Railway foreign body vibration signal detection based on wavelet analysis

Based on the wavelet packet analysis method with time-frequency analysis characteristics, the measurement signal of the vibration system is processed for noise reduction, the soft-hard threshold compromise wavelet denoising method used has the advantages of soft threshold and hard threshold denoising, and through the introduction of compromise factors, signal processing can be performed more flexibly in signal analysis. For the denoised signal, the fundamental wavelet time-energy spectrum analysis, the main components of the signal can be clearly displayed, and according to the distribution of its energy in each frequency band, the signal characteristics can be displayed intuitively. Experimental results show: It can be determined that there is a foreign body intrusion incident at a position 520 m away from the monitoring point, rather than a normal train travel incident. In fact, we are walking back and forth at a distance of about 520 m from the monitoring point, simulating the intrusion of illegal foreign objects such as pedestrians and livestock beside the railroad tracks prove that analysis and judgment can be known, the wavelet analysis proposed by the author can realize the monitoring and judgment of some illegal foreign body intrusion incidents such as pedestrians and livestock

Predictive factors for early aspiration in liver abscess

Aim: To determine the predictive factors for early aspiration in liver abscess. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all Patients with liver abscess from 1995 to 2004 was performed. Abscess was diagnosed as amebic in 661 (68%) Patients, pyogenic in 200 (21%), indeterminate in 73 (8%) and mixed in 32 (3%). Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to determine predictive factors for aspiration of liver abscess. Results: A total of 966 Patients, 738 (76%) male, mean age 43 17 years, were evaluated: 540 Patients responded to medical therapy while adjunctive percutaneous aspiration was performed in 426 Patients. Predictive factors for aspiration of liver abscess were: age \u3e= 55 years, size of abscess \u3e= 5 cm, involvement of both lobes of the liver and duration of symptoms \u3e= 7 d. Hospital stay in the aspiration group was relatively longer than in the non aspiration group. Twelve Patients died in the aspiration group and this mortality was not statistically significant when compared to the non aspiration group. Conclusion: Patients with advanced age, abscess size \u3e= 5 cm, both lobes of the liver involvement and duration of symptoms \u3e= 7 d were likely to undergo aspiration of the liver abscess, regardless of etiology

The antimicrobial potential of Lactobacillus acidophilus on pathogenic bacteria causing diarrhea

Object: Lactobacillus acidophilus is a nonpathogenic member of gastrointestinal tract and it is widely used in fermented dairy products. This study aimed to assess the antimicrobial potential of two strains of L. acidophilus on some pathogenic bacteria frequently causing diarrhea or gastroenteritis.Methods: The antibacterial activity cell free supernatant (CFS) of two control standard strains of L. acidophilus (L. acidophilus-la5 and L. acidophilus against fie control standard strains of bacteria causing diarrhea; Enterotoxogenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli O 157:H7(EHEC) Salmonella typhimurium Shigella flxeneri and Staphylococcus aureus were determined using agar well diffusion method. The sensitivity of the pathogenic bacteria to the CFS of each L. acidophilus in relation to time was determined by standard plate count .The antibiotic susceptibility tests of 20 antibiotics against tested organisms with and without CFS were assessed by disc diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of ciproflxacin with and without CFS was determined by tube dilution method.Results: Both Lactobacilli strains decrease the colony count of tested strains by more than 90% after 60 min contact time. Both Lactobacilli strains signifiantly improve the antibacterial effect of tested antibiotics against ETEC, S. typhimurium and S. aureus, and S. flxeneri (P< 0.05). The MIC of ciproflxacin alone against all tested strains was 15.625 μg/ml, while when combined with both Lactobacilli CFSs, the MIC decreased signifiantly to 0.488 μg/ml for ETEC, S. typhimurium, and S. flxeneri and to 0.977 μg/ml for EHEC and S. aureus (P= 0.000).Conclusion: living L. acidophilus strains could be used in prevention and treatment of diarrhea caused by certain bacterial pathogens, either in fermented milk/ yoghurt or as mediations

Effect of Individual and Selected Combined Treatments With Saline Solutions and Spent Engine Oil on the Processing Attributes and Functional Quality of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) Fruit: In Memory of Professor Leila Ben Jaballah Radhouane (1958-2021)

The results showed that soil electrical conductivity, (EC2: 7 dS/m) increased soluble solids, lycopene content, total phenolic content, hydrophilic and lipophilic radical scavenging activities (HRSA and LRSA) by 14.2, 149, 20, 46.4, and 19.0%, respectively, compared with control. Under 0.5% spent engine oil (SEO), flavonoid content decreased by 21.7% compared with the control. HRSA and LRSA of fruits subjected to EC2/SEO1 treatment were, respectively, 45.9 and 35.5% lower than control. The a*/b* ratio was positively and significantly (P < 0.01) correlated with beta-carotene (R = 0.78), lycopene (R = 0.68), total vitamin C (R = 0.71), alpha-tocopherol (R = 0.83), gamma-tocopherol (R = 0.66), HRSA (R = 0.93), LRSA (R = 0.80), and soluble solids (R = 0.84) suggesting that it may be a promising indicator of fruit quality in areas affected by such constraints. The research revealed that combined stresses induce responses markedly different from those of individual treatments, which strain the need to focus on how the interaction between stresses may affect the functional quality of tomato fruits

Exogenous melatonin delays oxidative browning in litchi during cold storage by regulating biochemical attributes and gene expression

Oxidative damage leading to loss of nutritional quality and pericarp discoloration of harvested litchi fruits drastically limits consumer acceptance and marketability. In the present investigation, the impact of postharvest melatonin application at different concentrations, i.e., 0.1 mM, 0.25 mM, and 0.5 mM, on fruit quality and shelf life of litchi fruits under cold storage conditions was studied. The results revealed the positive effect of melatonin application at all concentrations on fruit quality and shelf life. However, treatment with 0.5 mM concentration of melatonin resulted in minimum weight loss, decay loss, pericarp discoloration, and also retained higher levels of TSS, acidity, total sugar, ascorbic acid, anthocyanin, antioxidant, and phenolics content during cold storage. Melatonin administration also restricted the enzymatic activity of the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) enzymes in the fruit pericarp and maintained freshness of the fruits up to 30 days in cold storage. At the molecular level, a similar reduction in the expression of browning-associated genes, LcPPO, LcPOD, and Laccase, was detected in preserved litchi fruits treated with melatonin. Anthocyanin biosynthetic genes, LcUFGT and LcDFR, on the other hand showed enhanced expression in melatonin treated fruits compared to untreated fruits. Melatonin, owing to its antioxidant properties, when applied to harvested litchi fruits retained taste, nutritional quality and red color pericarp up till 30 days in cold storage

Functional Quality and Colour Attributes of Two High-Lycopene Tomato Breeding Lines Grown under Greenhouse Conditions

This study investigates the antioxidant components (total carotenoids, lycopene, β-carotene, total phenols, flavonoids, ascorbic acid and total vitamin C) as well as the hydrophilic and lipophilic antioxidant activities (HAA and LAA) of tomato genotypes consisting of one ordinary cultivar Rio Grande and the two high-lycopene breeding lines HLT-F71 and HLT-F72. The correlation of nutritional value to L∗, a∗, b∗ colour indexes and a∗/b∗ ratio was also investigated in whole and fresh cut tomato fruits. Except for β-carotene content, significant differences were found among cultivars for antioxidants. The berries of both HLT-lines recorded higher antioxidant contents, HAA and LAA (TEAC and FRAP assays) than Rio Grande. Under controlled conditions, HLT-F72 reached the highest levels of total carotenoids (165.5 mg β-ca Eq per kg fw), lycopene (150.1 mg per kg fw) and total phenolics (549.7 mg GAE per kg fw). However, HLT-F72 exhibited the highest levels of ascorbic acid (193.3 mg per kg fw), total vitamin C (271.6 mg per kg fw) and flavonoids (450.5 mg RE per kg fw). Line HLT-F71 showed the highest HAA (148.0 µM Trolox per 100 g fw and 4.2 mM FRAP per g fw) and LAA values (258.5 µM Trolox per 100 g fw and 3.2 mM FRAP per g fw respectively). Colour readings in red ripe fresh cut tomato berries particularly a∗, b∗ and the ratio a∗/b∗ could represent an indicator not only for lycopene but also for other phytochemicals and resulting antioxidant activities. HLT-Lines may serve as a starting point for the development of semi-determinate growth habit tomato cultivars with higher functional quality

A mechanistic insight into chemical cues and interactions involved in herbivory induced jasmonate mediated plant defense mechanism

The first step in plant defense mechanism is to sense the insect attack stimulus. Plant sensitivity of an insect attack is the first step of defense. Molecules generated by the oral secretion of the insect interact with the plant receptors to trigger plant defense mechanisms. We selected some highly cited insect elicitors molecules, volicitin, caeliferin, bruchin which interact with plant defense by interacting with plant elicitors (systemin, inceptin and peps) located on the plant cell surface. This interaction activates plant receptors SYR1, LRR, PEPR and triggers downstream defense signaling. The octadecanoid pathways, involving enzymes allene oxide synthase (AOS) and Hydroxyperoxide lyase (HPL) are activated. These enzymes mediate production of green leafy volatiles and Jasmonic acid by interacting with hydroxperoxide molecules. We docked the elicitors with receptors and enzymes with substrates in the pathway of JA production. Phe was found to be an important amino acid that interacts with 13-hydroxyperoxides in the case of AOS to produce JA but not in the case of HPL. JA is converted to JA-Ile which shows strong binding with COI1 and COI1-JA-Ile complex docked with JAZ which showed strong interaction with ve hydrogens and one salt bridge bond. AOS and HPL showed less than 40% identity for sequence and structure alignment. AOS and HPL had shown an interaction between each other and showed a common interaction partner of the Lipoxygenase family. HPL shows interaction with ADH2 (Alcohol dehydrogenase) involved in GLVs production. AOS also showed interaction partner AOC, COI1 and OPR1 which are involved in JA-induced plant defense mechanism.peer-reviewe

Effect of COVID-19 on the clinical course of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Objective COVID-19 in people with diabetes is associated with a disproportionately worse prognosis. DKA is an acute complication of diabetes with a mortality rate of approximately 0.67%. Little is known about the natural history of DKA in the presence of COVID-19. This study aimed to explore the effects of COVID-19 on presentation, clinical course and outcome in patients presenting with DKA. Design Retrospective cohort study. Methods All patients treated for DKA between 1 March 2020 and 30 May 2020 were included. Patients were categorised as COVID-positive or COVID-negative based on the swab test. A pre-COVID group was established using data from 01 March 2019 to 30 May 2019 as external control. Data regarding demographics, diabetes type, pH, bicarbonate, lactate, glucose, DKA duration, complications and outcome were collected. Results A total of 88 DKA episodes were included in this study. There was no significant difference in the severity or duration of DKA between the three groups. COVID-positive T1DM were more hyperglycaemic on admission compared to COVID-negative and pre-COVID patients. There was an over representation of T2DM in COVID-positive patients with DKA than in pre-COVID or COVID-negative groups. Conclusion COVID-19 appears to influence the natural history of DKA differently in T1DM and T2DM. Patients with T1DM and COVID-19 presented with more hyperglycaemia (60 mmol/L (35.9–60.0) vs 31.4 mmol/L (28.0–39.1) vs 24 mmol/L (20.2–33.75), respectively). Patients with T2DM were unusually presenting in DKA when infected with COVID-19 with greater ICU need and higher mortality rates. A collaborative, multi-centre study is needed to provide more definitive results