FR-LIO: Fast and Robust Lidar-Inertial Odometry by Tightly-Coupled Iterated Kalman Smoother and Robocentric Voxels

This paper presents a fast lidar-inertial odometry (LIO) that is robust to aggressive motion. To achieve robust tracking in aggressive motion scenes, we exploit the continuous scanning property of lidar to adaptively divide the full scan into multiple partial scans (named sub-frames) according to the motion intensity. And to avoid the degradation of sub-frames resulting from insufficient constraints, we propose a robust state estimation method based on a tightly-coupled iterated error state Kalman smoother (ESKS) framework. Furthermore, we propose a robocentric voxel map (RC-Vox) to improve the system's efficiency. The RC-Vox allows efficient maintenance of map points and k nearest neighbor (k-NN) queries by mapping local map points into a fixed-size, two-layer 3D array structure. Extensive experiments are conducted on 27 sequences from 4 public datasets and our own dataset. The results show that our system can achieve stable tracking in aggressive motion scenes (angular velocity up to 21.8 rad/s) that cannot be handled by other state-of-the-art methods, while our system can achieve competitive performance with these methods in general scenes. Furthermore, thanks to the RC-Vox, our system is much faster than the most efficient LIO system currently published

PRMT2 promotes dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis by inhibiting SOCS3 via histone H3R8 asymmetric dimethylation

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: There is emerging evidence for critical roles of epigenetic modifiers in development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Protein arginine methyltransferase 2 (PRMT2) is responsible for methylation of arginine residues on histones and targets transcription factors critically involved in many cellular processes, including gene transcription, mRNA splicing, cell proliferation and differentiation. However, its role in colitis remains unknown. In this study, the role and underlying mechanisms of PRMT2 in colitis was studied. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: A mouse dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced experimental colitis model was applied to study PRMT2 in colitis. Lentivirus induced PRMT2 silencing or overexpression in vivo was applied to address the role of PRMT2 in colitis. Detailed western blot and expression analysis was done to understand epigenetic changes induced by PRMT2 in colitis. KEY RESULTS: PRMT2 is highly expressed in patients with IBD, inflamed colon of mice and TNF-α stimulated mice gut epithelial cells. PRMT2 overexpression aggravates while knockdown alleviates DSS-induced colitis in mice, suggesting that PRMT2 is a pivotal mediator of colitis development. Mechanistically, PRMT2 mediates colitis by increasing repressive histone mark H3R8 asymmetric methylation (H3R8me2a) at the promoter region of the suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3) promoter. Resultant inhibition of SOCS3 expression and SOCS3-mediated degradation of TNF receptor associated factor 5 (TRAF5) via ubiquitination led to elevated TRAF5 expression and TRAF5-mediated downstream NF-κB/MAPK activation. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Our study demonstrates that PRMT2 acts as a transcriptional co-activator for proinflammatory genes during colitis. Hence targeting PRMT2 may provide a novel therapeutic approach for colitis

Identification of key genes responsible for green and white colored spathes in Anthurium andraeanum (Hort.)

Modern anthuriums, Anthurium andraeanum (Hort.) are among the most popular flowering plants and widely used for interior decoration. Their popularity is largely attributed to the exotic spathes with different colors. Previous studies have reported color development in red spathe cultivars, but limited information is available on key genes regulating white and green colored spathes. This study analyzed anthocyanin, chlorophyll, and carotenoid contents as well as transcript differences in spathes of eight cultivars that differed in spathe colors ranging from red to white and green. Results showed that increased expression of a transcription factor AaMYB2 was associated with elevated levels of anthocyanin in spathes, but decreased expression of AaMYB2 and increased expression of AaLAR (leucoanthocyanidin reductase) and AaANR (anthocyanidin reductase) were accompanied with the accumulation of colorless proanthocyanidin, thus the white spathe. As to the green colored spathe, chlorophyll content in the green spathe cultivar was substantially higher than the other cultivars. Correspondingly, transcripts of chlorophyll biosynthesis-related genes AaHemB (porphobilinogen synthase) and AaPor (protochlorophyllide oxidoreductase) were highly upregulated but almost undetectable in white and red spathes. The increased expression of AaHemB and AaPor was correlated with the expression of transcription factor AaMYB124. Subsequently, qRT-PCR analysis confirmed their expression levels in nine additional cultivars with red, white, and green spathes. A working model for the formation of white and green spathes was proposed. White colored spathes are likely due to the decreased expression of AaMYB2 which results in increased expression of AaLAR and AaANR, and the green spathes are attributed to AaMYB124 enhanced expression of AaHemB and AaPor. Further research is warranted to test this working model

Efficacy of autologous platelet-rich plasma gel in the treatment of refractory pressure injuries and its effect on wound healing time and patient quality of life

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) gel in the treatment of refractory pressure injuries and its effect on wound healing time and quality of life of patients. METHODS: A random number table method was used to group 102 patients with refractory pressure injuries into either a control group (CG) (51 cases) receiving negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) or a study group (SG) (51 cases) receiving NPWT+PRP gel. RESULTS: The total efficacy rate in the SG (92.16%) was higher than that in the CG (76.47%) (po0.05). The SG exhibited lower visual analog scale (VAS) scores and pressure ulcer scale for healing (PUSH) scores, smaller wound sizes and depths, and shorter wound healing times than the CG after 21 days of treatment (po0.05). After 6 months of treatment, the SG scored higher than the CG on the psychological, physiological, social functions, and daily activity domains on the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) scale (po0.05). The incidence of postoperative complications in the SG (13.73%) was not significantly different from that of the CG (7.84%) (p40.05). CONCLUSION: In the treatment of refractory pressure injuries, PRP gel can accelerate wound healing, reduce wound pain, shorten the treatment cycle, regulate tissue inhibitor matrix metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) levels and the expression of specific proteins in granulation tissue, reduce the levels of the inflammatory factors interleukin-1b (IL-1b), IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), and improve the quality of life of patients without increasing complications

3D porous flower-like heterostructure of Fe doped Ni2P nanoparticles anchored on Al2O3 nanosheets as an ultrastable high-efficiency electrocatalyst

Water splitting is a vital candidate to efficiently prepare the green energy resource of hydrogen and solve the problem of energy shortage. Herein, this work firstly study a unique composite of 3D porous flower-like heterostructure of Fe doped NiP nanoparticles anchored on AlO nanosheets, which exhibits excellent electrochemical performance for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in all-PH medium. In this research, the doped Fe element can tune the electronic structure of NiP, which can remarkably improve the electrochemical activity. Besides, this unique 3D porous flower-like heterostructure possesses large specific surface area, which can expose a large number of active sites so as to further enhance the electrochemical property. Moreover, the AlO coating can further ensure the structure stability. The Ni(Fe)P@AlO displays splendid catalytic activity for HER with low overpotential of 53 mV and outstanding electrochemical durability of less than 3% increase in overpotential for 500 h at the constant density of 10 mA cm

Evapotranspiration of Winter Wheat in the Semi-Arid Southeastern Loess Plateau Based on Multi-Source Satellite Data

Continuous monitoring of evapotranspiration (ET) at high spatio-temporal resolutions is vital for managing agricultural water resources in arid and semi-arid regions. This study used the enhanced spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model (ESTARFM) to calculate the ET of winter wheat between the green-up and milk stages in Linfen Basin, a typical, semi-arid area of the Loess Plateau, at temporal and spatial resolutions of 30 m and 8 d, respectively. We then analyzed the impact of meteorological factors on ET and its variation during the main growth period of winter wheat. The fused ET data displayed the spatial details of the OLI ET data better and could accurately reflect ET variation and local sudden variations during the main growth period of winter wheat. Moreover, winter wheat ET in rain-fed areas is more heavily influenced by meteorological factors, and the effect is more direct. Affected by the synergistic effect of wind velocity, precipitation, and temperature, the ET of winter wheat in rain-fed area was lower in the green-up stage. Then, ET gradually increased, reaching its maximum in the heading–grain filling stage. At the jointing stage, temperature had a significant effect on ET. A combination of precipitation and temperature had the greatest impact on the ET of winter wheat in the heading–filling stage. In the milk stage, meteorological factors had a minor impact on ET. This study serves as a reference for ET in winter wheat in semi-arid areas and its influencing meteorological factors, which can assist in drought mitigation and regional food security strategies