Underground Diagnosis Based on GPR and Learning in the Model Space

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) has been widely used in pipeline detection and underground diagnosis. In practical applications, the characteristics of the GPR data of the detected area and the likely underground anomalous structures could be rarely acknowledged before fully analyzing the obtained GPR data, causing challenges to identify the underground structures or abnormals automatically. In this paper, a GPR B-scan image diagnosis method based on learning in the model space is proposed. The idea of learning in the model space is to use models fitted on parts of data as more stable and parsimonious representations of the data. For the GPR image, 2-Direction Echo State Network (2D-ESN) is proposed to fit the image segments through the next item prediction. By building the connections between the points on the image in both the horizontal and vertical directions, the 2D-ESN regards the GPR image segment as a whole and could effectively capture the dynamic characteristics of the GPR image. And then, semi-supervised and supervised learning methods could be further implemented on the 2D-ESN models for underground diagnosis. Experiments on real-world datasets are conducted, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model

Impact of the number of previous embryo implantation failures on IVF/ICSI-ET pregnancy outcomes in patients younger than 40 years: a retrospective cohort study

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to examine the influence of repeated embryo implantation failures on pregnancy outcomes among patients under 40 years of age undergoing in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection embryo transfer (IVF/ICSI-ET).Materials and methodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 13,172 patients who underwent 16,975 IVF/ICSI-ET treatment cycles at Henan Reproductive Hospital between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2018. Patients were categorized into four groups based on the number of previous embryo implantation failure cycles: Group A=no implantation failure, Group B= 1 implantation failure, Group C=2 implantation failures, Group D=≥3 implantation failures. Baseline characteristics and pregnancy outcomes were compared among the four groups. The impact of the number of previous embryo implantation failures on pregnancy outcomes among IVF/ICSI-ET patients was investigated using univariate and multiple regression analyses.ResultsUnivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that factors such as the number of previous embryo implantation failures, female age, basal follicle count, endometrial thickness, total number of oocytes retrieved, type of cycle, number of high-quality embryos transferred, and stage of embryo development significantly affected implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, early spontaneous abortion rate, and live birth rate (all P < 0.05). The duration of infertility and anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) levels were also found to influence implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, and live birth rate (all P < 0.05). Upon conducting multivariate logistic regression analysis and adjusting for confounding factors such as age, AMH levels, basal follicle count, endometrial thickness, total number of oocytes obtained, cycle type, number of high-quality embryos transferred, ovarian stimulation protocol, and stage of embryo development, it was revealed that, compared to Group A, Groups B, C, and D exhibited significantly lower implantation and live birth rates, as well as a significantly higher risk of early spontaneous abortion (all P < 0.05).ConclusionsThe number of previous embryo implantation failures is an independent factor affecting implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, spontaneous abortion rate and live birth rate of patients underwent IVF/ICSI-ET. With the increase of the number of previous embryo implantation failures, the implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate and live birth rate of patients underwent IVF/ICSI-ET decreased significantly, and the rate of early spontaneous abortion gradually increased

Observation of Valley Zeeman and Quantum Hall Effects at Q Valley of Few-Layer Transition Metal Disulfides

In few-layer (FL) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC), the conduction bands along the Gamma-K directions shift downward energetically in the presence of interlayer interactions, forming six Q valleys related by three-fold rotational symmetry and time reversal symmetry. In even-layers the extra inversion symmetry requires all states to be Kramers degenerate, whereas in odd-layers the intrinsic inversion asymmetry dictates the Q valleys to be spin-valley coupled. In this Letter, we report the transport characterization of prominent Shubnikov-de Hass (SdH) oscillations for the Q valley electrons in FL transition metal disulfide (TMDs), as well as the first quantum Hall effect (QHE) in TMDCs. Our devices exhibit ultrahigh field-effect mobilities (~16,000 cm2V-1s-1 for FL WS2 and ~10,500 cm2V-1s-1 for FL MoS2) at cryogenic temperatures. Universally in the SdH oscillations, we observe a valley Zeeman effect in all odd-layer TMD devices and a spin Zeeman effect in all even-layer TMD devices.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Genetic sources and diversity of the paddy field carp in the Pearl River basin inferred from two mitochondrial loci

Paddy field carp (PF-carp) is an economically important fish cocultured with rice in traditional agricultural systems. Several distinctive strains of PF-carp have been formed through years of artificial and cross breeding. There is a concern about the status of germplasm resources among PF-carp, since little is known about the genetic sources, diversity, or differentiation. In this study we collected 17 PF-carp populations covering Daotian carp (DTL), Ru Yuan No. 1 (RY), Jinbian carp (JBL), Shaijiang carp (SJL), and Wu carp (WL) along the Pearl River basin to explore their genetic sources and diversity using concatenated sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and the D-Loop region. According to the haplotype network analyses, 1, 9, and 57 haplotypes originated from Cyprinus carpio carpio, Cyprinus carpio haematopterus and Cyprinus carpio rubrofuscus, respectively, confirming that genetic introgression has occurred in Pearl River PF-carp populations and Cyprinus carpio carpio was the most common species for genetic origin. The results showed that RY exhibited the lowest level of nucleotide diversity (π = 0.0011) due to high-intensity breeding and was significantly differentiated from the other four strains. PF-carp strains in these remote traditional systems tended to experience artificial selection and a lack of farmer connection that gradually increased genetic differentiation among strains. Notably, three populations of JBL exhibited significant high-level differentiation, since they originated from mountainous areas hindering farmers from fry exchange. In contrast, no significant differentiation was uncovered in the WL populations, since this strain is the most popular cultured strain and has undergone artificial exchange of parents and fry in many cultured regions. This study helps us to understand the status of germplasm resources among PF-carp and to trace their genetic origin before being introduced for local cultivation

The role of the thyroid in polycystic ovary syndrome

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common endocrine and metabolic disease in women of childbearing age and can cause metabolic disorder, infertility, and increased anxiety and depression; as a result, it can seriously affect the physical and mental health of fertile women. PCOS is a highly clinically heterogeneous disease with unclear etiology and pathogenesis, which increases the difficulty of treatment. The thyroid gland has complex regulatory effects on metabolism, reproduction, and emotion, and produces hormones that act on almost all cells of the human body. The clinical manifestations of PCOS are similar to some thyroid diseases. Furthermore, some thyroid diseases, such as subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH), not only increase the incidence rate of PCOS, but also exacerbate its associated metabolic abnormalities and reproductive disorders. Interestingly, PCOS also increases the incidence of some thyroid diseases. However, the role of the thyroid in PCOS remains unclear. This review is intended to thoroughly explore the critical role of the thyroid in PCOS by summarizing the comorbidity of PCOS and thyroid diseases and their combined role in metabolic disorders, related metabolic diseases, and reproductive disorders; and by analyzing the potential mechanism through which the thyroid influences the development and progression of PCOS and its symptoms. We hope this review will provide a valuable reference for the role of the thyroid in PCOS

Mortality and Attrition Rates within the First Year of Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation among People Living with HIV in Guangxi, China: An Observational Cohort Study

Objective. To assess the mortality and attrition rates within the first year of antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV) in rural Guangxi, China. Design. Observational cohort study. Setting. The core treatment indicators and data were collected with standard and essential procedures as per the Free ART Manual guidelines across all the rural health care centers of Guangxi. Participants. 58,115 PLHIV who were under ART were included in the study. Interventions. The data collected included sociodemographic characteristics that consist of age, sex, marital status, route of HIV transmission, CD4 cell count before ART, initial ART regimen, level of ART site, and year of ART initiation. Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures. Mortality and attrition rate following ART initiation. Results. The average mortality rate was 5.94 deaths, and 17.52 attritions per 100 person-years within the first year of ART initiation among PLHIV. The mortality rate was higher among intravenous drug users (Adjusted Hazard Ratio (AHR) 1.27, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.14-1.43), prefecture as a level of ART site (AHR 1.14, 95% CI 1.02-1.28), and county as the level of ART site (AHR 2.12, 95% CI 1.90-2.37). Attrition was higher among intravenous drug users (AHR 1.87, 95% CI 1.75-2.00), the first-line ART containing AZT (AHR 1.09, 95% CI 1.03-1.16), and first-line ART containing LVP/r (AHR 1.34, 95% CI 1.23-1.46). Conclusion. The mortality and attrition rates were both at the highest level in the first year of post-ART; continued improvement in the quality of HIV treatment and care is needed

A splicing isoform of TEAD4 attenuates the Hippo–YAP signalling to inhibit tumour proliferation

Aberrant splicing is frequently found in cancer, yet the biological consequences of such alterations are mostly undefined. Here we report that the Hippo–YAP signalling, a key pathway that regulates cell proliferation and organ size, is under control of a splicing switch. We show that TEAD4, the transcription factor that mediates Hippo–YAP signalling, undergoes alternative splicing facilitated by the tumour suppressor RBM4, producing a truncated isoform, TEAD4-S, which lacks an N-terminal DNA-binding domain, but maintains YAP interaction domain. TEAD4-S is located in both the nucleus and cytoplasm, acting as a dominant negative isoform to YAP activity. Consistently, TEAD4-S is reduced in cancer cells, and its re-expression suppresses cancer cell proliferation and migration, inhibiting tumour growth in xenograft mouse models. Furthermore, TEAD4-S is reduced in human cancers, and patients with elevated TEAD4-S levels have improved survival. Altogether, these data reveal a splicing switch that serves to fine tune the Hippo–YAP pathway

Inhibition of HDAC activity directly reprograms murine embryonic stem cells to trophoblast stem cells

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) can differentiate into all cell types of the embryonic germ layers. ESCs can also generate totipotent 2C-like cells and trophectodermal cells. However, these latter transitions occur at low frequency due to epigenetic barriers, the nature of which is not fully understood. Here, we show that treating mouse ESCs with sodium butyrate (NaB) increases the population of 2C-like cells and enables direct reprogramming of ESCs into trophoblast stem cells (TSCs) without a transition through a 2C-like state. Mechanistically, NaB inhibits histone deacetylase activities in the LSD1-HDAC1/2 corepressor complex. This increases acetylation levels in the regulatory regions of both 2C- and TSC-specific genes, promoting their expression. In addition, NaB-treated cells acquire the capacity to generate blastocyst-like structures that can develop beyond the implantation stage in vitro and form deciduae in vivo. These results identify how epigenetics restrict the totipotent and trophectoderm fate in mouse ESCs.</p