Fracture Detection in Pediatric Wrist Trauma X-ray Images Using YOLOv8 Algorithm

Hospital emergency departments frequently receive lots of bone fracture cases, with pediatric wrist trauma fracture accounting for the majority of them. Before pediatric surgeons perform surgery, they need to ask patients how the fracture occurred and analyze the fracture situation by interpreting X-ray images. The interpretation of X-ray images often requires a combination of techniques from radiologists and surgeons, which requires time-consuming specialized training. With the rise of deep learning in the field of computer vision, network models applying for fracture detection has become an important research topic. In this paper, YOLOv8 algorithm is used to train models on the GRAZPEDWRI-DX dataset, which includes X-ray images from 6,091 pediatric patients with wrist trauma. The experimental results show that YOLOv8 algorithm models have different advantages for different model sizes, with YOLOv8l model achieving the highest mean average precision (mAP 50) of 63.6\%, and YOLOv8n model achieving the inference time of 67.4ms per X-ray image on one single CPU with low computing power. In this way, we create "Fracture Detection Using YOLOv8 App" to assist surgeons in interpreting X-ray images without the help of radiologists. Our implementation code is released at https://github.com/RuiyangJu/Bone_Fracture_Detection_YOLOv8

Neoproterozoic subduction along the Ailaoshan zone, South China : geochronological and geochemical evidence from amphibolite

This study was supported by China Natural Science Foundation (41190073 and 41372198), National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB440901) and Natural Environment Research Council (grant NE/J021822/1).Lenses of amphibolites occur along the Ailaoshan suture zone at the southwestern margin of the Yangtze Block, South China. Petrological, geochemical and zircon U-Pb geochronological data indicate that they are divisible into two coeval groups. Group 1, represented by the Jinping amphibolite, has mg-number of 71-76 and (La/Yb)cn ratios of 7.2-7.7, and displays a geochemical affinity to island arc volcanic rocks. Group 2 amphibolites occur at Yuanyang and are characterized by high Nb contents (14.3-18.4 ppm), resembling Nb-enriched basalts. The epsilon(Nd)(t) values for Group 1 range from -3.45 to -2.04 and for Group 2 from +4.08 to +4.39. A representative sample for Group 1 yields a U-Pb zircon age of 803 7 Ma, whereas two samples for Group 2 give U-Pb zircon ages of 813 +/- 11 Ma and 814 +/- 12 Ma. Petrogenetic analysis suggests that Group 1 originated from an orthopyroxene-rich source and Group 2 from a mantle wedge modified by slab-derived melt. In combination with other geological observations, these amphibolites are inferred to constitute part of an early Neoproterozoic (similar to 815-800 Ma) arc-back-arc basin system. The Neoproterozoic amphibolites and related rocks along the Ailaoshan zone may be the southward extension of the Neoproterozoic supra-subduction zone that developed along the western margin of the Yangtze Block. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.PostprintPeer reviewe

Overexpression of OsRAN2 in rice and Arabidopsis renders transgenic plants hypersensitive to salinity and osmotic stress

Nucleo-cytoplasmic partitioning of regulatory proteins is increasingly being recognized as a major control mechanism for the regulation of signalling in plants. Ras-related nuclear protein (Ran) GTPase is required for regulating transport of proteins and RNA across the nuclear envelope and also has roles in mitotic spindle assembly and nuclear envelope (NE) assembly. However, thus far little is known of any Ran functions in the signalling pathways in plants in response to changing environmental stimuli. The OsRAN2 gene, which has high homology (77% at the amino acid level) with its human counterpart, was isolated here. Subcellular localization results showed that OsRan2 is mainly localized in the nucleus, with some in the cytoplasm. Transcription of OsRAN2 was reduced by salt, osmotic, and exogenous abscisic acid (ABA) treatments, as determined by real-time PCR. Overexpression of OsRAN2 in rice resulted in enhanced sensitivity to salinity, osmotic stress, and ABA. Seedlings of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants overexpressing OsRAN2 were overly sensitive to salinity stress and exogenous ABA treatment. Furthermore, three ABA- or stress-responsive genes, AtNCED3, AtPLC1, and AtMYB2, encoding a key enzyme in ABA synthesis, a phospholipase C homologue, and a putative transcriptional factor, respectively, were shown to have differentially induced expression under salinity and ABA treatments in transgenic and wild-type Arabidopsis plants. OsRAN2 overexpression in tobacco epidermal leaf cells disturbed the nuclear import of a maize (Zea mays L.) leaf colour transcription factor (Lc). In addition, gene-silenced rice plants generated via RNA interference (RNAi) displayed pleiotropic developmental abnormalities and were male sterile

Function of Brassica napus BnABI3 in Arabidopsis gs1, an Allele of AtABI3, in Seed Development and Stress Response

Abscisic acid (ABA) has been implicated in plant adaptation to various environmental stresses in addition to the regulation of seed dormancy and leaf senescence. ABI3 is a B3 domain-containing family protein and functions in the ABA signaling pathway during seed development. To date, the ABI3 orthologous have not been studied in Brassica napus. The aim of this study is to investigate the function of BnABI3 in plant development and stress response. Here, we identified an Arabidopsis line (gs1) from a population of mutagenized seeds and showed that GS1 is a new allele of AtABI3. When the Arabidopsis gs1 mutant was transformed with the BnABI3 gene, the transformed plants produced seeds that turned yellow and acquired desiccation tolerance. Moreover, BnABI3 regulates seed coat development and mucilage secretion by directly targeting the AtMUM1 and AtGATL5 genes. In addition, we showed that BnABI3 expression rescued gs1 freezing-induced green seed coloration by targeting AtSGR1/2 in transgenic Arabidopsis. BnABI3 is also involved in lateral root development and conferred a novel interaction between ABA and auxin signaling in roots. The potential role of ABI3 protein in endoplasmic reticulum homoeostasis was also tested. Altogether, our results indicated that BnABI3 mediates both plant development and the stress response

Narrative Cartography with Knowledge Graphs

Narrative cartography is a discipline which studies the interwoven nature of stories and maps. However, conventional geovisualization techniques of narratives often encounter several prominent challenges, including the data acquisition & integration challenge and the semantic challenge. To tackle these challenges, in this paper, we propose the idea of narrative cartography with knowledge graphs (KGs). Firstly, to tackle the data acquisition & integration challenge, we develop a set of KG-based GeoEnrichment toolboxes to allow users to search and retrieve relevant data from integrated cross-domain knowledge graphs for narrative mapping from within a GISystem. With the help of this tool, the retrieved data from KGs are directly materialized in a GIS format which is ready for spatial analysis and mapping. Two use cases — Magellan’s expedition and World War II — are presented to show the effectiveness of this approach. In the meantime, several limitations are identified from this approach, such as data incompleteness, semantic incompatibility, and the semantic challenge in geovisualization. For the later two limitations, we propose a modular ontology for narrative cartography, which formalizes both the map content (Map Content Module) and the geovisualization process (Cartography Module). We demonstrate that, by representing both the map content and the geovisualization process in KGs (an ontology), we can realize both data reusability and map reproducibility for narrative cartography

Stochastic Dynamics of an SIRS Epidemic Model with Ratio-Dependent Incidence Rate

We investigate the complex dynamics of an epidemic model with nonlinear incidence rate of saturated mass action which depends on the ratio of the number of infectious individuals to that of susceptible individuals. We first deal with the boundedness, dissipation, persistence, and the stability of the disease-free and endemic points of the deterministic model. And then we prove the existence and uniqueness of the global positive solutions, stochastic boundedness, and permanence for the stochastic epidemic model. Furthermore, we perform some numerical examples to validate the analytical findings. Needless to say, both deterministic and stochastic epidemic models have their important roles

The Complex Dynamics of a Stochastic Predator-Prey Model

A modified stochastic ratio-dependent Leslie-Gower predator-prey model is formulated and analyzed. For the deterministic model, we focus on the existence of equilibria, local, and global stability; for the stochastic model, by applying Itô formula and constructing Lyapunov functions, some qualitative properties are given, such as the existence of global positive solutions, stochastic boundedness, and the global asymptotic stability. Based on these results, we perform a series of numerical simulations and make a comparative analysis of the stability of the model system within deterministic and stochastic environments

Preparation and PEGylation of recombinant human interferon lambda3

The purpose of this study was to express recombinant human interferon lambda3 (rhIFN-λ3) in Escherichia coli, and prepare PEGylated recombinant human interferon lambda3 (PEG-rhIFN-λ3). The rhIFN-λ3 gene was inserted into pThioHisA vector after codon optimization and transformed into E. coli top10 strain, and then it was induced with isopropyl-β-D-thio-galactoside (IPTG). The recombinant protein was subjected to mPEG-ButyrALD modification after dialysis, renaturation and chromatographic purification. Subsequently, the modified product was preliminary isolated and purified for determining its activity. Results show that the recombinant protein was expressed in the form of inclusion bodies. After ion exchange, molecular sieve and other column chromatography purification, the purity of the purified rhIFN-λ3 was as high as 90% and the purity of the mono-PEGylated rhIFN-λ3 after cation-exchange chromatography was as high as 86%. The 50% effective concentration (EC50) of rhIFN-λ3 in WISH cells against vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) was 8.43 ng/mL, while the EC50 of mono-PEGylated rhIFN-λ3 was 49.19 ng/mL, which reserved 17.14% of the in vitro activity and supported further studies of this new type of investigational interferon. Further study is needed to better understand the in vivo immunogenicity, antigenicity, stability and antiviral activity of PEG-rhIFN-λ3.Keywords: Recombinant human interferon lambda3, prokaryotic expression, purification, mPEG-ButyrALD, antiviral activity