Automatic pest identification system in the greenhouse based on deep learning and machine vision

Monitoring and understanding pest population dynamics is essential to greenhouse management for effectively preventing infestations and crop diseases. Image-based pest recognition approaches demonstrate the potential for real-time pest monitoring. However, the pest detection models are challenged by the tiny pest scale and complex image background. Therefore, high-quality image datasets and reliable pest detection models are required. In this study, we developed a trapping system with yellow sticky paper and LED light for automatic pest image collection, and proposed an improved YOLOv5 model with copy-pasting data augmentation for pest recognition. We evaluated the system in cherry tomato and strawberry greenhouses during 40 days of continuous monitoring. Six diverse pests, including tobacco whiteflies, leaf miners, aphids, fruit flies, thrips, and houseflies, are observed in the experiment. The results indicated that the proposed improved YOLOv5 model obtained an average recognition accuracy of 96% and demonstrated superiority in identification of nearby pests over the original YOLOv5 model. Furthermore, the two greenhouses show different pest numbers and populations dynamics, where the number of pests in the cherry tomato greenhouse was approximately 1.7 times that in the strawberry greenhouse. The developed time-series pest-monitoring system could provide insights for pest control and further applied to other greenhouses

Association of subclinical thyroid dysfunction with diabetic kidney disease in type 2 diabetic patients

Objective To investigate the correlation between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and diabetic kidney disease （DKD） in the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus （T2DM）. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on 276 T2DM patients treated in Jilin Province FAW General Hospital from January 2019 to March 2021, including 154 patients with DKD and 122 patients without DKD （control group）. The body mass index （BMI）, glycated hemoglobin （HbA1c）, serum total thyroxine （TT4）, total triiodothyronine （TT3）, free triiodothyronine （FT3）, free thyroxine （FT4） and thyroid-stimulating hormone （TSH） were measured and detected for all patients. The patients were further divided into normal thyroid function group （n=188）, subclinical hypothyroidism （SCHypo） group （n=63） and subclinical hyperthyroidism （SCHyper） group （n=25） according to thyroid function. The influencing factors of DKD was analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. Results Compared with non DKD patients, DKD patients had a longer course of disease and higher levels of BMI, fasting blood glucose, Cystatin C, serum uric acid, triglyceride, and TSH (P＜0.05). The incidence of DKD was 54.3% (102 cases) in the normal thyroid function group and 69.8% (44 cases) in the SCHypo group, the difference had statistical significance (χ2=4.711，P=0.038), in the SCHyper group, 32.0% (8 cases) showed a significant decrease compared to the normal thyroid function group (χ2=4.376，P=0.036). The logistic regression analysis showed that TSH(OR=0.908, 95%CI:0.838-0.985, P＜0.05) and SCHypo（OR=1.060, 95%CI:1.020-1.101, P＜0.05） were independent factors of DKD. Conclusion TSH level and SCHypo may be independent influencing factors of DKD in T2DM patients

Continuous juice concentration by integrating forward osmosis with membrane distillation using potassium sorbate preservative as a draw solute

A green and sustainable technique is desired for juice concentration to increase its shelf life and save the transportation cost. In this study, we investigated an integrated forward osmosis-membrane distillation (FO-MD) process for juice concentration and developed a food preservative potassium sorbate as a renewable draw solute. The upstream FO process was used to concentrate apple juice in ambient operation conditions for preserving juice nutrition and flavor. Potassium sorbate preservative was developed as draw solute to minimize the accumulation of a draw solute in the concentrated juice without interfering juice flavor, and the slow diffusion of potassium sorbate preservative across the FO membrane to the feed juice concentrate can also prevent the bacterial growth during the concentration process by taking advantage of reverse salt flux. The downstream MD process was used to recover potassium sorbate draw solutes from the FO effluent and maintain the constant draw solute concentration for achieving stable water flux of FO membranes. Thin-film composite (TFC) polyamide membranes and poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF-HFP) electrospun nanofibrous membranes were fabricated and employed in the FO and MD processes, respectively. Results illustrate that the integrated FO-MD process presents a synergistic flux balancing behavior and achieves a constant water flux for both FO and MD membranes. The FO-MD process was able to continuously concentrate apple juice over long-term bench-scale operation. Importantly, the concentrated apple juice has almost no loss in nutrition and also has very low amount of potassium sorbate (0.45 g/L) far below the required maximum level in food industry (1.00 g/L). Our work provides a food preservative potassium sorbate draw solute facilitated FO-MD process for juice concentration, which may have practical application potentials in the food processing

High-Performance Thin-Film Composite Membrane with an Ultrathin Spray-Coated Carbon Nanotube Interlayer

We fabricated a thin-film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membrane with an ultrathin spray-coated carbon nanotube (CNT) interlayer. The impact of the CNT interlayer on the polyamide (PA) layer structural properties and transport behavior in FO were investigated. Results indicate that the CNT interlayer provides an interface which enables the formation of a highly permeable and selective PA layer with a large effective surface area for water transport, while inhibiting the formation of a flower-like PA structure inside the substrate pores. The TFC-FO membrane with the CNT interlayer exhibited a much greater water flux than previously reported for FO membranes, while maintaining comparable salt rejection. Specifically, a membrane perm-selectivity or ratio of water (A) to salt permeability coefficients (B) (A/B value) of 39 bar(-1) was achieved for the TFC-PA-CNT membrane. Implications of the results for the fabrication of highperformance TFC-FO membranes are further discussed

The Design and Experiment of Vertical Variable Cavity Base Fertilizer Fertilizing Apparatus

A vertical variable cavity organic fertilizer and compound fertilizer apparatus were designed according to tobacco farming requirements to overcome issues of unstable fertilizer discharge and blocking in the fertilizer disk of an existing fertilizer apparatus. The structure and working principle of the fertilizer apparatus were described. Combined with the principle of anti-arch and the requirements of fertilizer application, the structure size of the fertilizer apparatus was determined. Using the opening degree and rotational speed of the fertilizer disk as the test factors and the fertilizer rate and variation coefficient of fertilizer application rate as the indices, the EDEM was used to conduct the single factor test and obtain the appropriate rotational speed range. The results indicated that the variation coefficient of the fertilizer uniformity apparatus was 0.96–5.22% under different rotation speeds and fertilizer disk openings, which satisfied design requirements. The orthogonal experiment explored the interaction between rotational speed and the opening. The influence of the opening adjustment on the fertilizer application rate and the coefficient of variation of uniformity were greater than the change in fertilizer disk speed. The bench and field tests aligned with the simulation test. These findings provide a reference and theoretical basis to design a fertilizer apparatus

Mangiferin alleviates cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in sensorineural hearing loss

Mangiferin(MGF) exhibits crucial biological roles, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions. However, how to clearly elucidate the functioning mechanism of MGF for inhibiting cisplatin-induced hearing loss requires in-depth investigation. In this work, we aimed at gaining insight into how MGF functions as the protective agent against cisplatin-triggered ototoxicity using various assays. The variation for reactive oxygen species (ROS) concentrations was determined with MitoSOX-Red and 2′,7′-Dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate staining (DCFH-DA). The protective function and corresponding mechanism of MGF in hair cell survival in the House Ear Institute-Organ of Corti (HEI-OC1) cell line were assessed using RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq). Our findings demonstrated that MGF significantly alleviated cisplatin-induced injury to hair cells in vitro, encompassing cell lines and cochlear explants, as well as in vivo models, including C57BL/6 J mice and zebrafish larvae. Mechanistic studies revealed that MGF reversed the increased accumulation of ROS and inhibited cell apoptosis through mitochondrial-mediated intrinsic pathway. Moreover, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting data indicated MGF protected against cisplatin-mediated ototoxicity via the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (MAPK). These findings demonstrated MGF has significant potential promise in combating cisplatin-induced ototoxicity, offering a foundation for expanded investigation into therapeutic approaches for auditory protection

EIF3D promoted cervical carcinoma through Warburg effect by interacting with GRP78

The incidence of cervical cancer ranks third among all female tumours globally and second in developing countries. However, the role of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3 subunit D (EIF3D) in cervical carcinoma is unknown. This study investigated the effects of EIF3D on cell progression of cervical carcinoma and its underlying mechanism in vivo and vitro models. There were increases of EIF3D expression mRNA and protein expression levels in patients with cervical carcinoma. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall surviva (OS) of EIF3D lower expression in patients with cervical carcinoma was higher than those of EIF3D higher expression. EIF3D mRNA expression levels in cervical carcinoma cell lines (AV3, Hela229, CaSki and Hela cells) were up-regulated, compared with cervical normal cell line (UVECs). EIF3D promoted cell growth and Warburg effect in vitro model of cervical carcinoma. EIF3D interacting with GRP78 to reduce the activity of GRP78 in vitro model of cervical carcinoma. The inhibition of GRP78 reduced the effects of EIF3D on Warburg effect in vitro model of cervical carcinoma. Our work identifies EIF3D promoted cell growth and Warburg effect in vitro model of cervical carcinoma and the inhibition of EIF3D represents a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cervical carcinoma.IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? The incidence of cervical cancer ranks third among all female tumours globally and second in developing countries. What do the results of this study add? This study investigated the effects of EIF3D on cell progression of cervical carcinoma and its underlying mechanism in vivo and vitro models. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? EIF3D promoted cell growth and Warburg effect in vitro model of cervical carcinoma and the inhibition of EIF3D represents a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cervical carcinoma

Virus-mediated chemical changes in rice plants impact the relationship between non-vector planthopper Nilaparvata lugens Stål and its egg parasitoid Anagrus nilaparvatae Pang et Wang.

In order to clarify the impacts of southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) infection on rice plants, rice planthoppers and natural enemies, differences in nutrients and volatile secondary metabolites between infected and healthy rice plants were examined. Furthermore, the impacts of virus-mediated changes in plants on the population growth of non-vector brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens, and the selectivity and parasitic capability of planthopper egg parasitoid Anagrus nilaparvatae were studied. The results showed that rice plants had no significant changes in amino acid and soluble sugar contents after SRBSDV infection, and SRBSDV-infected plants had no significant effect on population growth of non-vector BPH. A. nilaparvatae preferred BPH eggs both in infected and healthy rice plants, and tended to parasitize eggs on infected plants, but it had no significant preference for infected plants or healthy plants. GC-MS analysis showed that tridecylic aldehyde occurred only in rice plants infected with SRBSDV, whereas octanal, undecane, methyl salicylate and hexadecane occurred only in healthy rice plants. However, in tests of behavioral responses to these five volatile substances using a Y-tube olfactometer, A. nilaparvatae did not show obvious selectivity between single volatile substances at different concentrations and liquid paraffin in the control group. The parasitic capability of A. nilaparvatae did not differ between SRBSDV-infected plants and healthy plant seedlings. The results suggested that SRBSDV-infected plants have no significant impacts on the non-vector planthopper and its egg parasitoid, A. nilaparvatae

Amino acid and soluble sugar in infected and healthy rice plants.

<p>Amino acid and soluble sugar in infected and healthy rice plants.</p

Comparison of volatile compounds emitted from healthy and SRBSDV-infected plants.

<p>Note: “/” indicates not be detected.</p