Learning Hierarchical Color Guidance for Depth Map Super-Resolution

Color information is the most commonly used prior knowledge for depth map super-resolution (DSR), which can provide high-frequency boundary guidance for detail restoration. However, its role and functionality in DSR have not been fully developed. In this paper, we rethink the utilization of color information and propose a hierarchical color guidance network to achieve DSR. On the one hand, the low-level detail embedding module is designed to supplement high-frequency color information of depth features in a residual mask manner at the low-level stages. On the other hand, the high-level abstract guidance module is proposed to maintain semantic consistency in the reconstruction process by using a semantic mask that encodes the global guidance information. The color information of these two dimensions plays a role in the front and back ends of the attention-based feature projection (AFP) module in a more comprehensive form. Simultaneously, the AFP module integrates the multi-scale content enhancement block and adaptive attention projection block to make full use of multi-scale information and adaptively project critical restoration information in an attention manner for DSR. Compared with the state-of-the-art methods on four benchmark datasets, our method achieves more competitive performance both qualitatively and quantitatively

Unveiling the mechanism of photothermal therapy in acne man-agement: targeting sebaceous gland ferroptosis via umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell membrane-encapsulated Au-Ag-PDA

BackgroundBranched gold and silver nanoparticles coated with polydopamine (Au-Ag-PDA) demonstrate high photothermal conversion efficiency. Utilizing umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell membranes (MSCM) as an effective drug delivery system, our preliminary studies investigated the suppression of sebum secretion in sebaceous glands using MSCM-coated Au-Ag-PDA nano-particles (Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM) combined with 808 nm laser irradiation, showing potential for dermatological applications in acne treatment.MethodsThis study employs proteomic analysis, complemented by subsequent techniques such as Western blotting (WB), small interfering RNA (siRNA), and transmission electron microscopy, to further investigate the differential mechanisms by which Au-Ag-PDA and Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM-mediated photothermal therapy (PTT) suppress sebum secretion.ResultsOur proteomic analysis indicated mitochondrial respiratory chain damage in sebaceous gland tissues post-PTT, with further validation revealing ferroptosis in sebaceous cells and tissues. Acyl-CoA Synthetase Long-Chain Family Member 4 (Acsl4) has been identified as a critical target, with Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM demonstrating enhanced ferroptotic effects.ConclusionThese findings significantly advance our understanding of how PTT mediated by Au-Ag-PDA@MSCM nanoparticles reduces sebum secretion and underscore the pivotal role of MSCM in inducing ferroptosis in sebaceous glands, thus providing a robust theoretical foundation for employing PTT via specific molecular pathways in acne treatment

Eco-reliable path finding in time-variant and stochastic networks

This paper addresses a route guidance problem for finding the most eco-reliable path in time-variant and stochastic networks such that travelers can arrive at the destination with the maximum on-time probability while meeting vehicle emission standards imposed by government regulators. To characterize the dynamics and randomness of transportation networks, the link travel times and emissions are assumed to be time-variant random variables correlated over the entire network. A 0–1 integer mathematical programming model is formulated to minimize the probability of late arrival by simultaneously considering the least expected emission constraint. Using the Lagrangian relaxation approach, the primal model is relaxed into a dualized model which is further decomposed into two simple sub-problems. A sub-gradient method is developed to reduce gaps between upper and lower bounds. Three sets of numerical experiments are tested to demonstrate the efficiency and performance of our proposed model and algorithm

An integrated economic-ecological index based on satellite-derived carbon sequestration and carbon price: A case study during 2015–2020 in Shaanxi, China

Carbon sequestration reflecting vegetation productivity is essential for global carbon cycle and terrestrial ecosystems. Exploring the spatial and temporal variation of carbon sequestration and corresponding ecological values yields insights for policy formulation to mitigate carbon emission and achieve carbon neutrality. Hence, taking Shaanxi China as the case study, we developed an integrated index (named C-GDP) based on vegetation carbon sequestration estimated by the CASA model and carbon prices acquired from carbon trading market in China to explore tradeoffs between economic and ecological development. The spatiotemporal distributions of carbon sequestration and C-GDP were characterized using hotspot analysis and variation coefficient during 2015–2020. The estimated carbon sequestrations were assessed with promising accuracy, depicting high values in the south and low values in the north, with provincial averages of 1761.37gC/m2a. Temporally, carbon sequestrations increased with fluctuation between 2015 and 2020, with significant seasonality. Summertime, especially July, has the highest sequestration, while winter is the season with the lowest values. The C-GDP calculated by carbon sequestration and carbon price exhibited a distinct pattern with sequestration, with the highest C-GDP in Central Shaanxi and the lowest in the south. The multi-year provincial-mean C-GDP is 20.44 billion yuan. The C-GDP exhibited an increase trend with miniscule fluctuation, peaking at 23.66 billion yuan in 2020. The results imply the ecological value of carbon sequestration monetizing by carbon prices is much lower than economical value of production, suggesting that strict carbon policies, such as improving carbon prices or taxes, may be warranted for China because of high carbon mitigation costs

Combined Treatment of Cinobufotalin and Gefitinib Exhibits Potent Efficacy against Lung Cancer

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of cinobufotalin combined with gefitinib in the treatment of lung cancer. A549 cells were treated with gefitinib, cinobufotalin, or cinobufotalin plus gefitinib. MTT assay, annexin-V/PI staining and flow cytometry, TUNEL staining, DCFH-DA staining, Western blot, and real-time RT-PCR were performed to investigate the synergistic inhibitory effect of cinobufotalin combined with gefitinib on the growth of A549 cells. Results showed that cinobufotalin synergized with gefitinib displayed inhibited cell viability and enhanced apoptosis in the combination group. Cinobufotalin combined with gefitinib induced a significant enhancement in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production accompanied by cell cycle arrest in the S phase arrest, characterized by upregulation of p21 and downregulation of cyclin A, cyclin E, and CDK2. Besides, cinobufotalin plus gefitinib downregulated the levels of HGF and c-Met. In summary, cinobufotalin combined with gefitinib impedes viability and facilitates apoptosis of A549 cells, indicating that the combined therapy might be a new promising treatment for lung cancer patients who are resistant to gefitinib

Wavelength Division Multiplexing-Based High-Sensitivity Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging Biosensor for High-Throughput Real-Time Molecular Interaction Analysis

In this study, we report the successful development of a novel high-sensitivity intensity-based Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging (SPRi) biosensor and its application for detecting molecular interactions. By optimizing the excitation wavelength and employing a wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) algorithm, the system can determine the optimal excitation wavelength based on the initial refractive index of the sample without adjusting the incidence angle. The experimental results demonstrate that the refractive index resolution of the system reaches 1.77×10−6 RIU. Moreover, it can obtain the optimal excitation wavelength for samples with an initial refractive index in the range of 1.333 to 1.370 RIU and accurately monitor variations within the range of 0.0037 RIU without adjusting the incidence angle. Additionally, our new SPRi technique realized real-time detection of high-throughput biomolecular binding processes, enabling analysis of kinetic parameters. This research is expected to advance the development of more accurate SPRi technologies for molecular interaction analysis

High-resistivity unintentionally carbon-doped GaN layers with nitrogen as nucleation layer carrier gas grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

In this letter, high-resistivity unintentionally carbon-doped GaN layers with sheet resistivity greater than 106 Ω/□ have been grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). We have observed that the growth of GaN nucleation layers (NLs) under N2 ambient leads to a large full width at half maximum (FWHM) of (102) X-ray diffraction (XRD) line in the rocking curve about 1576 arc sec. Unintentional carbon incorporation can be observed in the secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) measurements. The results demonstrate the self-compensation mechanism is attributed to the increased density of edge-type threading dislocations and carbon impurities. The AlGaN/GaN HEMT grown on the high-resistivity GaN template has also been fabricated, exhibiting a maximum drain current of 478 mA/mm, a peak transconductance of 60.0 mS/mm, an ON/OFF ratio of 0.96×108 and a breakdown voltage of 621 V