Autonomous wind turbine inspection using a quadrotor

There has been explosive growth of wind farm installations in recent years due to the fact that wind energy is gaining worldwide popularity. However, the maintenance of these offshore or onshore wind turbines, especially in remote areas, remains a challenging task. In this work, vision-based autonomous wind turbine inspection using a quadrotor is designed based on realistic assumptions. Both simulation and Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) testing results have shown the effectiveness of the proposed approach

Chromatin Dynamics in Digestive System Cancer: Commander and Regulator

Digestive system tumors have a poor prognosis due to complex anatomy, insidious onset, challenges in early diagnosis, and chemoresistance. Epidemiological statistics has verified that digestive system tumors rank first in tumor-related death. Although a great number of studies are devoted to the molecular biological mechanism, early diagnostic markers, and application of new targeted drugs in digestive system tumors, the therapeutic effect is still not satisfactory. Epigenomic alterations including histone modification and chromatin remodeling are present in human cancers and are now known to cooperate with genetic changes to drive the cancer phenotype. Chromatin is the carrier of genetic information and consists of DNA, histones, non-histone proteins, and a small amount of RNA. Chromatin and nucleosomes control the stability of the eukaryotic genome and regulate DNA processes such as transcription, replication, and repair. The dynamic structure of chromatin plays a key role in this regulatory function. Structural fluctuations expose internal DNA and thus provide access to the nuclear machinery. The dynamic changes are affected by various complexes and epigenetic modifications. Variation of chromatin dynamics produces early and superior regulation of the expression of related genes and downstream pathways, thereby controlling tumor development. Intervention at the chromatin level can change the process of cancer earlier and is a feasible option for future tumor diagnosis and treatment. In this review, we introduced chromatin dynamics including chromatin remodeling, histone modifications, and chromatin accessibility, and current research on chromatin regulation in digestive system tumors was also summarized

Promoting routine syphilis screening among men who have sex with men in China: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of syphilis self-testing and lottery incentive.

BACKGROUND: Men who have sex with men (MSM) bear a high burden of syphilis infection. Expanding syphilis testing to improve timely diagnosis and treatment is critical to improve syphilis control. However, syphilis testing rates remain low among MSM, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. We describe the protocol for a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess whether provision of syphilis self-testing services can increase the uptake of syphilis testing among MSM in China. METHODS: Four hundred forty-four high-risk MSM will be recruited online and randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to (1) standard syphilis self-testing arm; (2) a self-testing arm program enhanced with crowdsourcing and a lottery-based incentive, and (3) a standard of care (control). Self-testing services include a free syphilis self-test kit through the mail at monthly intervals. Participants in the lottery incentive arm will additionally receive health promotion materials generated from an open crowdsourcing contest and be given a lottery draw with a 10% chance to win 100 RMB (approximately 15 US Dollars) upon confirmed completion of syphilis testing. Syphilis self-test kits have step-by-step instructions and an instructional video. This is a non-blinded, open-label, parallel RCT. Participants in each arm will be followed-up at three and 6 months through WeChat (a social media app like Facebook messenger). Confirmation of syphilis self-test use will be determined by requiring participants to submit a photo of the used test kit to study staff via secure data messaging. Both self-testing and facility-based testing will be ascertained by sending a secure photographic image of the completed kit through an existing digital platform. The primary outcome is the proportion of participants who tested for syphilis in the past 3 months. DISCUSSION: Findings from this study will provide much needed insight on the impact of syphilis self-testing on promoting routine syphilis screening among MSM. The findings will also contribute to our understanding of the safety, effectiveness and acceptability of syphilis self-testing. These findings will have important implications for self-testing policy, both in China and internationally. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR1900022409 (10 April, 2019)

Correction to: Identifying high risk subgroups of MSM: a latent class analysis using two samples.

Following publication of the original article [1], the author reported his family name has been marked as the first name. His given name is M. Kumi and his family name is Smith

An IoT-Based Framework of Webvr Visualization for Medical Big Data in Connected Health

Recently, telemedicine has been widely applied in remote diagnosis, treatment and counseling, where the Internet of Things (IoT) technology plays an important role. In the process of telemedicine, data are collected from remote medical equipment, such as CT machine and MRI machine, and then transmitted and reconstructed locally in three-dimensions. Due to the large amount of data to be transmitted in the reconstructed model and the small storage capacity, data need to be compressed progressively before transmission. On this basis, we proposed a lightweight progressive transmission algorithm based on large data visualization in telemedicine to improve transmission efficiency and achieve lossless transmission of original data. Moreover, a novel four-layer system architecture based on IoT has been introduced, including the sensing layer, analysis layer, network layer and application layer. In this way, the three-dimensional reconstructed data at the local end is compressed and transmitted to the remote end, and then visualized at the remote end to show reconstructed 3D models. Thus, it is conducive to doctors in remote real-time diagnosis and treatment, and then realize the data processing and transmission between doctors, patients and medical equipment

Identifying high risk subgroups of MSM: a latent class analysis using two samples.

BACKGROUND: Latent class analyses (LCA) are increasingly being used to target specialized HIV interventions, but generalizability of emergent population structures across settings has yet to be considered. We compare LCA performed on two online samples of HIV negative Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) to detect more generalizable latent class structures and to assess the extent to which sampling considerations impact the validity of LCA results. METHODS: LCAs were performed on an 1) nationwide online survey which involved no in-person contact with study staff and a 2) sentinel surveillance survey in which participants underwent HIV and syphilis testing in the city of Guangzhou, both conducted in 2014. Models for each sample were informed by risk factors for HIV acquisition in MSM that were common to both datasets. RESULTS: An LCA of the Guangzhou sentinel surveillance data indicated the presence of two relatively similar classes, differing only by the greater tendency of one to report group sex. In contrast an LCA of the nationwide survey identified three classes, two of which shared many of the same features as those identified in the Guangzhou survey, including the fact that they were mainly distinguished by group sex behaviors. The final latent class in the nationwide survey was composed of members with notably few risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Comparisons of the latent class structures of each sample lead us to conclude that the nationwide online sample captured a larger, possibly more representative group of Chinese MSM comprised of a larger, higher risk group and a small yet distinct lower group with few reported behaviors. The absence of a lower risk group in the Guangzhou sentinel surveillance dataset suggests that MSM recruited into studies involving free HIV/STI testing may oversample MSM with higher risk behaviors and therefore greater risk perception. Lastly, two types of higher risk MSM were emergent across both samples distinguished largely by their recent group sex behaviors. Higher odds not only of self-reported HIV infection but also of closeted tendencies and gender fluid identities in this highest risk group suggest that interacting factors drive individual and structural facets of HIV risk

Evaluation of a village-based digital health kiosks program: A protocol for a cluster randomized clinical trial

Background To address disparities in healthcare quality and access between rural and urban areas in China, reforms emphasize strengthening primary care and digital health utilization. Yet, evidence on digital health approaches in rural areas is lacking. Objective This study will evaluate the effectiveness of Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital's Digital Health Kiosk program, which uses the Dingbei telemedicine platform to connect rural clinicians to physicians in upper-level health facilities and provide access to artificial intelligence-enabled diagnostic support. We hypothesize that our interventions will increase healthcare utilization and patient satisfaction, decrease out-of-pocket costs, and improve health outcomes. Methods This cluster randomized control trial will enroll clinics according to a partial factorial design. Clinics will be randomized to either a control arm with clinician medical training, a second arm additionally receiving Dingbei telemedicine training, or a third arm with monetary incentives for patient visits conducted through Dingbei plus all prior interventions. Clinics in the second and third arm will then be orthogonally randomized to a social marketing arm that targets villager awareness of the kiosk program. We will use surveys and Dingbei administrative data to evaluate clinic utilization, revenue, and clinician competency, as well as patient satisfaction and expenses. Results We have received ethical approval from Guangdong Second Provincial General Hospital (IRB approval number: GD2H-KY IRB-AF-SC.07-01.1), Peking University (IRB00001052-21007), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (323385). Study enrollment began April 2022. Conclusions This study has the potential to inform future telemedicine approaches and assess telemedicine as a method to address disparities in healthcare access. Trial registration number: ChiCTR210005387

The Changing Patterns of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China: A Tempogeographic Analysis of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Epidemic.

BACKGROUND: Evaluating whether an infectious disease has reached a turning point is important for planning additional intervention efforts. This study aimed to analyze the changing patterns and the tempogeographic features of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in China, to provide further evidence for real-time responses. METHODS: Daily data on COVID-19 cases between 31 December 2019 and 26 February 2020 were collected and analyzed for Hubei and non-Hubei regions in China. Observed trends for new and cumulative cases were analyzed through joinpoint regression analysis. Spatial analysis was applied to show the geographic distribution and changing patterns of the epidemic. RESULTS: By 26 February 2020, 78 630 confirmed COVID-19 cases had been reported in China. In Hubei, an increasing trend (slope = 221) was observed for new cases between 24 January and 7 February 2020, after which a decline commenced (slope = -868). However, as the diagnosis criteria changed, a sudden increase (slope = 5530) was observed on 12 February, which sharply decreased afterward (slope = -4898). In non-Hubei regions, the number of new cases increased from 20 January to 3 February and started to decline afterward (slope = -53). The spatial analysis identified Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changsha, Nanchang, Wenzhou, Shanghai, Xinyang, Jining, and Beijing as the hotspots outside of Hubei Province in China. CONCLUSIONS: The joinpoint regression analysis indicated that the epidemic might be under control in China, especially for regions outside of Hubei Province. Further improvement in the response strategies based on these new patterns is needed

Encapsulating lithium and sodium inside amorphous carbon nanotubes through gold-seeded growth

Abstract(#br)Metallic lithium promises the ultimate anode material for building next-generation Li batteries, though some fundamental hurdles remain unsolved. Li growth induced by hetero particles/atoms has recently emerged as a highly efficient route enabling spatial-control and dendrite-free Li deposition on anode hosts. However, the detailed mechanism of Li nucleation and its interaction with heterogeneous seeds are largely unknown. Herein, we investigate this issue by visualizing Au-seeded Li nucleation processes that guide Li deposition inside the one-dimensional hollow space of individual amorphous carbon nanotubes by in-situ transmission electron microscopy. A reversible two-step conversion process during Au–Li alloying/dealloying reactions is revealed, suggesting that the formation of Li 3 Au plays the actual role in inducing Li nucleation. We propose a front-growth scenario to explain the spatially confined Li growth and stripping kinetic behaviors, which involves the mass addition and removal at the deposition front through ion diffusion along the tubular carbon shell. As a comparison, nanotubes without gold seeds inside exhibit uncontrolled dendrite-like Li growth outside the carbon shell. We further demonstrate that Au-seed growth can be successful in encapsulating sodium metal for the first time. These findings provide mechanistic insights into heterogeneous seeded Li/Na nucleation and space-confined deposition for design of high-performance battery anodes

Can HIV service data be used for surveillance purposes?: a case study in Guangzhou, China

Abstract Background Timely monitoring HIV epidemic among key populations is a formidable challenge. This study aimed to evaluate the agreement between data collected from an enhanced HIV sentinel surveillance (HSS+) and an HIV service, and to discuss whether testing service data can be used for surveillance purposes. Methods The HSS+ data were collected from HIV sentinel surveillance conducted annually among men who have sex with men (MSM) between 2009 and 2013 in Guangzhou, China. The HIV service data were obtained from the China-Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Cooperation Program on HIV Prevention and Care (China-Gates HIV Program) in Guangzhou during the same period. The China-Gates HIV Program aimed to increase HIV counseling and testing among MSM. We compared demographic characteristics, condom use, HIV testing history, and the HIV status among individuals in these two datasets. The Armitage-trend test was used to evaluate the HIV epidemic and behaviors of the participants in the two datasets over the study period. Results Overall, a total of 2224 and 5311 MSM were included in the surveillance and service datasets, respectively. The majority of participants in the two datasets were between 20 and 29 years old, at least attended college, and had never been married. However, socio-demographic characteristics varied slightly between the two datasets. Similar trends were observed for the HIV epidemic in these two datasets. The surveillance dataset indicated that HIV prevalence increased from 3.9% in 2009 to 11.4% in 2013 (P-value for trend < 0.001), while data from the HIV service dataset indicated that MSM HIV prevalence during this same period increased from 6.2 to 8.9% (P-value for trend = 0.025). The rates of condom use were similar between the two datasets and remained consistent throughout the study period. Conclusion HIV service data can complement existing HIV surveillance systems for MSM in China, though it may underestimate the HIV prevalence (HSS+ data contains people whose status is already know, while service data contains people who were initially negative or people of unknown status). HIV service data can be used for surveillance purposes, when prerequisite variables are collected from a large number people, if the quality assessment is conducted