Classification Accuracy Improvement for Small-Size Citrus Pests and Diseases Using Bridge Connections in Deep Neural Networks.

Due to the rich vitamin content in citrus fruit, citrus is an important crop around the world. However, the yield of these citrus crops is often reduced due to the damage of various pests and diseases. In order to mitigate these problems, several convolutional neural networks were applied to detect them. It is of note that the performance of these selected models degraded as the size of the target object in the image decreased. To adapt to scale changes, a new feature reuse method named bridge connection was developed. With the help of bridge connections, the accuracy of baseline networks was improved at little additional computation cost. The proposed BridgeNet-19 achieved the highest classification accuracy (95.47%), followed by the pre-trained VGG-19 (95.01%) and VGG-19 with bridge connections (94.73%). The use of bridge connections also strengthens the flexibility of sensors for image acquisition. It is unnecessary to pay more attention to adjusting the distance between a camera and pests and diseases.

[Effects of fast-twisting long-retaining acupuncture therapy on apoptosis and expression of related proteins in vestibular nucleus in rats with vertigo induced by posterior circulation ischemia].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of fast-twisting long-retaining (FTLR) acupuncture therapy on apoptosis of vestibular nucleus and expression of Caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax in rats with vertigo induced by posterior circulation ischemia. METHODS: A total of 70 healthy SD rats were randomly divided into a sham operation group, a model group, a medication group, a regular acupuncture group and a FTLR acupuncture group, 14 rats in each group. The rats in the model group, medication group, regular acupuncture group and FTLR acupuncture group were intervented with surgical ligation of the right common carotid artery (CCA) and the right subclavian artery (SCA) to establish the model of vertigo induced by posterior circulation ischemia; in the sham operation group, the right CCA and the right SCA were separated without ligation. The rats in the medication group were treated with gavage of flunarizine hydrochloride suspension (10 mL/kg). "Baihui" (GV 20), "Shuaigu" (GB 8) and "Fengchi" (GB 20) were selected in the two acupuncture groups. The rats in the regular acupuncture group were treated with routine acupuncture and the needles were retained for 30 min, while the rats in the FTLR acupuncture group were treated with quick twist (200-300 times/min) for 1 min and the needles were retained for 60 min. The rats in the sham operation group and the model group received no intervention. All the intervention was provided once a day for 10 days. The decline rate of local blood flow in vestibular nucleus was observed; the apoptosis of vestibular nucleus was observed by TUNEL method; the expression of Caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax proteins were detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Compared with the sham operation group, the decline rate of local blood flow in the right vestibular nucleus was significantly increased in the model group (P<0.01), and the apoptosis index (AI) of vestibular nucleus was significantly increased (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the decline rates of local blood flow in the right vestibular nucleus in the two acupuncture groups and medication group were significantly reduced (P<0.01), and the AIs of vestibular nucleus cells were significantly reduced (P<0.01). The decline rate of local blood flow in the right vestibular nucleus in the FTLR acupuncture group was lower than those in the medication group and the regular acupuncture group (P<0.01, P<0.05), and the AI of vestibular nucleus was lower than those in the regular acupuncture group and the medication group (P<0.05). Compared with the sham operation group, the expression of Bcl-2 in the vestibular nucleus was significantly decreased in the model group (P<0.01), and the expressions of Bax and Caspase-3 were significantly increased (P<0.01). Compared with the model group, the expressions of Bcl-2 in the vestibular nucleus were significantly increased in the two acupuncture groups and medication group (P<0.01), and the expressions of Bax and Caspase-3 were significantly reduced (P<0.01). The expression of Bcl-2 in the vestibular nucleus in the FTLR acupuncture group was higher than those in the regular acupuncture group and the medication group (P<0.05), and the expressions of Bax and Caspase-3 were lower than those in the regular acupuncture group and the medication group (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: The FTLR acupuncture therapy could effectively inhibit the apoptosis of vestibular nucleus in rats with vertigo induced by posterior circulation ischemia, and its mechanism may be related to improving the blood supply of vestibular nucleus and regulating the expressions of Caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax proteins.

Citrus Pests and Diseases Recognition Model Using Weakly Dense Connected Convolution Network.

Pests and diseases can cause severe damage to citrus fruits. Farmers used to rely on experienced experts to recognize them, which is a time consuming and costly process. With the popularity of image sensors and the development of computer vision technology, using convolutional neural network (CNN) models to identify pests and diseases has become a recent trend in the field of agriculture. However, many researchers refer to pre-trained models of ImageNet to execute different recognition tasks without considering their own dataset scale, resulting in a waste of computational resources. In this paper, a simple but effective CNN model was developed based on our image dataset. The proposed network was designed from the aspect of parameter efficiency. To achieve this goal, the complexity of cross-channel operation was increased and the frequency of feature reuse was adapted to network depth. Experiment results showed that Weakly DenseNet-16 got the highest classification accuracy with fewer parameters. Because this network is lightweight, it can be used in mobile devices.

Lactose induced redox-dependent senescence and activated Nrf2 pathway.

Lactose is a disaccharide found in milk and thus a part of our daily food intake. Upon ingestion, it is hydrolyzed to glucose and galactose by the enzyme lactase and absorbed in the small intestine. People who suffer from lactose intolerance are unable to completely digest it due to deficiency of lactase, leading to intestinal problems such as diarrhoea, and bloating. Various studies have focused on treating these symptoms. However, the effects of lactose that diffuses passively into cells, on cellular senescence have largely remained unknown. Thus, the present study investigated the effects and mechanisms of lactose on senescence both in vitro and in vivo. The study was conducted in MRC-5 cells. The cellular senescence was estimated by determining the expression of SA-ß-gal and p16ink4a. The cell viability of MRC-5 cells was determined by the CCK-8 Assay. Activity of intracellular reactive oxygen species was estimated by measuring the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GHS), and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The mechanism of lactose on cellular senescence was explored by western blotting. We also studied the effect of lactose on the lifespan of Caenorhabditis elegans. Increased activities of SA-ß-gal and p16ink4a revealed the ability of lactose to induce senescence in MRC-5 cells. The elevated intracellular ROS level and decreased GSH and SOD levels in these cells were indicative of cellular oxidative stress induced by lactose. Furthermore, western blotting analysis of Nrf2 and mRNA expression of its downstream genes suggested the Nrf2/ARE pathway was involved in the oxidative stress induced by lactose. These results were further validated by the shortened lifespan of C. elegans after lactose supplement. Moreover, the lactose-induced senescence could be alleviated by an antioxidant, N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), both in vitro and in vivo. The present study observed a positive correlation between lactose and cellular oxidative stress, suggesting the latter to be an underlying mechanism of lactose-induced senescence.

Osteopontin-enriched formula feeding improves the T-cell-dependent humoral immune responses in infant rats.

Previous studies have shown that osteopontin (OPN) can enhance infant resistance to infection. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be explored. Here, we studied the effects of OPN on the development and functions of immune cells in infant rats fed with OPN-enriched formula (OF) compared with regular formula (RF). After 21 days feeding, the proportion of infant rats' CD3+ T cells of lymph nodes in the OF group is significantly increased compared with the RF group. The proportion of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells of lymph nodes in the OF group is closer to the breast feeding (BF) group than to the RF group. Upon immunisation with the thymus-dependent antigen ovalbumin (OVA), the concentration of OVA-specific IgG in the OF group was significantly higher than that in the RF group. Altogether OPN-enriched infant formula feeding can promote the differentiation of CD3+ T cells and improve the T-cell-dependent humoral immune responses in infant rats.

Use of Artificial Neural Network for the Simulation of Radon Emission Concentration of Granulated Blast Furnace Slag Mortar.

In this study, an artificial neural networks study was carried out to predict the quantity of radon of Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GBFS) cement mortar. A data set of a laboratory work, in which a total of 3 mortars were produced, was utilized in the Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) study. The mortar mixture parameters were three different GBFS ratios (0%, 20%, 40%). Measurement radon of moist cured specimens was measured at 3, 10, 30, 100, 365 days by sensing technology for continuous monitoring of indoor air quality (IAQ). ANN model is constructed, trained and tested using these data. The data used in the ANN model are arranged in a format of two input parameters that cover the cement, GBFS and age of samples and, an output parameter which is concentrations of radon emission of mortar. The results showed that ANN can be an alternative approach for the predicting the radon concentration of GBFS mortar using mortar ingredients as input parameters.

Association between interleukin-10 gene promoter polymorphisms and susceptibility to liver cirrhosis.

We conducted a case-control study to investigate the association between three common SNPs in IL-10 gene (rs1800896, rs1800871 and rs1800872) and the development of liver cirrhosis in a Chinese population. Between January 2013 and December 2014, a total of 318 patients with liver cirrhosis and 318 health control subjects were enrolled into our study. The IL-10 rs1800896, rs1800871 and rs1800872 polymorphisms were analyzed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) coupled with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). By multivariate logistic regression analysis, we found that individuals with the AA genotype and GA+AA genotype of IL-10 rs1800896 were more likely to have an increased risk of liver cirrhosis when compared with the GG genotype, and the ORs (95% CI) for the AA genotype and GA+AA genotype were 2.04 (1.20-3.50) and 1.41 (1.02-1.96), respectively. We found that the GA+AA genotype of IL-10 rs1800896 had higher risk of liver cirrhosis in individuals with chronic hepatitis B when compared with the GG genotype (OR = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.01-3.59). In conclusion, we found that IL-10 rs1800896 polymorphism was correlated with an increased risk of liver cirrhosis, especially in individuals with chronic hepatitis B.

[Effect of acupuncture needle-retention duration at Baihui (GV 20) and sishencong (EX-HN 1) on blood pressure in hypertension patients].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the effect of needle-retention duration at Baihui (GV 20) and Sishencong (EX-HN 1) on blood pressure in hypertension patients. METHODS: Twenty-four patients with essential hypertension were randomly divided into acupuncture group and medication group. For patients of the acupuncture group, single-use sterilized filiform needles were inserted into Baihui (GV 20) and Sishencong (EX-HN 1) and manipulated for about 10 s till "Deqi", and retained for 8 h. Patients of the medication group were treated by oral administration of Nifedipine tablets(20 mg)in the morning. Blood pressure (right brachial artery) was detected 0.5, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after the treatment respectively. RESULTS: In comparison with pre-treatment, the systolic pressure levels at the time-points of 0.5, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after taking Nifedipine in the medication group, and the systolic pressure levels at the time-points of 2, 4 and 6 h after the treatment in the acupuncture group, and the diastolic pressure levels at the time-points of 2, 4, 6 and 8 h in both acupuncture and medication groups were decreased obviously (P<0.05, P<0.01). The effect of acupuncture group was significantly weaker than that of the medication group in lowering systolic pressure at the time-points of 0.5 and 8 h after the treatment (P<0.01). No significant differences were found between the acupuncture and medication groups in lowering systolic pressure at the time-points of 2, 4 and 6 h after the treatment, and in lowering diastolic pressure at the time-points of 0.5, 2, 4, 6 and 8 h after the treatment (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture stimulation of Baihui (GV 20) and Sishencong (EX-HN 1) with sustained needle-retention works well in lowering blood pressure in hypertension patients, but is relatively slower and has a shorter period of time in lowering blood-pressure efficacy.

[Effect of tongjingning granule on primary dysmenorrhea].

OBJECTIVE: To study the mechanisms of tongjingning granule (TJN) on primary dysmenorrhea (PD). METHODS: One hundred and twenty PD patients were treated with TJN, and 40 patients treated with aspirin as controls. The levels of serum estrogen (E2) and progestin (P) content in the luteal metaphase and anaphase (MI/AI) as well as endothelin (ET) and calcitonin gene related peptide (CGRP) in the metaphase and menstrual stage before and after treatment in partial patients were determined. RESULTS: The therapeutic effect , and the curative markedly-effective rate and improvement rate of main accompanied symptoms of severe and moderate PD patients in the treated group were superior than those in the control group (P < 0.01). The level of E2 and ET were significantly decreased, and the content of P and CGRP were significantly increased in the treated group after treatment respectively (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: JTN not only can regulate ovarian hormone, ET and CGRP, but shows advantages in adjusting spirits and emotions, improving homeostasis and consolidating the therapeutic effect.