Pattern Mining and Anomaly Detection based on Power System Synchrophasor Measurements

Real-time monitoring of power system dynamics using phasor measurement units (PMUs) data improves situational awareness and system reliability, and helps prevent electric grid blackouts due to early anomaly detection. The study presented in this paper is based on real PMU measurements of the U.S. Western Interconnection system. Given the nonlinear and non-stationary PMU data, we developed a robust anomaly detection framework that uses wavelet-based multi-resolution analysis with moving-window-based outlier detection and anomaly scoring to identify potential PMU events. Candidate events were evaluated via spatiotemporal correlation analysis and classified for a better understanding of event types, resulting in successful anomaly detection and classification of the recorded events

A baculovirus dual expression system-based vaccine confers complete protection against lethal challenge with H9N2 avian influenza virus in mice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Avian influenza viruses of H9N2 subtype have become highly prevalent in avian species. Although these viruses generally cause only mild to moderate disease, they can infect a wide variety of species, including chickens, quail, turkeys, ducks, geese, pheasant, partridge, and pigeon, even transmitted to mammalian species, including humans, accelerating the efforts to devise protective strategies against them.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that stronger immune responses were induced in a mouse model immunized with BV-Dual-HA than in those vaccinated with a DNA vaccine encoding the same antigen. Moreover, complete protection against lethal challenge with H9N2 virus was observed in mice.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>BV-Dual-HA could be utilized as a vaccine candidate against H9N2 virus infection.</p

Association of early life adversity with cardiovascular disease and its potential mechanisms: a narrative review

Strong epidemiological evidence has shown that early life adversity (ELA) has a profound negative impact on health in adulthood, including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. Here, we review cohort studies on the effects of ELA on cardiovascular outcomes and the possible underlying mechanisms. In addition, we summarize relevant studies in rodent models of ELA. This review reveals that the prevalence of ELA varies between regions, time periods, and sexes. ELA increases cardiovascular health risk behaviors, susceptibility to mental illnesses, and neuroendocrine and immune system dysfunction in humans. Rodent models of ELA have been developed and show similar cardiovascular outcomes to those in humans but cannot fully replicate all ELA subtypes. Therefore, combining cohort and rodent studies to further investigate the mechanisms underlying the association between ELA and cardiovascular diseases may be a feasible future research strategy

High-Resolution 3D Heart Models of Cardiomyocyte Subpopulations in Cleared Murine Heart

Biological tissues are naturally three-dimensional (3D) opaque structures, which poses a major challenge for the deep imaging of spatial distribution and localization of specific cell types in organs in biomedical research. Here we present a 3D heart imaging reconstruction approach by combining an improved heart tissue-clearing technique with high-resolution light-sheet fluorescence microscopy (LSFM). We have conducted a three-dimensional and multi-scale volumetric imaging of the ultra-thin planes of murine hearts for up to 2,000 images per heart in x-, y-, and z three directions. High-resolution 3D volume heart models were constructed in real-time by the Zeiss Zen program. By using such an approach, we investigated detailed three-dimensional spatial distributions of two specific cardiomyocyte populations including HCN4 expressing pacemaker cells and Pnmt(+) cell-derived cardiomyocytes by using reporter mouse lines Hcn4(DreER/tdTomato) and Pnmt(Cre/ChR2−tdTomato). HCN4 is distributed throughout right atrial nodal regions (i.e., sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes) and the superior-inferior vena cava axis, while Pnmt(+) cell-derived cardiomyocytes show distinct ventral, left heart, and dorsal side distribution pattern. Our further electrophysiological analysis indicates that Pnmt + cell-derived cardiomyocytes rich left ventricular (LV) base is more susceptible to ventricular arrhythmia under adrenergic stress than left ventricular apex or right ventricle regions. Thus, our 3D heart imaging reconstruction approach provides a new solution for studying the geometrical, topological, and physiological characteristics of specific cell types in organs

An infectious clone of enterovirus 71(EV71) that is capable of infecting neonatal immune competent mice without adaptive mutations

Enterovirus 71 (EV71) is a major pathogen that causes hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), which is a life threatening disease in certain children. The pathogenesis of EV71-caused HFMD is poorly defined due to the lack of simple and robust animal models with severe phenotypes that recapitulate symptoms observed in humans. Here, we generated the infectious clone of a clinical isolate from a severe HFMD patient. Virus rescued from the cDNA clone was infectious in cell lines. When administrated intraperitoneally to neonatal ICR, BALB/c and C57 immune competent mice at a dosage of1.4 × 104 pfu per mouse, the virus caused weight loss, paralysis and death in the infected mice after 4-5 days of infection. In the infected mice, detectable viral replication was detected in various tissues such as heart, liver, brain, lung, kidney, small intestine, leg skeletal muscle and medulla oblongata. The histology of the infected mice included massive myolysis, glomerular atrophy, villous blunting in small intestine, widened alveolar septum, diminished alveolar spaces and lymphocytes infiltration into the lung. By using the UV-inactivated virus as a control, we elucidated that the virus first amplified in the leg skeletal muscle tissue and the muscle tissue served as a primary viral replication site. In summary, we generated a stable EV71 infectious clone that is capable of infecting neonatal immune competent mice without adaptive mutations and provide a simple, valuable animal model for the studies of EV71pathogenesis and therapy.</p

Spatial Expansion and Soil Organic Carbon Storage Changes of Croplands in the Sanjiang Plain, China

Soil is the largest pool of terrestrial organic carbon in the biosphere and interacts strongly with the atmosphere, climate and land cover. Remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) were used to study the spatio-temporal dynamics of croplands and soil organic carbon density (SOCD) in the Sanjiang Plain, to estimate soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. Results show that croplands increased with 10,600.68 km2 from 1992 to 2012 in the Sanjiang Plain. Area of 13,959.43 km2 of dry farmlands were converted into paddy fields. Cropland SOC storage is estimated to be 1.29 ± 0.27 Pg C (1 Pg = 103 Tg = 1015 g) in 2012. Although the mean value of SOCD for croplands decreased from 1992 to 2012, the SOC storage of croplands in the top 1 m in the Sanjiang Plain increased by 70 Tg C (1220 to 1290). This is attributed to the area increases of cropland. The SOCD of paddy fields was higher and decreased more slowly than that of dry farmlands from 1992 to 2012. Conversion between dry farmlands and paddy fields and the agricultural reclamation from natural land-use types significantly affect the spatio-temporal patterns of cropland SOCD in the Sanjiang Plain. Regions with higher and lower SOCD values move northeast and westward, respectively, which is almost consistent with the movement direction of centroids for paddy fields and dry farmlands in the study area. Therefore, these results were verified. SOC storages in dry farmlands decreased by 17.5 Tg·year−1 from 1992 to 2012, whilst paddy fields increased by 21.0 Tg·C·year−1

WHONDRS-GUI: a web application for global survey of surface water metabolites

Background The Worldwide Hydrobiogeochemistry Observation Network for Dynamic River Systems (WHONDRS) is a consortium that aims to understand complex hydrologic, biogeochemical, and microbial connections within river corridors experiencing perturbations such as dam operations, floods, and droughts. For one ongoing WHONDRS sampling campaign, surface water metabolite and microbiome samples are collected through a global survey to generate knowledge across diverse river corridors. Metabolomics analysis and a suite of geochemical analyses have been performed for collected samples through the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL). The obtained knowledge and data package inform mechanistic and data-driven models to enhance predictions of outcomes of hydrologic perturbations and watershed function, one of the most critical components in model-data integration. To support efforts of the multi-domain integration and make the ever-growing data package more accessible for researchers across the world, a Shiny/R Graphical User Interface (GUI) called WHONDRS-GUI was created. Results The web application can be run on any modern web browser without any programming or operational system requirements, thus providing an open, well-structured, discoverable dataset for WHONDRS. Together with a context-aware dynamic user interface, the WHONDRS-GUI has functionality for searching, compiling, integrating, visualizing and exporting different data types that can easily be used by the community. The web application and data package are available at https://data.ess-dive.lbl.gov/view/doi:10.15485/1484811, which enables users to simultaneously obtain access to the data and code and to subsequently run the web app locally. The WHONDRS-GUI is also available for online use at Shiny Server (https://xmlin.shinyapps.io/whondrs/)

Toward the shell biorefinery: processing crustacean shell waste using hot water and carbonic acid

Biomass fractionation is a prerequisite for almost any biorefinery process. Yet, a cost-effective and environmentally benign approach to separate biomass feedstock into valuable fractions remain a challenge. Herein we introduce a new fractionation method to extract high-value chitin from crustacean shell (e.g., shrimp shell) using hot water for deproteinization and carbonic acid for demineralization (termed as the HOW-CA process). This method features high deproteinization and demineralization efficiencies (>90%), and the whole process is accomplished within hours. The desired final product chitin exhibits a high purity. This work addresses the major problems associated with the current industrial practice including the employment of corrosive reagents, the destructive removal of a useful component, and the generation of a large amount of waste. Economic and life cycle analyses imply that the HOW-CA process is superior to the conventional method, offering both economic and environmental benefit