into the first convolutional layers. In the proposed structure, kernels with different sizes are used in each convolution layer, which takes full advantage of the features in different scales. Then a max-pooling layer followed. The outputs of the last pooling layer are merged and as the input to fully-connected layers. Our experiment is in accordance with the AAMI inter-patient standard, which included normal beats (N), supraventricular ectopic beats (S), ventricular ectopic beats (V), fusion beats (F), and unknown beats (Q). For verification, the MIT arrhythmia database is introduced to confirm the accuracy of the proposed method, then, comparative experiments are conducted. The experiment demonstrates that our proposed method has high performance for arrhythmia detection, the accuracy is 99.06%. When properly trained, the proposed improved CNN model can be employed as a tool to automatically detect different kinds of arrhythmia from ECG.

A High Precision Real-time Premature Ventricular Contraction Assessment Method based on the Complex Feature Set.

This paper presents a high precision and low computational complexity premature ventricular contraction (PVC) assessment method for the ECG human-machine interface device. The original signals are preprocessed by integrated filters. Then, R points and surrounding feature points are determined by corresponding detection algorithms. On this basis, a complex feature set and feature matrices are obtained according to the position feature points. Finally, an exponential Minkowski distance method is proposed for PVC recognition. Both public dataset and clinical experiments were utilized to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method. The results show that our R peak detection algorithm can substantially reduce the error rate, and obtained 98.97% accuracy for QRS complexes. Meanwhile, the accuracy of PVC recognition was 98.69% for the MIT-BIH database and 98.49% for clinical tests. Moreover, benefiting from the lightweight of our model, it can be easily applied to portable healthcare devices for human-computer interaction.

People-centred integrated care in urban China.

In most countries, the demand for integrated care for people with chronic diseases is increasing as the population ages. This demand requires a fundamental shift of health-care systems towards more integrated service delivery models. To achieve this shift in China, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the Chinese government proposed a tiered health-care delivery system in accordance with a people-centred integrated care model. The approach was pioneered in Luohu district of Shenzhen city from 2015 to 2017 as a template for practice. In September 2017, China's health ministry introduced this approach to people-centred integrated care to the entire country. We describe the features of the Luohu model in relation to the core action areas and implementation strategies proposed and we summarize data from an evaluation of the first two years of the programme. We discuss the challenges faced during implementation and the lessons learnt from it for other health-care systems. We consider how to improve collaboration between institutions, how to change the population's behaviour about using community health services as the first point of contact and how to manage resources effectively to avoid budget deficits. Finally, we outline next steps of the Luohu model and its potential application to strengthen health care in other urban health-care systems.

Dans la plupart des pays, la demande de soins intégrés pour les personnes atteintes de maladies chroniques augmente à mesure que la population vieillit. Cette demande nécessite une réorientation majeure des systèmes de soins de santé vers des dispositifs de prestation de services plus intégrés. Pour effectuer cette réorientation en Chine, l'Organisation mondiale de la Santé, la Banque mondiale et le gouvernement chinois ont proposé un système de soins de santé à plusieurs niveaux selon un dispositif de soins intégrés axés sur l'être humain. Cette approche a été utilisée pour la première fois dans le district de Luohu de la ville de Shenzhen de 2015 à 2017 en tant que modèle de pratique. En septembre 2017, le ministère chinois de la Santé a appliqué à l'ensemble du pays ce dispositif de soins intégrés axés sur l'être humain. Nous décrivons les caractéristiques du modèle de Luohu par rapport aux principaux domaines d'action et aux stratégies de mise en œuvre proposées et nous résumons les données extraites d'une évaluation des deux premières années du programme. Nous examinons les difficultés rencontrées lors de la mise en œuvre et les leçons tirées de ces difficultés pour d'autres systèmes de soins de santé. Nous réfléchissons aux moyens d'améliorer la collaboration entre les institutions, de changer le comportement de la population concernant l'utilisation des services de santé des collectivités comme premier point de contact et de gérer efficacement les ressources pour éviter les déficits budgétaires. Enfin, nous décrivons les prochaines étapes à suivre dans le cadre du modèle de Luohu et son application potentielle pour renforcer les soins de santé dans d'autres systèmes urbains de soins de santé.

En la mayoría de los países, la demanda de atención integrada para las personas con enfermedades crónicas aumenta a medida que la población envejece. Esta demanda requiere un cambio fundamental de los sistemas de atención sanitaria hacia modelos de prestación de servicios más integrados. Para lograr este cambio en China, la Organización Mundial de la Salud, el Banco Mundial y el gobierno chino propusieron un sistema escalonado de prestación de servicios sanitarios de acuerdo con un modelo de atención integrada centrada en las personas. El enfoque se introdujo en el distrito de Luohu de la ciudad de Shenzhen de 2015 a 2017 como modelo para la práctica. En septiembre de 2017, el Ministerio de Salud de China introdujo este enfoque de atención integrada centrada en las personas en todo el país. Se describen las características del modelo de Luohu en relación con las áreas centrales de acción y las estrategias de implementación propuestas y se resumen los datos de una evaluación de los dos primeros años del programa. Se exponen los desafíos enfrentados durante la implementación y las lecciones aprendidas de la misma para otros sistemas de atención sanitaria. Se considera cómo mejorar la colaboración entre las instituciones, cómo cambiar el comportamiento de la población sobre el uso de los servicios sanitarios comunitarios como primer punto de contacto y cómo gestionar eficazmente los recursos para evitar déficits de presupuesto. Por último, se esbozaron los próximos pasos del modelo de Luohu y su posible aplicación para fortalecer la atención sanitaria en otros sistemas urbanos de atención sanitaria.

Effects of verapamil on the pharmacokinetics of dihydromyricetin in rats and its potential mechanism.

1. This study investigates the effects of verapamil on the pharmacokinetics of dihydromyricetin in rats and clarifies its main mechanism. 2. The pharmacokinetic profiles of oral or intravenous administration of dihydromyricetin in Sprague-Dawley rats with or without pretreatment with verapamil were investigated. In addition, the effects of verapamil on the transport and metabolic stability of dihydromyricetin were investigated using Caco-2 cell transwell model and rat liver microsomes. 3. In the oral group, verapamil could significantly increase Cmax, and decrease oral clearance of dihydromyricetin (p < 0.05). In the intravenous group, the Cmax also increased compared with the control group, but the difference was not significant. However, the t1/2 and clearance rate decreased than that of the control (p < 0.05). The oral bioavailability increased significantly (p < 0.05) from 3.84% to 6.84% with the pretreatment of verapamil. A markedly higher transport of dihydromyricetin across the Caco-2 cells was observed in the basolateral-to-apical direction and was abrogated in the presence of the P-gp inhibitor, verapamil. Additionally, the intrinsic clearance rate of dihydromyricetin was decreased by the pretreatment with verapamil (27.0 versus 32.5 µL/min/mg protein). 4. Those results indicated that verapamil could significantly change the pharmacokinetic profiles of dihydromyricetin in rats, and it might exert these effects through increasing the absorption of dihydromyricetin by inhibiting the activity of P-gp, or through inhibiting the metabolism of dihydromyricetin in rat liver.

An Improved Model Predictive Current Controller of Switched Reluctance Machines Using Time-Multiplexed Current Sensor.

This paper presents a fixed-switching-frequency model predictive current controller using multiplexed current sensor for switched reluctance machine (SRM) drives. The converter was modified to distinguish currents from simultaneously excited phases during the sampling period. The only current sensor installed in the converter was time division multiplexing for phase current sampling. During the commutation stage, the control steps of adjacent phases were shifted so that sampling time was staggered. The maximum and minimum duty ratio of pulse width modulation (PWM) was limited to keep enough sampling time for analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion. Current sensor multiplexing was realized without complex adjustment of either driver circuit nor control algorithms, while it helps to reduce the cost and errors introduced in current sampling due to inconsistency between sensors. The proposed controller is validated by both simulation and experimental results with a 1.5 kW three-phase 12/8 SRM. Satisfied current sampling is received with little difference compared with independent phase current sensors for each phase. The proposed controller tracks the reference current profile as accurately as the model predictive current controller with independent phase current sensors, while having minor tracking errors compared with a hysteresis current controller.

Robust Tomato Recognition for Robotic Harvesting Using Feature Images Fusion.

Automatic recognition of mature fruits in a complex agricultural environment is still a challenge for an autonomous harvesting robot due to various disturbances existing in the background of the image. The bottleneck to robust fruit recognition is reducing influence from two main disturbances: illumination and overlapping. In order to recognize the tomato in the tree canopy using a low-cost camera, a robust tomato recognition algorithm based on multiple feature images and image fusion was studied in this paper. Firstly, two novel feature images, the  a*-component image and the I-component image, were extracted from the L*a*b* color space and luminance, in-phase, quadrature-phase (YIQ) color space, respectively. Secondly, wavelet transformation was adopted to fuse the two feature images at the pixel level, which combined the feature information of the two source images. Thirdly, in order to segment the target tomato from the background, an adaptive threshold algorithm was used to get the optimal threshold. The final segmentation result was processed by morphology operation to reduce a small amount of noise. In the detection tests, 93% target tomatoes were recognized out of 200 overall samples. It indicates that the proposed tomato recognition method is available for robotic tomato harvesting in the uncontrolled environment with low cost.

Anatomical study of surgical approaches for minimally invasive transoral thyroidectomy: eMIT and TOPP.

OBJECTIVE: Anatomical study of surgical approaches of endoscopic minimally invasive thyroidectomy (eMIT) and transoral partial parathyroidectomy (TOPP) was conducted to evaluate their safety and feasibility. MATERIAL AND METHODS: After performing an eMIT- and TOPP-procedure on fresh frozen human cadavers, a layer-by-layer dissection of the floor of the mouth and the anterior cervical region was carried out in five specimens. The blood vessels, nerves and muscles related to the surgical approach were exposed. RESULTS: The anterior region of the neck can be reached through the midline of the mouth floor and the suprahyoid muscles. No important nerves and vessels were found in the approach of eMIT. TOPP set up the space at the dorsal side of the thyroid gland and adjacent to the trachea. The hypoglossal nerve and the lingual nerve as well as their accompanying blood vessels were anatomically related to the approach and could be injured during the procedure. The surgical space is much limited in TOPP (<20 mm in diameter) and current surgical instruments still did not match the requirement of this technique. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that the transoral approach of eMIT is anatomically safer and more feasible than that of TOPP.

Non-invasive assessment of periodontal inflammation by continuum-removal hemodynamic spectral indices.

BACKGROUND: Hyperspectral techniques have aroused great interest in non-invasively measuring periodontal tissue hemodynamics. However, current studies mainly focused on three typical inflammation stages (healthy, gingivitis and periodontitis) and practical approaches for using optical spectroscopy for early and precisely detection of periodontal inflammation at finer disease stages have not been well studied. METHODS: This study provided novel spectroscopic insights into periodontitis at different stages of disease, and developed six simple but physically meaning hemodynamic spectral indices (HSIs) including four spectral absorption depths of oxyhemoglobin ( D HbO 2 ), deoxyhemoglobin ( D Hb ), total hemoglobin ( t Hb ) and tissue water ( D water ), and two normalized difference indices of oxyhemoglobin( N D HbO 2 I ) and deoxyhemoglobin ( N D Hb I ) from continuum-removal spectra (400-1700 nm) of periodontal tissue collected from 47 systemically healthy subjects over different severities from healthy, gingivitis, slight, moderate to severe periodontitis for early and precision diagnostics of periodontitis. Typical statistical analyses were conducted to explore the effectiveness of the proposed HSIs. RESULTS: D Hb and t Hb exerted significant increasing trends as inflammation progressed, whereas D HbO 2 exhibited significant difference (P < 0.05) from the healthy sites only at moderate and severe periodontitis and D water presented unstable sensitives to disease severity. By contrast, N D HbO 2 I and N D Hb I showed more steadily downward trends as severity increased, and demonstrated the highest correlations with clinical gold standard parameters. Particularly, the proposed normalized HSIs ( N D HbO 2 I and N D Hb I ) yielded high correlations of - 0.49 and - 0.44 with probing depth, respectively, far outperforming results achieved by previous studies. The performances of the HSIs were also confirmed using the periodontal therapy group. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicated great potentials of combination optical spectroscopy and smart devices to non-invasively probe periodontitis at earlier stages using the simple and practical HSIs. Trial registration This study was retrospectively registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on October 24, 2021, and the clinical registration number is ChiCTR2100052306.

MiRNA-497 regulates cell growth and invasion by targeting cyclin E1 in breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs are a class of endogenous single strand non-coding RNAs that are involved in many important physiological and pathological processes. The purpose of this study was to examine the expression levels of miR-497 in human breast cancer and its function in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. METHODS: Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the expression levels of miR-497 in 40 breast cancer specimens and adjacent normal breast tissues. MTT assays, colony formation assays, wound healing assays, transwell assays and cell cycle assays were used to explore the potential function of miR-497 in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Dual-luciferase reporter assays were performed to analyze the regulation of putative target of miR-497, and western blot assays were used to validate the dual-luciferase results. RESULTS: The expression of miR-497 in breast cancer specimens was lower than adjacent normal tissues (P < 0.05). Overexpression of miR-497 inhibited cellular growth, suppressed cellular migration and invasion, and caused a G1 arrest. Dual-luciferase reporter assays showed that miR-497 binds the 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of cyclin E1, suggesting that cyclin E1 is a direct target of miR-497. Western blot assays confirmed that overexpression of miR-497 reduced cyclin E1 protein levels. CONCLUSIONS: MiR-497 may act as a tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer. Inhibited cellular growth, suppressed cellular migration and invasion, and G1 cell cycle arrest were observed upon overexpression of miR-497 in cells, possibly by targeting cyclin E1. These results indicate miR-497 could be considered a therapeutic target for the development of treatment for breast cancer.

Change of urinary fluoride and bone metabolism indicators in the endemic fluorosis areas of southern China after supplying low fluoride public water.

BACKGROUND: Few studies have evaluated health impacts, especially biomarker changes, following implementation of a new environmental policy. This study examined changes in water fluoride, urinary fluoride (UF), and bone metabolism indicators in children after supplying low fluoride public water in endemic fluorosis areas of Southern China. We also assessed the relationship between UF and serum osteocalcin (BGP), calcitonin (CT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and bone mineral density to identify the most sensitive bone metabolism indicators related to fluoride exposure. METHODS: Four fluorosis-endemic villages (intervention villages) in Guangdong, China were randomly selected to receive low-fluoride water. One non-endemic fluorosis village with similar socio-economic status, living conditions, and health care access, was selected as the control group. 120 children aged 6-12 years old were randomly chosen from local schools in each village for the study. Water and urinary fluoride content as well as serum BGP, CT, ALP and bone mineral density were measured by the standard methods and compared between the children residing in the intervention villages and the control village. Benchmark dose (BMD) and benchmark dose lower limit (BMDL) were calculated for each bone damage indicator. RESULTS: Our study found that after water source change, fluoride concentrations in drinking water in all intervention villages (A-D) were significantly reduced to 0.11 mg/l, similar to that in the control village (E). Except for Village A where water change has only been taken place for 6 years, urinary fluoride concentrations in children of the intervention villages were lower or comparable to those in the control village after 10 years of supplying new public water. The values of almost all bone indicators in children living in Villages B-D and ALP in Village A were either lower or similar to those in the control village after the intervention. CT and BGP are sensitive bone metabolism indicators related to UF. While assessing the temporal trend of different abnormal bone indicators after the intervention, bone mineral density showed the most stable and the lowest abnormal rates over time. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that supplying low fluoride public water in Southern China is successful as measured by the reduction of fluoride in water and urine, and changes in various bone indicators to normal levels. A comparison of four bone indicators showed CT and BGP to be the most sensitive indicators.