A Deep Learning Framework for Automated Vesicle Fusion Detection

Quantitative analysis of vesicle-plasma membrane fusion events in the fluorescence microscopy, has been proven to be important in the vesicle exocytosis study. In this paper, we present a framework to automatically detect fusion events. First, an iterative searching algorithm is developed to extract image patch sequences containing potential events. Then, we propose an event image to integrate the critical image patches of a candidate event into a single-image joint representation as the input to Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). According to the duration of candidate events, we design three CNN architectures to automatically learn features for the fusion event classification. Compared on 9 challenging datasets, our proposed method showed very competitive performance and outperformed two state-of-the-arts

Dynamic Analysis of General Integrated Pest Management Model with Double Impulsive Control

A general predator-prey model with disease in the prey and double impulsive control is proposed and investigated for the purpose of integrated pest management. By using the Floquet theory, the comparison theorem of impulsive differential equations, and the persistence theory of dynamical systems, we obtain that if threshold value R01, then the model is permanent. The numerical examples not only illustrate the theoretical results, but also show that when the model is permanent, then it may possess a unique globally attractive T-periodic solution

PEARL: a programmable virtual router platform

International audienceProgrammable routers supporting virtualization are a key building block for bridging the gap between new Internet protocols and their deployment in real operational networks. This article presents the design and implementation of PEARL, a programmable virtual router platform with relatively high performance. It offers high flexibility by allowing users to control the configuration of both hardware and software data paths. The platform makes use of fast lookup in hardware and software exceptions in commodity multicore CPUs to achieve highspeed packet processing. Multiple isolated packet streams and virtualization techniques ensure isolation among virtual router instances

Sivelestat sodium attenuates acute lung injury by inhibiting JNK/NF-κB and activating Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathways

Sivelestat sodium (SIV), a neutrophil elastase inhibitor, is mainly used for the clinical treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or acute lung injury (ALI). However, studies investigating the effects of SIV treatment of ALI are limited. Therefore, this study investigated the potential molecular mechanism of the protective effects of SIV against ALI. Human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HPMECs) were stimulated with tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and male Sprague-Dawley rats were intratracheally injected with Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP) and treated with SIV, ML385, and anisomycin (ANI) to mimic the pathogenetic process of ALI in vitro and in vivo, respectively. The levels of inflammatory cytokines and indicators of oxidative stress were assessed in vitro and in vivo. The wet/dry (W/D) ratio of lung tissues, histopathological changes, inflammatory cells levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and survival rates of rats were analyzed. The JNK/NF-κB (p65) and Nrf2/HO-1 levels in the HPMECs and lung tissues were analyzed by western blot and immunofluorescence analyses. Administration of SIV reduced the inflammatory factors levels, intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and increased the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in lung tissues. Meanwhile, SIV alleviated pathological injuries, decreased the W/D ratio, and inflammatory cell infiltration in lung tissue. In addition, SIV also inhibited the activation of JNK/NF-κB signaling pathway, promoted nuclear translocation of Nrf2, and upregulated the expression of heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1). However, ANI or ML385 significantly reversed these changes. SIV effectively attenuated the inflammatory response and oxidative stress. Its potential molecular mechanism was related to the JNK/NF-κB activation and Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway inhibition. This further deepened the understanding of the protective effects of SIV against ALI

Carbon benefits of wolfberry plantation on secondary saline land in Jingtai oasis, Gansu:A case study on application of the CBP model

The largest global source of anthropogenic CO2 emissions comes from the burning of fossil fuel and approximately 30% of total net emissions come from land use and land use change. Forestation and reforestation are regarded worldwide as effective options of sequestering carbon to mitigate climate change with relatively low costs compared with industrial greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction efforts. Cash trees with a steady augmentation in size are recognized as a multiple-beneficial solution to climate change in China. The reporting of C changes and GHG emissions for sustainable land management (SLM) practices such as afforestation is required for a variety of reasons, such as devising land management options and making policy. The Carbon Benefit Project (CBP) Simple Assessment Tool was employed to estimate changes in soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks and GHG emissions for wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.) planting on secondary salinized land over a 10 year period (2004–2014) in the Jingtai oasis in Gansu with salinized barren land as baseline scenario. Results show that wolfberry plantation, an intensively managed ecosystem, served as a carbon sink with a large potential for climate change mitigation, a restorative practice for saline land and income stream generator for farmers in soil salinized regions in Gansu province. However, an increase in wolfberry production, driven by economic demands, would bring environmental pressures associated with the use of N fertilizer and irrigation. With an understanding of all of the components of an ecosystem and their interconnections using the Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework there comes a need for strategies to respond to them such as capacity building, judicious irrigation and institutional strengthening. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) suggests that wolfberry cultivation was economically profitable and socially beneficial and thus well-accepted locally in the context of carbon sequestration. This study has important implications for Gansu as it helps to understand the role cash trees can play in carbon emission reductions. Such information is necessary in devising management options for sustainable land management (SLM)

Highly-dispersed nickel nanoparticles decorated titanium dioxide nanotube array for enhanced solar light absorption

Honeycomb titanium dioxide nanotube array (TiO2-NTA) decorated by highly-dispersed nickel nanoparticles (Ni-NPs) has been grown under control on Ti foil by anodization and subsequent electrodeposition. The pore diameter and length of TiO2-NTA, and the size and quantity of Ni-NPs can be controlled via modulating the variables of the electrochemical processes. It has been found that the pretreatment of TiO2-NTA in the Cu(NO3)2 solution and further annealing at 450 °C in air could greatly improve the dispersion of the electrodeposited Ni-NPs. Absorption of the light in the solar spectrum from 300 to 2500 nm by the Ni-NPs@TiO2-NTA is as high as 96.83%, thanks to the co-effect of the light-trapping of TiO2-NTA and the plasmonic resonance of Ni-NPs. In the water heating experiment performed under an illuminating solar power density of ∼1 kW m−2 (AM 1.5), the ultimate temperature over 66 °C and an overall efficiency of 78.9% within 30 min were obtained, promising for applications in photothermal conversion and solar energy harvest