Non-Surgical Treatment Methodologies and Prevention for Malignant Melanoma

Melanocytes in the skin and other organs generate the tumor known as malignant melanoma (MM). It has a high degree of malignancy, a deprived prognosis, and a propensity for local recurrence and distant metastasis. Although there have been tremendous advancements in MM management choices over the past ten years, there are still a dearth of clinically viable therapy alternatives and no internationally accepted treatment standard. The prognosis of MM patients has recently improved thanks to the development of immunotherapy and targeted therapy. As a result, this article examines the most recent findings from studies on the non-surgical treatment methodologies for MM and its preventive measures.Keywords: Malignant melanoma; Treatment therapies; Combined therapies; Prevention 

UA-DETRAC: A New Benchmark and Protocol for Multi-Object Detection and Tracking

In recent years, numerous effective multi-object tracking (MOT) methods are developed because of the wide range of applications. Existing performance evaluations of MOT methods usually separate the object tracking step from the object detection step by using the same fixed object detection results for comparisons. In this work, we perform a comprehensive quantitative study on the effects of object detection accuracy to the overall MOT performance, using the new large-scale University at Albany DETection and tRACking (UA-DETRAC) benchmark dataset. The UA-DETRAC benchmark dataset consists of 100 challenging video sequences captured from real-world traffic scenes (over 140,000 frames with rich annotations, including occlusion, weather, vehicle category, truncation, and vehicle bounding boxes) for object detection, object tracking and MOT system. We evaluate complete MOT systems constructed from combinations of state-of-the-art object detection and object tracking methods. Our analysis shows the complex effects of object detection accuracy on MOT system performance. Based on these observations, we propose new evaluation tools and metrics for MOT systems that consider both object detection and object tracking for comprehensive analysis.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted by CVI

Online Education in Human Parasitology during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Wuhan: Our Experiences, Challenges, and Perspectives

Traditional face-to-face teaching in medical schools has been suspended during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and remote online learning has consequently been implemented as an emergency measure. This study aims to share our experiences in exploring online teaching of human parasitology and to discuss the possible advantages, challenges and perspectives that we observed during Wuhan’s lockdown due to the pandemic. The application of online education is likely to be an indispensable component of post-COVID-19 interactive online parasitology courses. Our experience might provide an example for the future development of interactive online medical courses

Modified local soil (MLS) technology for harmful algal bloom control, sediment remediation, and ecological restoration

Harmful algal blooms (HABs), eutrophication, and internal pollutant sources from sediment, represent serious problems for public health, water quality, and ecological restoration worldwide. Previous studies have indicated that Modified Local Soil (MLS) technology is an efficient and cost-effective method to flocculate the HABs from water and settle them onto sediment. Additionally, MLS capping treatment can reduce the resuspension of algae flocs from the sediment, and convert the algal cells, along with any excessive nutrients in-situ into fertilisers for the restoration of submerged macrophytes in shallow water systems. Furthermore, the capping treatment using oxygen nanobubble-MLS materials can also mitigate sediment anoxia, causing a reduction in the release of internal pollutants, such as nutrients and greenhouse gases. This paper reviews and quantifies the main features of MLS by investigating the effect of MLS treatment in five pilot-scale whole-pond field experiments carried out in Lake Tai, South China, and in Cetian Reservoir in Datong city, North China. Data obtained from field monitoring showed that the algae-dominated waters transform into a macrophyte-dominated state within four months of MLS treatment in shallow water systems. The sediment-water nutrient fluxes were substantially reduced, whilst water quality (TN, TP, and transparency) and biodiversity were significantly improved in the treatment ponds, compared to the control ponds within a duration ranging from one day to three years. The sediment anoxia remediation effect by oxygen nanobubble-MLS treatment may further contribute to deep water hypoxia remediation and eutrophication control. Combined with the integrated management of external loads control, MLS technology can provide an environmentally friendly geo-engineering method to accelerate ecological restoration and control eutrophication

Amphoteric starch-based bicomponent modified soil for mitigation of harmful algal blooms (HABs) with broad salinity tolerance: flocculation, algal regrowth, and ecological safety

The treatment of harmful algal blooms (HABs) by in-situ flocculation is an emerging technology capable of efficiently removing HABs from natural waters. However, differences in salinity, pH and algal species in freshwaters and seawaters can influence the flocculation treatment. In this study, we developed a bicomponent modified soil using amphoteric starch (AS) and poly-aluminium chloride (PAC) in order to effectively flocculate microalgae under broad salinity conditions. Specifically, the impacts of water salinity (0–3.3%), pH (3–11), and algal species (Microcystis aeruginosa and marine Chlorella sp.) were investigated in order to evaluate efficiency, dosage and mechanisms of algae flocculation. The results showed that AS-PAC modified soils possessed excellent resistance to salinity change due to the anti-polyelectrolyte effect of AS, which contributed to 99.9% removal efficiency of M. aeruginosa in fresh and saline waters, and Chlorella sp. in marine water, respectively. The dosage of the flocculant modifier was only 10–20% of that of another proven modifier (i.e. Moringa oleifera), which substantially reduced the material cost. The high salinity tolerance of algal flocculation by the AS-PAC modified soil was attributed to the synergistic processes of charge neutralization and netting-bridging. Thus, this study has developed a universal flocculant and revealed fundamental mechanisms for the mitigation of HABs under broad salinity conditions

Experimental Study on Fatigue Performance of M24 Twisted-Shear High-Strength Bolt for Assembled Steel Structure

High-strength bolt connection is a kind of main connection mode of prefabricated steel structures. Due to the insufficient fatigue performance of high-strength bolts, the degree of damage in the steel structure is very serious, so the fatigue performance research of high strength bolts cannot be ignored. The research object of the paper is M24 twisted-shear high-strength bolts in a steel structure buildings. Some special tests and results analysis on the normal fatigue performance were carried out, establishing the fatigue S-N curve of M24 twisted-shear high-strength bolts, revealing the fatigue failure mechanism of M24 torsion-shear high-strength bolts; obtaining the fatigue S-N curve equation; and estimating the fatigue life of high-strength bolts by using the Paris formula. In addition, by comparing the test data in this paper with the constant fatigue test data of high-strength bolts in the existing research literature, it can be seen how the strength grade of the bolts and the pretension force have an impact on the fatigue strength. It is further revealed that the M24 torsion-shear high-strength bolt with full pretension force has twice as long fatigue life than the other two types of bolts. By comparing the test results of M24 and M20 bolts under full pretension, it is known the relation between the fatigue strength of the bolts and diameter decreases. The research data and useful conclusions can provide scientific basis and theoretical reference for the anti-fatigue design of M24 torsion-shear high-strength bolt connection

Seismic Optimization of High Cantilever Multianchor Pile Strengthening Soil Slopes against Earthquakes

To explore the optimal seismic performance of multianchor pile, we carried out a series of shaking table tests. Based on the special form of multianchor piles’ reinforcement, we put forward the optimal design scheme of using EPS foam as damping layers and energy-dissipation springs for improving the self-coordinating devices of anchor head. By measuring acceleration and dynamic soil-pressure response under different intensities of vibration, we analyzed the correlation between acceleration caused by seismic wave action and damage characterized by time-domain and spectral characteristics of dynamic soil-pressure. We discuss in detail the relationship between frequency and specific period of dynamic soil-pressure and acceleration. We then used the SPECTR program to calculate the energy spectrum. Under the reciprocating action of seismic waves of different intensities, our slope model showed the continuous effect of spatial coupling deformation leading to regional damage and failure. Furthermore, the spatial distribution for amplitude of acceleration and dynamic soil-pressure showed the outstanding response of lateral amplitude of pile structures without optimization. The energy-spectrum distribution of acceleration seismic input was orderly, while the dynamic soil-pressure distribution of piles was disordered. Low-frequency (≤10 Hz) seismic waves have a great influence on these structures. The difference of acceleration hysteresis along the elevations was mainly caused by the propagation stage after the main earthquake. The correlation between dynamic soil-pressure and acceleration response in each group before the pile occurred in the same earthquake area was very weak, showing a low correlation. The optimization effect of optimized structures is related to the position of the shock-absorbing layer. Under high acceleration, multianchor piles easily cause bulge failures or shear failures at the positions of sliding surfaces. These results are helpful for improvements to reliably optimize designs in pile structure dynamic parameters