Image Segmentation of Adhering Bars Based on Improved Concavity Points Searching Method

It is difficult to track, count and separate the bars moving at a high speed on production line for their overlap under occlusion. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a reliable, practical splitting mechanism for the adhered bars. This paper proposed a new solution to the problem of bars adhesion: the plane array camera was utilized to acquire the images of moving bars so as to recognize the centroid coordinates of the bars ends and compute their area with a Blob algorithm, two geometric parameters were utilized to detect adhered bars, and the presence of adhered bars was analyzed according to the convex hull. For the adhered bars, the segmentation points were searched using scanning method by a series of the rules to determine the optimal segmentation line. The proposed method can segment the adhered bars effectively with matched concavity points. The experimental results show that the method can well segment and count bars moving at a high speed on production line, with the counting accuracy near to 100% and the recognizing time in millisecond

Association of length of service and job category with occupational health literacy of port employees in Shenzhen, China

Abstract Background Health literacy (HL) is associated with health outcomes, but little is known about the occupational HL (OHL) for port employees and its link to the length of service and job category. Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted on 3492 port employees from the Occupational Health Survey for Port Employees project, and a special questionnaire was utilized to measure the OHL status. Binary and ordinal logistic regressions were used to estimate the association. Result Among the participants, 72.90% had sufficient OHL with a mean score (standard deviation) of 53.10 (7.26). Binary logistic regression results indicated that the association between length of service (33–40 years group Adjusted OR = 1.11; 41–49 years group Adjusted OR = 1.14; ≥50 years group Adjusted OR = 1.19) and job category (longshoremen Adjusted OR = 0.90; driver Adjusted OR = 0.91) with OHL were statistically significant. Ordinal logistic regression results indicated that, for OHL, Adjusted OR was increased in different lengths of service level (33–40 years group, Adjusted OR = 1.50; 41–49 years group, Adjusted OR = 1.75; ≥50 years group, Adjusted OR = 2.19), and the Adjusted OR of skilled workers was 1.60. Conclusion Most port participants had sufficient OHL, and the length of service and job category could affect OHL. The effect of the length of service may be more obvious; the length of service can promote the improvement of OHL continuously

Vaccine Adjuvants Induce Formation of Intraperitoneal Extracellular Traps in Flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus)

Adjuvants are used to increase the strength, quality, and duration of the immune response of vaccines. Neutrophils are the first immune cells that arrive at the injection site and can release DNA fibers together with granular proteins, so-called neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), to entrap microbes in a sticky matrix of extracellular chromatin and microbicidal agents. Similar extracellular structures were also released by macrophages, mast cells, and eosinophils and are now generalized as “ETs.” Here we demonstrated that Alum adjuvant stimulation led to peritoneal cells swarming and ET release in vitro. Moreover, compared to antigen stimulation alone, ET release was significantly increased after stimulation with antigen-mixed adjuvants and in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In vivo, we were able to monitor and quantify the continuous changes of the ET release in the same fish by using the small animal in vivo imaging instrument at different times during the early stages after intraperitoneal immunization. The results showed that the fluorescence signal of ETs in the peritoneum increased from 0 to 12 h after injection and then gradually decreased. The fluorescence signals came from extracellular DNA fibers, which are sensitive to DNase I and confirmed by microscopy of peritoneal fluid ex vivo. In summary, this study introduced a new method for detecting ETs in the peritoneum of fish in vivo and indicated that ET formation is involved in the immune response at the early stage after intraperitoneal immunization to vaccines

Mas receptor activation attenuates allergic airway inflammation via inhibiting JNK/CCL2-induced macrophage recruitment

Background: Defective absorption of acute allergic airway inflammation is involved in the initiation and development of chronic asthma. After allergen exposure, there is a rapid recruitment of macrophages around the airways, which promote acute inflammatory responses. The Ang-(1−7)/Mas receptor axis reportedly plays protective roles in various tissue inflammation and remodeling processes in vivo. However, the exact role of Mas receptor and their underlying mechanisms during the pathology of acute allergic airway inflammation remains unclear. Objective: We investigated the role of Mas receptor in acute allergic asthma and explored its underlying mechanisms in vitro, aiming to find critical molecules and signal pathways. Methods: Mas receptor expression was assessed in ovalbumin (OVA)-induced acute asthmatic murine model. Then we estimated the anti-inflammatory role of Mas receptor in vivo and explored expressions of several known inflammatory cytokines as well as phosphorylation levels of MAPK pathways. Mas receptor functions and underlying mechanisms were studied further in the human bronchial epithelial cell line (16HBE). Results: Mas receptor expression decreased in acute allergic airway inflammation. Multiplex immunofluorescence co-localized Mas receptor and EpCAM, indicated that Mas receptor may function in the bronchial epithelium. Activating Mas receptor through AVE0991 significantly alleviated macrophage infiltration in airway inflammation, accompanied with down-regulation of CCL2 and phosphorylation levels of MAPK pathways. Further studies in 16HBE showed that AVE0991 pre-treatment inhibited LPS-induced or anisomycin-induced CCL2 increase and THP-1 macrophages migration via JNK pathways. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that Mas receptor activation significantly attenuated CCL2 dependent macrophage recruitments in acute allergic airway inflammation through JNK pathways, which indicated that Mas receptor, CCL2 and phospho-JNK could be potential targets against allergic airway inflammation

Excitation Wavelength‐Dependent Fluorescence of a Lanthanide Organic Metal Halide Cluster for Anti‐Counterfeiting Applications

International audienceThe achievement of significant photoluminescence (PL) in lanthanide ions (Ln3+) has primarily relied on host sensitization, where energy is transferred from the excited host material to the Ln3+ ions. However, this luminous mechanism involves only one optical antenna, namely the host material, which limits the accessibility of excitation wavelength-dependent (Ex-De) PL. Consequently, the wider application of Ln3+ ions in light-emitting devices is hindered. In this study, we present an organic–inorganic compound, (DMA)4LnCl7 (DMA+=[CH3NH2CH3]+, Ln3+=Ce3+, Tb3+), which serves as an independent host lattice material for efficient Ex-De emission by doping it with trivalent antimony (Sb3+). The pristine (DMA)4LnCl7 compounds exhibit high luminescence, maintaining the characteristic sharp emission bands of Ln3+ and demonstrating a high PL quantum yield of 90–100 %. Upon Sb3+ doping, the compound exhibits noticeable Ex-De emission with switchable colors. Through a detailed spectral study, we observe that the prominent energy transfer process observed in traditional host-sensitized systems is absent in these materials. Instead, they exhibit two independent emission centers from Ln3+ and Sb3+, each displaying distinct features in luminous color and radiative lifetime. These findings open up new possibilities for designing Ex-De emitters based on Ln3+ ions