Application of improved YOLOv7-based sugarcane stem node recognition algorithm in complex environments.

Introduction: Sugarcane stem node detection is one of the key functions of a small intelligent sugarcane harvesting robot, but the accuracy of sugarcane stem node detection is severely degraded in complex field environments when the sugarcane is in the shadow of confusing backgrounds and other objects. Methods: To address the problem of low accuracy of sugarcane arise node detection in complex environments, this paper proposes an improved sugarcane stem node detection model based on YOLOv7. First, the SimAM (A Simple Parameter-Free Attention Module for Convolutional Neural Networks) attention mechanism is added to solve the problem of feature loss due to the loss of image global context information in the convolution process, which improves the detection accuracy of the model in the case of image blurring; Second, the Deformable convolution Network is used to replace some of the traditional convolution layers in the original YOLOv7. Finally, a new bounding box regression loss function WIoU Loss is introduced to solve the problem of unbalanced sample quality, improve the model robustness and generalization ability, and accelerate the convergence speed of the network. Results: The experimental results show that the mAP of the improved algorithm model is 94.53% and the F1 value is 92.41, which are 3.43% and 2.21 respectively compared with the YOLOv7 model, and compared with the mAP of the SOTA method which is 94.1%, an improvement of 0.43% is achieved, which effectively improves the detection performance of the target detection model. Discussion: This study provides a theoretical basis and technical support for the development of a small intelligent sugarcane harvesting robot, and may also provide a reference for the detection of other types of crops in similar environments.

The combined effect of a novel formula of herbal extracts on bacterial infection and immune response in Micropterus salmoides.

Herbal extracts have been considered as ideal alternative to antibiotics in aquaculture and application of combinatory effective extracts always can exhibit the enhanced bioactivity with high efficiency. In our study, a novel herbal extract combination GF-7, which is composed of Galla Chinensis, Mangosteen Shell extracts as well as the effective parts of Pomegranate peel and Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi extracts, was prepared and applied for the therapy of bacterial infection in aquaculture. The HPLC analysis of GF-7 was also investigated for quality control and chemical identification. In the bioassay, GF-7 had excellent antibacterial activity against various aquatic pathogenic bacteria in vitro, and the related MIC values were between 0.045 and 0.36 mg/mL. After feeding Micropterus salmoide with GF-7 (0.1, 0.3, and 0.6%, respectively) for 28 days, the activities of ACP, AKP, LZM, SOD, and CAT of the liver in each treatment group were significantly increased and the content of MDA was significantly decreased. Meanwhile, the hepatic expression of the immune regulators including IL-1ß, TNF-α, and Myd88 at different times was up-regulated in varying degrees. The challenge results exhibited a good dose-dependent protective effect on M. salmoides infected with A. hydrophila, which was further confirmed by liver histopathology. Our results imply that the novel combination GF-7 is a potential natural medicine for the prevention and treatment of numerous aquatic pathogenic infectious diseases in aquaculture.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Syndromes are Associated with Driver Gene Mutations and Clinical Characteristics in Patients with Lung Adenocarcinoma.

This study aimed to investigate the associations between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndromes and driver gene mutations as well as the clinical characteristics of patients with lung adenocarcinoma. We performed a cross-sectional study in patients with lung adenocarcinoma between June 2020 and October 2021. The patient characteristics, such as age, sex, smoking history, clinical stage, metastasis, driver gene mutations, and the type of traditional Chinese medicine syndrome/element, were collected. The associations between each TCM syndrome and sex, smoking history, clinical stage, metastasis, and driver gene mutations were analyzed. The present study included 127 patients. The most frequent TCM syndromes were Qi and Yin deficiency (39, 30.7%) and lung-spleen Qi deficiency (32, 25.2%). Eighty-one (63.8%) patients had mutations in driver genes, especially in the EGFR gene (64, 79.0%). There was a statistically significant association between a driver gene mutation and TCM syndrome (P < 0.05). Genetic mutations presented more frequently in patients with Qi and Yin deficiency (37.0%), lung-spleen Qi deficiency (30.0%), or the cold element (59.3%). Male patients were more likely to have Qi stagnation and blood stasis, whereas female patients were more likely to have lung-spleen Qi deficiency or Qi and Yin deficiency. The patients with lung-spleen Qi deficiency were usually younger than those with Qi and Yin deficiency or Qi stagnation and blood stasis (P < 0.05). Compared with the patients with other TCM syndromes, the patients with Yin and Yang deficiency were more likely to have bone metastasis. TCM syndromes were associated with driver gene mutations, sex, age, and bone metastasis in patients with lung adenocarcinoma.

Frontier progress of the combination of modern medicine and traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC, accounting for 90% of primary liver cancer) was the sixth most common cancer in the world and the third leading cause of cancer death in 2020. The number of new HCC patients in China accounted for nearly half of that in the world. HCC was of occult and complex onset, with poor prognosis. Clinically, at least 15% of patients with HCC had strong side effects of interventional therapy (IT) and have poor sensitivity to chemotherapy and targeted therapy. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as a multi-target adjuvant therapy, had been shown to play an active anti-tumor role in many previous studies. This review systematically summarized the role of TCM combined with clinically commonly used drugs for the treatment of HCC (including mitomycin C, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, 5-fluorouracil, sorafenib, etc.) in the past basic research, and summarized the efficacy of TCM combined with surgery, IT and conventional therapy (CT) in clinical research. It was found that TCM, as an adjuvant treatment, played many roles in the treatment of HCC, including enhancing the tumor inhibition, reducing toxic and side effects, improving chemosensitivity and prolonging survival time of patients. This review summarized the advantages of integrated traditional Chinese and modern medicine in the treatment of HCC and provides a theoretical basis for clinical research.

A Predictive Model of Metabolic Syndrome by Medical Examination: Evidence from an 8-Year Chinese Cohort.

PURPOSE: To develop a predictive model for the risk of metabolic syndrome (MetS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Totally, 1556 residents without MetS were finally included in 2006 and they were observed for 8 years to check who developed MetS. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses was adopted to explore the risk factors of MetS and develop the predictive model that used the medical examination information of MetS risk after 8 years. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to assess the predictive capacity of the model. RESULTS: The risk of MetS in overweight, prehypertension, hypertension subjects were 4.610 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.415 to 8.800], 2.759 (95% CI: 1.519 to 5.011) and 3.589 (95% CI: 1.672 to 7.706) times higher than that in controls, respectively. The risk of MetS in people with high-density lipoprotein (HDL) <1.10 mmol/L was 3.716-fold in comparison with HDL ≥1.55 mmol/L [odds risk (OR) = 3.716, 95% CI: 1.483 to 9.313]. Individuals with fatty liver had a higher risk of MetS (OR = 2.577, 95% CI: 1.472 to 4.512). The AUC of the predictive model was 0.831 (95% CI: 0.798 to 0.865), with the sensitivity of 0.898 (95% CI: 0.831 to 0.941) and the specificity of 0.676 (95% CI: 0.651 to 0.700). CONCLUSION: The model performed well predictive power for the risk of MetS, which may provide a reference for clinicians to identify high-risk groups early.

Optimization of Initial Cation Concentrations for L-Lactic Acid Production from Fructose by Lactobacillus pentosus Cells.

In this study, Box-Behnken design was applied to optimize the initial concentrations of 4 cations for L-lactic acid production from fructose by homologous batch fermentation of Lactobacillus pentosus cells. The optimum initial cation concentrations were obtained as 6.542 mM Mg2+, 3.765 mM Mn2+, 2.397 mM Cu2+, and 3.912 mM Fe2+, respectively. The highest L-lactic acid yield and productivity were obtained as 0.935 ± 0.005 g/g fructose and 1.363 ± 0.021 g/(L × h), respectively, with a maximum biomass concentration of 7.97 ± 0.17 g/L. The effectiveness of the optimization by Box-Behnken design was confirmed based on the small errors between predicted results and experimental results shown as 0.3%, - 0.2%, and - 1.2%, respectively. The quadratic models with high accuracy and reliability can be applied to mathematically forecasted the fermentation performance. After the optimization, the lactic acid yield and productivity were significantly improved by 3.7% and 21.0%, respectively.

Effects of Bunao-Fuyuan decoction serum on proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells in atherosclerotic.

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease, the main causes of which include abnormal lipid metabolism, endothelial injury, physical and chemical injury, hemodynamic injury, genetic factors and so on. These causes can lead to inflammatory injury of blood vessels and local dysfunction. Bunao-Fuyuan decoction (BNFY) is a traditional Chinese medicine compound that can treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, but its effect on AS is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and mechanism of BNFY in proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) on AS. At first, the expression of α-SMA protein in ox-LDL-induced VSMCs, which was detected by immunofluorescence staining and western blot. CCK-8 technique and cloning technique were used to detect the cell proliferation of ox-LDL-induced VSMCs after adding BNFY. Meanwhile, the expression of proliferating protein Ki67 was detected by immunofluorescence staining. Western blot was also used to detect the expression of proliferation-related proteins CDK2, CyclinE1 and P27. Flow cytometry was used to detect the effect of BNFY on cell cycle. The effects of BNFY on proliferation and migration of cells were detected by cell scratch test and Transwell. Western blot was used to detect the expression of adhesion factors ICAM1, VCAM1, muc1, VE-cadherin and RHOA/ROCK-related proteins in cells. We found that the expression of AS marker α-SMA protein increased significantly and cells shriveled and a few floated on the medium after induction of ox-LDL on VSCMs. The proliferation rate of ox-LDL VSMCs decreased significantly after adding different doses of BNFY, and BNFY can inhibit cell cycle. Meanwhile, we also found that cell invasion and migration rate were significantly inhibited and related cell adhesion factors ICAM1, VCAM1, muc1 and VE-cadherin were inhibited too by BNFY. Finally, we found that BNFY inhibited the expression of RHOA, ROCK1, ROCK2, p-MLC proteins in the RHOA/ROCK signaling pathway. Therefore, we can summarize that BNFY may inhibit the proliferation and migration of atherosclerotic vascular smooth muscle cells by inhibiting the activity of RHOA/ROCK signaling pathway.

L-Lactic acid production from fructose by chitosan film-coated sodium alginate-polyvinyl alcohol immobilized Lactobacillus pentosus cells and its kinetic analysis.

Under the optimal conditions of immobilization and fermentation, the highest LA yield of 0.966 ± 0.006 g/g fructose and production rate of 2.426 ± 0.018 g/(L × h) with an error of -0.5% and -0.2% to the predicted results were obtained from batch fermentation by the CS film-coated SA-PVA immobilized L. pentosus cells. The LA yield and production rate of these immobilized cells were 2.7% and 10.1% higher than that of normal SA-PVA immobilized cells respectively, and they were 5.7% and 48.4% higher than that of free cells, respectively. The effect of temperature on different types of immobilized cells and free cells was significantly different, but the effect of pH on different types of cells was not much different. The kinetic models could effectively describe the different fermentation performances of three types of cells. The immobilized cells have excellent reusability to conduct 9 runs of repeated batch fermentation.

Effects of different sodium salts and nitrogen sources on the production of 3-hydroxybutyrate and polyhydroxybutyrate by Burkholderia cepacia.

The effects of NaCl, Na2SO4, Na2HPO4, and Na3C6H5O7 on the production of 3-hydroxybutyrate, polyhydroxybutyrate, and by-products by Burkholderia cepacia. Proper addition of Na3C6H5O7 can significantly promote the production of 3-hydroxybutyric acid and polyhydroxybutyrate. The concentration, productivity, and yield of 3-hydroxybutyrate were increased by 48.2%, 55.6%, and 48.3% at 16 mM Na3C6H5O7. The increases of 80.1%, 47.1%, and 80.0% in the concentration, productivity, and yield of polyhydroxybutyrate were observed at 12 mM Na3C6H5O7. Na2SO4 and Na2HPO4 also have positive effects on the production capacity of 3-hydroxybutyrate and polyhydroxybutyrate within a certain range of concentration. NaCl is not conducive to the improvement of fermentation efficiency. Compared with a single nitrogen source, a mixed nitrogen source is more conducive to enhancing the production of 3-hydroxybutyrate and polyhydroxybutyrate.

Optimization of immobilization conditions for Lactobacillus pentosus cells.

In this study, the immobilization technology was used to improve the LA yield and shorten the fermentation time. The optimum conditions to immobilize Lactobacillus pentosus ATCC 8041 cell were determined by Taguchi design L16 (45). The immobilized L. pentosus ATCC 8041 cells prepared by 2% sodium alginate (SA) and 6% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with the immobilization process by 0.10 M calcium chloride (CaCl2) and 2.5% boric acid (H3BO3) had the best performance of LA yield at the temperature of 35 °C, which is significantly higher than that of L. pentosus ATCC 8041 free cells. These cells maintained the stable and efficient performance in 15 repeated batch fermentation, and they also have excellent mechanical strength to keep from breakage caused by cell growth and agitation.

Gender-associated factors for frailty and their impact on hospitalization and mortality among community-dwelling older adults: a cross-sectional population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Frailty associated with aging increases the risk of falls, disability, and death. We investigated gender-associated factors for frailty. METHODS: Data of 3,079 geriatric subjects were retrieved from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007-2010 database. After excluding 1,126 subjects with missing data on frailty, medical history and survival, data of 1,953 patients were analyzed. Main endpoints were frailty prevalence, mortality rates and causes of death. RESULTS: Frailty prevalence was 5.4% in males, 8.8% in females. Significant risk factors for geriatric frailty in males were being widowed/divorced/separated, low daily total calorie intake, physical inactivity, sleeping >9 h, smoking and hospitalization history; and in females were obesity, physical inactivity, sleeping <6 h, family history of diabetes and heart attack, and hospitalization history. Frail subjects had higher mortality rates (22.5% male; 8.5% female) than pre-frail (8.7% male; 6.4% female) and non-frail (5.4% male; 2.5% female). Main causes of death were heart diseases (41%) and chronic lower respiratory diseases (23.0%) in males and nephritis/nephrosis (32.3%) and chronic lower respiratory diseases (17.6%) in females. DISCUSSION: Factors associated with frailty differ by gender, with higher frailty prevalence in females and higher mortality in males. Gender-associated factors for frailty identified in this study may be useful in evaluating frailty and guiding development of public health measures for prevention. KEY MESSAGE: Common predictive factors for frailty among older adults of both genders, including more frequent previous hospitalizations, physical inactivity, and certain gender-associated factors for frailty, are consistent with results of other NHANES studies in which self-reported higher levels of illness and sedentary behavior were directly associated with frailty.

Long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 regulates the expression of Gli2 by miR-202 to strengthen gastric cancer progression.

BACKGROUND: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies and ranks the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Some studies had reported the tumor-promoting effects of long non-coding RNA metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) by sponging to microRNAs. However, the molecular mechanism of ceRNA regulatory pathway involving MALAT1 in GC remains unclear. METHODS: MALAT1 and miR -202 expression was detected by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) in 60 gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues, CCK8 cell proliferation assays, cell cycle analysis and cell apoptosis assays were performed to detect the GC cell proliferation and apoptosis. The mRNA and protein levels of Gli2 were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blotting assays. Furthermore, using online software, luciferase reporter assays, RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and RNA pulldown assays demonstrated miR-202 was a target of MALAT1. RESULTS: We found that MALAT1 was upregulated in GC tissues and higher MALAT1 expression was correlated with larger tumor size, lymph node metastasis, and TNM stage. Moreover, we revealed that MALAT1 was a direct target of miR-202 and knockdown of MALAT1 significantly decreased the expression of Gli2 through negatively regulating miR-202. In addition, knockdown of Malat1 inhibited GC cells proliferation, S-phase cell number, and induced cell apoptosis via negatively regulating miR-202 in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: Our results elucidated MALAT1/miR-202/Gli2 regulatory pathway, which maybe contribute to a novel therapeutic strategy for GC patients.