A new method for evaluating lung volume: AI-3D reconstruction

Objective: This study aims to explore the clinical application of an AI-3D reconstruction system in measuring lung volume and analyze its practical value in donor-recipient size matching in lung transplantation.Methods: The study retrospectively collected data from 75 subjects who underwent a plethysmography examination and lung CT at the First Hospital of Jilin University. General data and information related to lung function, and imaging results were collected. The correlation between actual total lung volume (aTLV), predicted total lung volume (pTLV), and artificial intelligence three-dimensional reconstruction CT lung volume (AI-3DCTVol) was analyzed for the overall, male, and female groups. The correlation coefficient and the absolute error percentage with pTLV and AI-3DCTVol were obtained.Results: In the overall, male, and female groups, there were statistical differences (p <0.05) between the pTLV formula and AI-3D reconstruction compared to the plethysmography examination value. The ICC between pTLV and aTLV for all study participants was 0.788 (95% CI: 0.515–0.893), p <0.001. Additionally, the ICC value between AI-3D reconstruction and aTLV was 0.792 (95% CI: 0.681–0.866), p <0.001. For male study participants, the ICC between pTLV and aTLV was 0.330 (95% CI: 0.032–0.617), p = 0.006. Similarly, the ICC value between AI-3D reconstruction and aTLV was 0.413 (95% CI: 0.089–0.662), p = 0.007. In the case of female research subjects, the ICC between pTLV and aTLV was 0.279 (95% CI: 0.001–0.523), p = 0.012. Further, the ICC value between AI-3D reconstruction and aTLV was 0.615 (95% CI: 0.561–0.870), p <0.001.Conclusion: The AI-3D reconstruction, as a convenient method, has significant potential for application in lung transplantation

Numerical modeling of deformations caused by carbon dioxide sequestration in coal seams

Atmospheric concentrations of CO2, as the most prevalent greenhouse gas, have been dramatically increased due to the anthropogenic emission mainly from fuel combustion. Geologic sequestration of CO2 in coal seams is an attractive choice to mitigate global CO2 emissions and its consequences. It can also provide secondary benefits such as enhanced coalbed methane production.;Three coal sites from Appalachian basin and Black Warrior basin were selected to numerically study the effects of CO2 injection in coal seams on overburden deformations. Finite element method was used for the analysis of overburden response. The analysis consisted of two phases---CO 2 injection and pore pressure dissipation after the termination of injection. The selected sites have differential geologic characters. The distribution of pore pressure from the analysis indicates that injected CO2 was primarily confined within the target coal seam. Modeling results show ground heaving in response to CO2 injection. Effects of elastic modulus, reservoir permeability and injection pressure on CO2 sequestration in coal seams were investigated. Results show that elastic modulus has a significant influence on the amounts of injected CO2 and the propagation of CO2 plume. Injection pressure is proportional to the injection amount of CO2.;Deformation of the strata overlying the injection points can be one of the concerns related to high-pressure injection. Small vertical displacements at the ground surface were observed during the numerical analysis of all the selected sites. In fact, the overburden deformations at ground surface CO 2 can be expected to be very small due to the depth of injection points. However, constant measurements of surface deformation can be used to monitor the movement of CO2 plume to detect large amount of CO2 leakage.;The screening criteria for selection of sites should include reservoir properties such as elastic properties, permeability, porosity, reservoir thickness and depth. Also, these properties for overburden strata can influence the overburden response during and after geologic sequestration of CO2 in coal seam

Inverse Analysis of Pavement Structural Properties Based on Dynamic Finite Element Modeling and Genetic Algorithm

With the movement towards the implementation of mechanistic-empirical pavement design guide (MEPDG), an accurate determination of pavement layer moduli is vital for predicting pavement critical mechanistic responses. A backcalculation procedure is commonly used to estimate the pavement layer moduli based on the non-destructive falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests. Backcalculation of flexible pavement layer properties is an inverse problem with known input and output signals based upon which unknown parameters of the pavement system are evaluated. In this study, an inverse analysis procedure that combines the finite element analysis and a population-based optimization technique, Genetic Algorithm (GA) has been developed to determine the pavement layer structural properties. A lightweight deflectometer (LWD) was used to infer the moduli of instrumented three-layer scaled flexible pavement models. While the common practice in backcalculating pavement layer properties still assumes a static FWD load and uses only peak values of the load and deflections, dynamic analysis was conducted to simulate the impulse LWD load. The recorded time histories of the LWD load were used as the known inputs into the pavement system while the measured time-histories of surface central deflections and subgrade deflections measured with a linear variable differential transformers (LVDT) were considered as the outputs. As a result, consistent pavement layer moduli can be obtained through this inverse analysis procedure

Behavior of Geogrid-Reinforced Portland Cement Concrete under Static Flexural Loading

Geogrids have been investigated by a limited number of studies as a potential alternative to steel reinforcement for Portland cement concrete (PCC), especially in situations where using steel reinforcement may not be suitable due to constructability and durability limitations. This study aims to investigate the flexural behavior of simply-supported concrete beams reinforced by geogrids, which would aid in assessing the potential use of geogrids for concrete structures such as overlays and other thin sections. Another objective of this study is to examine the potential benefits of embedding geogrids in PCC, and to investigate the mechanism and effectiveness of geogrid reinforcement in PCC. Plain and geogrid-reinforced concrete beams were fabricated and tested under a static four-point flexural bending load. The midspan deflection and crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD) of the beams were recorded during loading. Additionally, for geogrid-reinforced beams, strain gages were attached on the geogrids to monitor the strains that developed in geogrids. Results reveal that the geogrid primarily contributes to improving the ductility of the post-peak behavior of plain concrete and to delaying the collapse failure of concrete beams. Strain measurements of the geogrids indicate that the geogrids were activated and mobilized instantly upon the application of the flexural load. Both the strain measurements and observations of the geogrids post failure suggest that there was no slippage between the geogrids and the concrete

Ion-Selective Electrodes for Detection of Lead (II) in Drinking Water: A Mini-Review

Despite the fact that the adverse health effects due to the intake of lead have been well studied and widely recognized, lead contamination in drinking water has been reoccurring worldwide, with some incidents escalating into a public drinking water crisis. As lead contamination is often related to lead-based pipes close to or inside homes, it is not realistic, at least in the near term, to remove and replace all lead connection pipes and lead-based plumbing. Effective monitoring of lead concentration at consumers’ water taps remains critical for providing consumers with first-hand information and preventing potential wide-spread lead contamination in drinking water. This review paper examines the existing common technologies for laboratory testing and on-site measuring of lead concentrations. As the conventional analytical techniques for lead detection require using expensive instruments, as well as a high time for sample preparation and a skilled operator, an emphasis is placed on reviewing ion-selective electrode (ISE) technology due to its superior performance, low cost, ease of use, and its promising potential to be miniaturized and integrated into standalone sensing units. In a holistic way, this paper reviews and discusses the background, different types of ISEs are reviewed and discussed, namely liquid-contact ISEs and solid-contact ISEs. Along with the potential opportunities for further research, the limitations and unique challenges of ISEs for lead detection are also discussed in detail

A Device-Free Indoor Localization Method Using CSI with Wi-Fi Signals

Amid the ever-accelerated development of wireless communication technology, we have become increasingly demanding for location-based service; thus, passive indoor positioning has gained widespread attention. Channel State Information (CSI), as it can provide more detailed and fine-grained information, has been followed by researchers. Existing indoor positioning methods, however, are vulnerable to the environment and thus fail to fully reflect all the position features, due to limited accuracy of the fingerprint. As a solution, a CSI-based passive indoor positioning method was proposed, Wavelet Domain Denoising (WDD) was adopted to deal with the collected CSI amplitude, and the CSI phase information was unwound and transformed linearly in the offline phase. The post-processed amplitude and phase were taken as fingerprint data to build a fingerprint database, correlating with reference point position information. Results of experimental data analyzed under two different environments show that the present method boasts lower positioning error and higher stability than similar methods and can offer decimeter-level positioning accuracy

Granulation encapsulated stent: a new therapeutic approach for vascular implantation

OBJECTIVES: To determine if stents could be encapsulated with immunocompatible granulation tissue for the treatment of vascular diseases. METHODS: Bare metal stents were implanted in New Zealand white rabbits so they would be encapsulated with immunocompatible granulation tissue. The granulation encapsulated stents (GES) were then treated with either mitomycin C or saline, and implanted into rabbit iliac arteries for 4 weeks. To test whether the effect of mitomycin C was retained, we co‐cultured smooth muscle cells for 3 h with subcutaneous tissue (as control) or with granulation tissue from GES treated with mitomycin C and saline. RESULTS: Vessels with GES treated with mitomycin C (MS) and washed with saline had significantly less neointimal area (NA) after 4 weeks (0.27 (SD 0.03) mm(2) than vessels containing bare metal stents (B) (1.15 (SD 0.10) mm(2), n = 5, p<0.05) or GES treated with saline (S) (4.78 (SD 0.72) mm(2), n = 5, p<0.05). The average vessel injury score was not significantly different among these three groups (S: 1.98 (SD 0.51), MS: 1.46 (SD 0.18) and B: 1.51 (SD 0.32)). GES treated with saline had significantly less NA than the other two groups and also blocked blood flow in the contralateral iliac artery in the abdominal aortic bifurcation immediately after implantation and 4 weeks later. Histology also showed neointimal overgrowth in the vessel wall over the contralateral iliac artery. CONCLUSIONS: GES treated with mitomycin C can significantly inhibit neointimal formation in rabbit arteries due to the formation of granulation tissue. GES treated with saline demonstrated significantly increased NA and resisted normal rabbit artery pressures

Anti-Breast Cancer Activity of Latroeggtoxin-V Mined from the Transcriptome of Spider <i>Latrodectus tredecimguttatus</i> Eggs

As a black widow spider, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus has poisonous components not only in venomous glands but also in eggs. Our previous work had carried out a transcriptome analysis of the spider eggs in an attempt to probe into the molecular basis of the egg toxicity. A proteinaceous toxin, named Latroeggtoxin-V, was mined from the identified transcriptome. In this study, the gene of Latroeggtoxin-V was cloned and heterologously expressed, and the anticancer activity of the recombinant Latroeggtoxin-V (rLatroeggtoxin-V) was characterized. Activity assay found that rLatroeggtoxin-V could selectively act on breast cancer line MDA-MB-231 cells, not only arresting their cell cycle, inhibiting their proliferation and migration, but also inducing their apoptosis. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that Latroeggtoxin-V belongs to the ATPase inhibitor protein family and the further activity assay showed that the rLatroeggtoxin-V inhibited the activity of the Na+/K+-ATPase in MDA-MB-231 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, suggesting that the anticancer activity of Latroeggtoxin-V is based on its affecting the ion transport and receptor functions of Na+/K+-ATPase. The present work not only laid the foundation for the utilization of Latroeggtoxin-V in the anticancer drug development and the related fields, but also provided a new paradigm for exploration of the proteinaceous toxins under the direction of transcriptomics and bioinformatics