Neuromatch Academy: a 3-week, online summer school in computational neuroscience

Neuromatch Academy (https://academy.neuromatch.io; (van Viegen et al., 2021)) was designed as an online summer school to cover the basics of computational neuroscience in three weeks. The materials cover dominant and emerging computational neuroscience tools, how they complement one another, and specifically focus on how they can help us to better understand how the brain functions. An original component of the materials is its focus on modeling choices, i.e. how do we choose the right approach, how do we build models, and how can we evaluate models to determine if they provide real (meaningful) insight. This meta-modeling component of the instructional materials asks what questions can be answered by different techniques, and how to apply them meaningfully to get insight about brain function

Cloning and Function Analysis of ClNAC9 from Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium

NAC transcription factors have been found to play an important role in several plant development programs and stress responses. In this study, a NAC gene, ClNAC9 (for Chrysanthemum lavandulifolium NAC gene), was isolated from a cDNA library constructed according to the known Expressed sequence tag sequence(EST). The cDNA full-length sequence of ClNAC9 is comprised of 881bp, encoding a putative protein of 217 amino acids. ClNAC9 has a conserved NAC domain in the N-terminus—the NAM domain. ClNAC9 is highly similar to other NACs, especially SENU5 subgroup members. Transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing ClNAC9 controlled by the CaMV-35S promoter was generated and subjected to saline、alkaline and drought stresses for morphological and physiological assays. Morphological analyses showed that transgenic plants had enhanced tolerance to saline、alkaline and drought stresses, as indicated by improved physiological traits, including higher SOD and POD activities, reduced MDA accumulation. Moreover, overexpression of ClNAC9 enhanced up-regulation of RD29A、RD26、MYB2 and MYB96 expression,reduced HAB1 expression under saline、alkaline and drought treatments. Taken together, our results demonstrate that ClNAC9 is likely related to saline、alkaline and drought resistances and over-expression of ClNAC9 increases saline、alkaline and drought resistances of the transgenic Arabidopsis.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Noise-resistant state of charge estimation of Li-ion battery using the outlier robust extreme learning machine

The State of Charge (SOC) indicates the amount of charge remaining in the battery, which is a critical parameter in the battery management system (BMS). A precise SOC estimation can effectively protect the battery and extend its service life. Recently, a leading-edge machine learning model, namely the extreme learning machine (ELM), has been applied for SOC estimation due to its powerful fitting and fast training capabilities. However, as BMS is required to operate in more and more complex environments, it is inevitable to encounter the effects of non-Gaussian noises caused by system errors, human causes, and other factors. These noises are random, sparse, and far from the targets, mainly referring to the outliers. The classical extreme learning machine (ELM) is susceptible to noise, leading to poor performance in outlier-contaminated datasets. To overcome this problem, we developed a new robust SOC estimation method through the outlier robust ELM (OR-ELM) in this paper. Additionally, a powerful iterative algorithm, namely the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), was utilized for training OR-ELM. Experiments were carried out on a dataset of Panasonic 18650 cells, and the results show the applicability and robustness of OR-ELM in the SOC estimation

Bleeding due to successive duodenal and rectal ulcers in an 81-year-old patient with severe COVID-19: a case report

Abstract Background In the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the most widely recognised symptoms of the disease were fever, cough, shortness of breath, myalgia, and fatigue. However, in addition to these symptoms, COVID-19 can cause systemic symptoms outside the lungs. Older patients with severe COVID-19 often require admission to the intensive care unit (ICU). Acute rectal ulcer bleeding, characterised by painless, profuse haematochezia, caused by solitary or multiple rectal ulcers, is one of the main causes of severe haematochezia in patients with COVID-19 in the ICU. However, recurrent duodenal ulcer bleeding followed by rectal ulcer bleeding has not previously been reported in older patients during ICU treatment for severe COVID-19. Cases presentation Herein, we report the case of an 81-year-old woman admitted to the emergency department due to severe COVID-19 and transferred to the ICU 2 days later for treatment. During treatment in the ICU, the patient developed recurrent duodenal ulcer bleeding and underwent endoscopic electrocoagulation haemostasis and gastroduodenal artery embolisation. However, the night after the final haemostatic operation, due to rectal ulcer bleeding, the patient discharged bloody stools intermittently, which was effectively controlled using endoscopic electrocoagulation, topical medication, blood transfusion, and haemostatic drugs. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of duodenal ulcer bleeding followed by rectal ulcer bleeding in an older patient with severe COVID-19 infection. This report creates awareness for clinicians about the multiple and complex gastrointestinal symptoms that may occur during COVID-19 treatment

Promotion of methane production by magnetite via increasing acetogenesis revealed by metagenome-assembled genomes

Metal oxides are wildly studied to enhance anaerobic digestion and the methanogenic process, which is generally interpreted by increased direct interspecies electron transfer (DIET). Yet microbial mechanisms involved are under debate. Herein, methane production dynamics were analyzed, and acceleration on biogas accumulation was presented. Complementing previous findings, Fe3O4 nanoparticles stimulated bacterial fermentation rather than methanogenesis or syntropy between electro-microorganism and methanogen. More importantly, metagenome-assembled genomes proved that Fe3O4 nanoparticles increased acetogenesis by Parabacteroides chartae, which provided abundant substrates for acetoclastic methanogenesis. Interestingly, the weakly conductive V3O7 center dot H2O nanowires increased potential hydrogen-producing bacteria, Brevundimonas, and electromicroorganisms, Clostridium and Rhodoferax, which is convenient for conducting DIET. Collectively, conductivity may not be a critical factor in mediating DIET and distinct strategies of metal oxides on methane production propose more possibilities, such as fermentation process