Parallelization Research of Circle Detection Based on Hough Transform

Abstract There is a problem of too long computation time in Circle detection of Hough transform. In this paper, two paralleled methods are given based on Threading Building Blocks (TBB) and CUDA, by utilizing multi-core and GPU, the most timeconsuming part of circle detection is coped with parallelization. Experimental results show that the circle detection algorithms proposed in this paper has extremely good result of acceleration

Programmed cell death and lipid metabolism of macrophages in NAFLD

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has now become the leading chronic liver disease worldwide with lifestyle changes. This may lead to NAFLD becoming the leading cause of end-stage liver disease in the future. To date, there are still no effective therapeutic drugs for NAFLD. An in-depth exploration of the pathogenesis of NAFLD can help to provide a basis for new therapeutic agents or strategies. As the most important immune cells of the liver, macrophages play an important role in the occurrence and development of liver inflammation and are expected to become effective targets for NAFLD treatment. Programmed cell death (PCD) of macrophages plays a regulatory role in phenotypic transformation, and there is also a certain connection between different types of PCD. However, how PCD regulates macrophage polarization has still not been systematically elucidated. Based on the role of lipid metabolic reprogramming in macrophage polarization, PCD may alter the phenotype by regulating lipid metabolism. We reviewed the effects of macrophages on inflammation in NAFLD and changes in their lipid metabolism, as well as the relationship between different types of PCD and lipid metabolism in macrophages. Furthermore, interactions between different types of PCD and potential therapeutic agents targeting of macrophages PCD are also explored

Heat-induced Proteome Changes in Tomato Leaves

Three tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) cultivars [Walter LA3465 (heat-tolerant), Edkawi LA 2711 (unknown heat tolerance, salt-tolerant), and LA1310 (cherry tomato)] were compared for changes in leaf proteomes after heat treatment. Seedlings with four fully expanded leaves were subjected to heat treatment of 39/25 °C at a 16:8 h light–dark cycle for 7 days. Leaves were collected at 1200 hr, 4 h after the light cycle started. For ‘Walter’ LA3465, heat-suppressed proteins were geranylgeranyl reductase, ferredoxin-NADP (+) reductase, Rubisco activase, transketolase, phosphoglycerate kinase precursor, fructose–bisphosphate aldolase, glyoxisomal malate dehydrogenase, catalase, S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase, and methionine synthase. Two enzymes were induced, cytosolic NADP-malic enzyme and superoxide dismutase. For ‘Edkawi’ LA2711, nine enzymes were suppressed: ferredoxin-NADP (+) reductase, Rubisco activase, S-adenosylmethionine synthetase, methioine synthase, glyoxisomal malate dehydrogenase, enolase, flavonol synthase, M1 family peptidase, and dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase. Heat-induced proteins were cyclophilin, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate aldolase, transketolase, phosphoglycolate phosphatase, ATPase, photosystem II oxygen-evolving complex 23, and NAD-dependent epimerase/dehydratase. For cherry tomato LA1310, heat-suppressed proteins were aminotransferase, S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase, L-ascorbate peroxidase, lactoylglutathione lyase, and Rubisco activase. Heat-induced enzymes were glyoxisomal malate dehydrogenase, phosphoribulokinasee, and ATP synthase. This research resulted in the identification of proteins that were induced/repressed in all tomato cultivars evaluated (e.g., Rubisco activase, methionine synthase, adenosyl-L-homocysteine hydrolase, and others) and those differentially expressed (e.g., transketolase)

A Miniaturized Dual-Mode Bandpass Filter Using Slot Spurline Technique

A miniaturized dual-mode bandpass filter (BPF) with elliptic function response using slot spurline is designed in this paper. The slot spurline can not only splits the degenerate modes but also determine the type of filter characteristic (Chebyshev or elliptic). To miniaturize the resonator, four sagittate stubs are proposed. For demonstration purpose, a BPF operating at 5.75 GHz for WLAN application was designed, fabricated, and measured. The measured results are in good agreement with the full-wave simulation results

Study on the Molecular Mechanisms of dlk1 Stimulated Lung Cancer Cell Proliferation

Background and objective The imprinted gene dlk1 has been recognized as a cancer related gene since it aberrantly expressed in a series of cancer tissues, but its role in lung cancer is still unknown. The aim of this study is to examine dlk1’s expression in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) and investigate the molecular mechanism by which dlk1 could accelerate the proliferation of the cells in lung cancer cell lines (H520). Methods The relative expression of dlk1 among 30 NSCLC specimens and their adjacent normal lung tissues were analyzed by RT-PCR. A cell model that stably expressed exogenous dlk1 was established following that the dlk1 gene was cloned into a eukaryotic expression vector and then transfected into the lung cancer cells H520. CCK8 analysis and colony forming assay were employed to investigate the effect of dlk1 on cell proliferation. The expression of CyclinB1 was detected by Western blot. Results dlk1 aberrantly expressed in 36.7% (11/30) of the tumor tissues of NSCLC compared with their adjacent cancer lung tissues. CCK8 analysis showed that overexpression of dlk1 could promote the proliferation of H520 cells (P < 0.05) and the results was further confirmed by colony forming assay. Western blot analysis found that over expression of dlk1 could up-regulate the expression of CyclinB1 (P < 0.05). Conclusion dlk1 aberrantly expressed in NSCLCs. The Overexpression of dlk1 could accelerate the proliferation of lung cancer cells H520 in vitro, probably through up-regulating the expression of cell cycle protein CyclinB1

Harmonic-Rejection Compact Bandpass Filter Using Defected Ground Structure for GPS Application

A miniaturized bandpass filter (BPF) using defected ground structure (DGS) resonator with the characteristic of harmonic rejection is developed in this paper. The second and third harmonics of the proposed BPF are rejected by the characteristic of stepped-impedance DGS resonator. Moreover, open stubs are established so that two adjustable transmission zeros can independently be created to extend the stopband and improve the rejection level. Finally, a second-order BPF, centered at 1.62 GHz with a stopband extended up to 5.6 GHz and a rejection level better than 20 dB, is designed and implemented for GPS application. A good agreement between simulation and measurement verifies the validity of this design methodology

Influence characteristics of regional micrometeorology on macroscopic scale of external dump

To study the relationship of external dump of opencast coal mine impacting on surrounding micrometeorological factors, and then provide the foundation acknowledge for the ecological restoration in mining area, the airflow movement and water distribution around the mine area were regarded as the influencing factors to furtherly explore the ecological effects of the scale and form of the external dump. Taking Hongshaquan open-pit coal mine as an example, using Fluent fluid simulation software, adopting large eddy simulation and component transfer model, the external dump models with different heights and angles were established for simulation. The monthly temperature and dew point data of the area in 2020 were obtained through the regional meteorological station where Hongshaquan open-pit coal mine located, thereby reaching the monthly condensation height of the area. By analyzing the cloud diagrams of air velocity and moisture mass fraction under different conditions, the influence law of different sizes of external dump on the surrounding air flow movement and water distribution was obtained, and compared with the condensation height in the area. The numerical simulation results showed that: with the increasing dump height, the air climbing speed increased slowly, while the maximum climbing height increased, as well as the moisture mass fraction on the windward slope and the dump top ascended. More and more obvious Karman vortex street phenomenon was formed along the leeward slope. The number of vortices increased and the influence range became larger. Both of the airflow velocity and moisture mass fraction in the vortex area increased and reached their maximum values. The increase in the angle of the external dump presented a significant impact on the maximum climb height of the airflow, but showed little impact on the surrounding micrometeorological factors. Under the condition of 360 m limit height, when the external dump Angle reached the critical value of 26°, the maximum airflow climbing height would reach the summer condensation height in this area. Alternatively, under the condition of 22° limit Angle of the outer dump, when the height of the outer dump reached the critical value of 380 m, the maximum climbing height of airflow would reach the summer condensation height of the region, thereby promoting the precipitation around the mining are

Al-induced proteomics changes in tomato plants over-expressing a glyoxalase I gene

Glyoxalase I (Gly I) is the first enzyme in the glutathionine-dependent glyoxalase pathway for detoxification of methylglyoxal (MG) under stress conditions. Transgenic tomato ‘Money Maker’ plants overexpressing tomato SlGlyI gene (tomato unigene accession SGN-U582631/Solyc09g082120.3.1) were generated and homozygous lines were obtained after four generations of self-pollination. In this study, SlGlyI-overepxressing line (GlyI), wild type (WT, negative control) and plants transformed with empty vector (ECtr, positive control), were subjected to Al-treatment by growing in Magnavaca’s nutrient solution (pH 4.5) supplemented with 20 µM Al3+ ion activity. After 30 days of treatments, the fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots of plants from Al-treated conditions decreased significantly compared to the non-treated conditions for all the three lines. When compared across the three lines, root fresh and dry weight of GlyI was significant higher than WT and ECtr, whereas there was no difference in shoot tissues. The basal 5 mm root-tips of GlyI plants expressed a significantly higher level of glyoxalase activity under both non-Al-treated and Al-treated conditions compared to the two control lines. Under Al-treated condition, there was a significant increase in MG content in ECtr and WT lines, but not in GlyI line. Quantitative proteomics analysis using tandem mass tags mass spectrometry identified 4080 quantifiable proteins and 201 Al-induced differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) in root-tip tissues from GlyI, and 4273 proteins and 230 DEPs from ECtr. The Al-down-regulated DEPs were classified into molecular pathways of gene transcription, RNA splicing and protein biosynthesis in both GlyI and ECtr lines. The Al-induced DEPs in GlyI associated with tolerance to Al3+ and MG toxicity are involved in callose degradation, cell wall components (xylan acetylation and pectin degradation), oxidative stress (antioxidants) and turnover of Al-damaged epidermal cells, repair of damaged DNA, epigenetics, gene transcription, and protein translation. A protein–protein association network was constructed to aid the selection of proteins in the same pathway but differentially regulated in GlyI or ECtr lines. Proteomics data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifiers PXD009456 under project title ‘25Dec2017_Suping_XSexp2_ITAG3.2’ for SlGlyI-overexpressing tomato plants and PXD009848 under project title ‘25Dec2017_Suping_XSexp3_ITAG3.2’ for positive control ECtr line transformed with empty vector