Lawnsweeper Mark

Lawnsweeper Mark I is an autonomous leaf collection system which automates the normally tedious and time-consuming task of raking and collecting leaves for yard waste disposal. By navigating a residential yard in an efficient manner, avoiding obstacles, and collecting organic matter, Lawnsweeper Mark I aims to decrease time spent on the laborious, manual task of collecting fallen leaves. Lawnsweeper Mark I is a robotic system that is composed of the following sub systems: the robotics and leaf collection systems, various proximity and location sensors, and a software system to implement intelligent pathfinding algorithms

Model for predicting immunotherapy based on M2 macrophage infiltration in TNBC

IntroductionCompared to other types of breast cancer, triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) does not effectively respond to hormone therapy and HER2 targeted therapy, showing a poor prognosis. There are currently a limited number of immunotherapeutic drugs available for TNBC, a field that requires additional development.MethodsCo-expressing genes with M2 macrophages were analyzed based on the infiltration of M2 macrophages in TNBC and the sequencing data in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Consequently, the influence of these genes on the prognoses of TNBC patients was analyzed. GO analysis and KEGG analysis were performed for exploring potential signal pathways. Lasso regression analysis was conducted for model construction. The TNBC patients were scored by the model, and patients were divided into high- and low-risk groups. Subsequently, the accuracy of model was further verified using GEO database and patients information from the Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University. On this basis, we analyzed the accuracy of prognosis prediction, correlation with immune checkpoint, and immunotherapy drug sensitivity in different groups.ResultsOur findings revealed that OLFML2B, MS4A7, SPARC, POSTN, THY1, and CD300C genes significantly influenced the prognosis of TNBC. Moreover, MS4A7, SPARC, and CD300C were finally determined for model construction, and the model showed good accuracy in prognosis prediction. And 50 immunotherapy drugs with therapeutic significance in different groups were screened, which were assessed possible immunotherapeutics that have potential application and demonstrated the high precision of our prognostic model for predictive analysis.ConclusionMS4A7, SPARC, and CD300C, the three main genes used in our prognostic model, offer good precision and clinical application potential. Fifty immune medications were assessed for their ability to predict immunotherapy drugs, providing a novel approach to immunotherapy for TNBC patients and a more reliable foundation for applying drugs in subsequent treatments

Effects of Cellulase, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Sucrose on Fermentation Parameters, Chemical Composition, and Bacterial Community of Hybrid Pennisetum Silage

Hybrid Pennisetum (HP) is a perennial herb with a high yield and high quality, which makes it valuable for research as feed for herbivores. In order to make better use of hybrid Pennisetum as feed, this study studied the effects of cellulase (CE), Lactobacillus plantarum (LP), sucrose (SU), and their mixtures on fermentation parameters, chemical composition, and the bacterial community of hybrid Pennisetum silage. The experiment was divided into 7 treatments, silage treatment, and its abbreviation: CON (control group), CE (100 U/g FM cellulase), LP (1 × 106 cfu/g FM Lactobacillus plantarum), SU (1% FM sucrose), CE+LP (100 U/g FM cellulase + 1 × 106 cfu/g FM Lactobacillus plantarum), CE+SU (100 U/g FM cellulase + 1% FM sucrose), and LP+SU (1 × 106 cfu/g FM Lactobacillus plantarum + 1% FM sucrose). The silage bag was opened on the 60th day of ensilage for subsequent determination. The addition of CE and LP increased lactic acid content (p > 0.05). The pH and acetic acid of CE and LP were lower than CON (p < 0.05), and the crude protein content of CE was higher than CON. Cellulase and Lactobacillus plantarum can improve the quality of hybrid Pennisetum silage. Compared with Lactobacillus plantarum and sucrose, cellulase has better nutrition preservation and the ability to inhibit protein hydrolysis. 16S rRNA analysis showed that the dominant phyla were Fimicutes and Proteobacteria, and the dominant genera were Lactobacillus and Weissella. The changes in fermentation parameters and chemical components of hybrid Pennisetum silage caused by cellulase, Lactobacillus plantarum, sucrose, and their mixture may be the result of bacterial community changes

Cyclical endometrial repair and regeneration: Molecular mechanisms, diseases, and therapeutic interventions

Abstract The endometrium is a unique human tissue with an extraordinary ability to undergo a hormone‐regulated cycle encompassing shedding, bleeding, scarless repair, and regeneration throughout the female reproductive cycle. The cyclical repair and regeneration of the endometrium manifest as changes in endometrial epithelialization, glandular regeneration, and vascularization. The mechanisms encompass inflammation, coagulation, and fibrinolytic system balance. However, specific conditions such as endometriosis or TCRA treatment can disrupt the process of cyclical endometrial repair and regeneration. There is uncertainty about traditional clinical treatments' efficacy and side effects, and finding new therapeutic interventions is essential. Researchers have made substantial progress in the perspective of regenerative medicine toward maintaining cyclical endometrial repair and regeneration in recent years. Such progress encompasses the integration of biomaterials, tissue‐engineered scaffolds, stem cell therapies, and 3D printing. This review analyzes the mechanisms, diseases, and interventions associated with cyclical endometrial repair and regeneration. The review discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the regenerative interventions currently employed in clinical practice. Additionally, it highlights the significant advantages of regenerative medicine in this domain. Finally, we review stem cells and biologics among the available interventions in regenerative medicine, providing insights into future therapeutic strategies

Sex-specific associations between skeletal muscle mass and incident diabetes:A population-based cohort study

Aims: To investigate the sex-specific associations between predicted skeletal muscle mass index (pSMI) and incident type 2 diabetes in a retrospective longitudinal cohort of Chinese men and women. Materials and Methods: We enrolled Chinese adults without diabetes at baseline from WATCH (West chinA adulT health CoHort), a large health check-up-based database. We calculated pSMI to estimate skeletal muscular mass, and measured blood glucose variables and assessed self-reported history to identify new-onset diabetes. The nonlinear association between pSMI and incident type 2 diabetes was modelled using the penalized spline method. The piecewise association was estimated using segmented linear splines in weighted Cox proportional hazards regression models. Results: Of 47 885 adults (53.2% women) with a median age of 40 years, 1836 developed type 2 diabetes after a 5-year median follow-up. In women, higher pSMI was associated with a lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes (P nonlinearity = 0.09, hazard ratio [HR] per standard deviation increment in pSMI: 0.79 [95% confidence interval {CI} 0.68, 0.91]). A nonlinear association of pSMI with incident type 2 diabetes was detected in men (P nonlinearity &lt; 0.001). In men with pSMI lower than 8.1, higher pSMI was associated with a lower risk of incident type 2 diabetes (HR 0.58 [95% CI 0.40, 0.84]), whereas pSMI was not significantly associated with incident diabetes in men with pSMI equal to or greater than 8.1 (HR 1.08 [95% CI 0.93, 1.25]). Conclusions: In females, a larger muscular mass is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes. For males, this association is significant only among those with diminished muscle mass.</p

Human plague associated with Tibetan sheep originates in marmots.

The Qinghai-Tibet plateau is a natural plague focus and is the largest such focus in China. In this area, while Marmota himalayana is the primary host, a total of 18 human plague outbreaks associated with Tibetan sheep (78 cases with 47 deaths) have been reported on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau since 1956. All of the index infectious cases had an exposure history of slaughtering or skinning diseased or dead Tibetan sheep. In this study, we sequenced and compared 38 strains of Yersinia pestis isolated from different hosts, including humans, Tibetan sheep, and M. himalayana. Phylogenetic relationships were reconstructed based on genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphisms identified from our isolates and reference strains. The phylogenetic relationships illustrated in our study, together with the finding that the Tibetan sheep plague clearly lagged behind the M. himalayana plague, and a previous study that identified the Tibetan sheep as a plague reservoir with high susceptibility and moderate sensitivity, indicated that the human plague was transmitted from Tibetan sheep, while the Tibetan sheep plague originated from marmots. Tibetan sheep may encounter this infection by contact with dead rodents or through being bitten by fleas originating from M. himalayana during local epizootics

NTIRE 2022 Challenge on Efficient Super-Resolution: Methods and Results

This paper reviews the NTIRE 2022 challenge on efficient single image super-resolution with focus on the proposed solutions and results. The task of the challenge was to super-resolve an input image with a magnification factor of $\times$4 based on pairs of low and corresponding high resolution images. The aim was to design a network for single image super-resolution that achieved improvement of efficiency measured according to several metrics including runtime, parameters, FLOPs, activations, and memory consumption while at least maintaining the PSNR of 29.00dB on DIV2K validation set. IMDN is set as the baseline for efficiency measurement. The challenge had 3 tracks including the main track (runtime), sub-track one (model complexity), and sub-track two (overall performance). In the main track, the practical runtime performance of the submissions was evaluated. The rank of the teams were determined directly by the absolute value of the average runtime on the validation set and test set. In sub-track one, the number of parameters and FLOPs were considered. And the individual rankings of the two metrics were summed up to determine a final ranking in this track. In sub-track two, all of the five metrics mentioned in the description of the challenge including runtime, parameter count, FLOPs, activations, and memory consumption were considered. Similar to sub-track one, the rankings of five metrics were summed up to determine a final ranking. The challenge had 303 registered participants, and 43 teams made valid submissions. They gauge the state-of-the-art in efficient single image super-resolution.Comment: Validation code of the baseline model is available at https://github.com/ofsoundof/IMDN. Validation of all submitted models is available at https://github.com/ofsoundof/NTIRE2022_ES