Airborne Polarimetric Remote Sensing for Atmospheric Correction

The problem, whose targets can not be effectively identified for airborne remote sensing images, is mainly due to the atmospheric scattering effect. This problem is necessary to be overcome. According to the statistical evaluations method and the different characteristics of polarization between the objects radiance and atmospheric path radiation, a new atmospheric correction method for airborne remote sensing images was proposed. Using this new method on the airborne remote sensing images which acquired on the north coast areas of China during the haze weather, we achieved a high quality corrected atmosphere-free image. The results demonstrate the power of the method on the harbor area. The results show that the algorithm, improving image contrast and image information entropy, can effectively identify the targets after atmospheric correction. The image information entropy was enhanced from 5.59 to 6.62. The research provides a new and effective atmospheric correction technical approach for the airborne remote sensing images

Alteration of gut microbiota in association with cholesterol gallstone formation in mice

Abstract Background The gut microbiome exerts extensive roles in metabolism of nutrients, pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals. Little has been known for the role of gut microbiota in regulating cholesterol and bile acids in association with gallstone formation. This study investigated the changes in the composition of gut microbiota in mice fed with lithogenic diet (LD). Methods Adult male C57BL/6 J mice were fed with either lithogenic diet (1.25% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid) or chow diet as control for 56 days. The fecal microbiota were determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results LD led to formation of cholesterol gallstone in mice. The richness and alpha diversity of gut microbial reduced in mice fed with LD. Firmicutes was significantly decreased from 59.71% under chow diet to 31.45% under LD, P < 0.01, as well as the ratio of Firmicutes to Bacteroidetes. Differences in gut microbiota composition were also observed at phylum, family and genus levels between the two groups. Conclusion Our results suggested that gut microbiota dysbiosis might play an important role in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstone formation in mice

MRI-based clinical-radiomics nomogram to predict early neurological deterioration in isolated acute pontine infarction: a two-center study in Northeast China

Abstract Objective To predict the appearance of early neurological deterioration (END) among patients with isolated acute pontine infarction (API) based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-derived radiomics of the infarct site. Methods 544 patients with isolated API were recruited from two centers and divided into the training set (n = 344) and the verification set (n = 200). In total, 1702 radiomics characteristics were extracted from each patient. A support vector machine algorithm was used to construct a radiomics signature (rad-score). Subsequently, univariate and multivariate logistic regression (LR) analysis was adopted to filter clinical indicators and establish clinical models. Then, based on the LR algorithm, the rad-score and clinical indicators were integrated to construct the clinical-radiomics model, which was compared with other models. Results A clinical-radiomics model was established, including the 5 indicators rad-score, age, initial systolic blood pressure, initial National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, and triglyceride. A nomogram was then made based on the model. The nomogram had good predictive accuracy, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.966 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.947–0.985) and 0.920 (95% [CI] 0.873–0.967) in the training and verification sets, respectively. According to the decision curve analysis, the clinical-radiomics model showed better clinical value than the other models. In addition, the calibration curves also showed that the model has excellent consistency. Conclusion The clinical-radiomics model combined MRI-derived radiomics and clinical metrics and may serve as a scoring tool for early prediction of END among patients with isolated API

Water splitting with polyoxometalate-treated photoanodes: Enhancing performance through sensitizer design

Visible light driven water oxidation has been demonstrated at near-neutral pH using photoanodes based on nanoporous films of TiO2, polyoxometalate (POM) water oxidation catalyst [Ru4O4(OH)2(H2O)4(γ-SiW10O36)2]10- (1), and both known photosensitizer [Ru(bpy)2(H4dpbpy)]2+ (P2) and the novel crown ether functionalized dye [Ru(5-crownphen)2(H2dpbpy)] (H22). Both triads, containing catalyst 1, and catalyst-free dyads, produce O2 with high faradaic efficiencies (80 to 94%), but presence of catalyst enhances quantum yield by up to 190% (maximum 0.39%). New sensitizer H22 absorbs light more strongly than P2, and increases O2 quantum yields by up to 270%. TiO2-2 based photoelectrodes are also more stable to desorption of active species than TiO2-P2: losses of catalyst 1 are halved when pH > TiO2 point-of-zero charge (pzc), and losses of sensitizer reduced below the pzc (no catalyst is lost when pH < pzc). For the triads, quantum yields of O2 are higher at pH 5.8 than at pH 7.2, opposing the trend observed for 1 under homogeneous conditions. This is ascribed to lower stability of the dye oxidized states at higher pH, and less efficient electron transfer to TiO2, and is also consistent with the 4th 1-to-dye electron transfer limiting performance rather than catalyst TOFmax. Transient absorption reveals that TiO2-2-1 has similar 1st electron transfer dynamics to TiO2-P2-1, with rapid (ps timescale) formation of long-lived TiO2(e-)-2-1(h+) charge separated states, and demonstrates that metallation of the crown ether groups (Na+/Mg2+) has little or no effect on electron transfer from 1 to 2. The most widely relevant findings of this study are therefore: (i) increased dye extinction coefficients and binding stability significantly improve performance in dye-sensitized water splitting systems; (ii) binding of POMs to electrode surfaces can be stabilized through use of recognition groups; (iii) the optimal homogeneous and TiO2-bound operating pHs of a catalyst may not be the same; and (iv) dye-sensitized TiO2 can oxidize water without a catalyst

Additional file 1: of Alteration of gut microbiota in association with cholesterol gallstone formation in mice

The unique OTUs and their taxonomic profiles in chow and LD group. (DOC 58 kb

Additional file 1 of MRI-based clinical-radiomics nomogram to predict early neurological deterioration in isolated acute pontine infarction: a two-center study in Northeast China

Supplementary Material

Genomic insights into the origin, domestication and genetic basis of agronomic traits of castor bean

BACKGROUND: Castor bean (Ricinus communis L.) is an important oil crop, which belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family. The seed oil of castor bean is currently the only commercial source of ricinoleic acid that can be used for producing about 2000 industrial products. However, it remains largely unknown regarding the origin, domestication, and the genetic basis of key traits of castor bean.RESULTS: Here we perform a de novo chromosome-level genome assembly of the wild progenitor of castor bean. By resequencing and analyzing 505 worldwide accessions, we reveal that the accessions from East Africa are the extant wild progenitors of castor bean, and the domestication occurs ~ 3200 years ago. We demonstrate that significant genetic differentiation between wild populations in Kenya and Ethiopia is associated with past climate fluctuation in the Turkana depression ~ 7000 years ago. This dramatic change in climate may have caused the genetic bottleneck in wild castor bean populations. By a genome-wide association study, combined with quantitative trait locus analysis, we identify important candidate genes associated with plant architecture and seed size.CONCLUSIONS: This study provides novel insights of domestication and genome evolution of castor bean, which facilitates genomics-based breeding of this important oilseed crop and potentially other tree-like crops in future.</p