Silencing an essential gene involved in infestation and digestion in grain aphid through plant‐mediated RNA interference generates aphid‐resistant wheat plants

Letter to the edito

Three dimension high definition manometry evaluated postoperative anal canal functions in children with congenital anorectal malformations

BackgroundWe aimed to evaluate the function of the reconstructed anal canal in postoperative anorectal malformations (ARMs) patients through three dimension (3D) high-definition anorectal manometry.MethodsFrom January 2015 to December 2019, 3D manometry was performed as a postoperative functional assessment of patients with ARMs divided into age subgroups based on the time of manometry. Manometric parameters, such as the length of the anorectal high-pressure zone (HPZ-length), the mean resting and squeeze pressure of HPZ (HPZ-rest and HPZ-sqze), recto-anal inhibitory reflex (RAIR), and strength distribution of the anal canal, were collected and compared with age-matched controls. Their functional outcomes were analyzed with SPSS 23.0 software for statistical analysis.Results171 manometric measurements were performed on 142 postoperative patients (3 months∼15 years). The HPZ-rest in all patients was significantly lower than in age-matched controls (p < 0.05). HPZ-sqze was notably decreased in patients older than 4 years, whereas other age groups were comparable to controls (p < 0.05). The proportions of asymmetric strength distribution and negative RAIR were higher in ARMs patients. The type of anorectal malformations and lower HPZ-rest were the impact factors affecting postoperative functional outcomes.ConclusionsThe majority of the ARMs patients had acceptable functional outcomes. 3D manometry can objectively assess the reconstructed anal canal function. The patients with fecal incontinence had a high proportion of extremely low HPZ-rest and HPZ-sqze, negative RAIR, and asymmetric strength distribution. The manometric details will help the clinicians explore the causes of defecation complications and guide further management

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair under venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for acute aortic dissection patients: a case report

BackgroundOpen repair and replacement of the diseased aorta is still the standard treatment for type A aortic dissection (TAAD) in most patients. In endovascular treatment alone, ensuring adequate blood supply to the brain while covering the dissection with a stent is difficult.Case presentationThis study includes a 71-year-old male patient with type A aortic dissection presented at a recent follow-up examination after having undergone thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) plus left subclavian artery chimney stent reconstruction for descending aortic dissection 5 years ago. Preoperative computed tomographic angiography, computed tomographic perfusion, and transcranial Doppler showed an intact cerebral arterial ring and good collateral circulation. We successfully performed an endovascular repair of the thoracic aorta with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-A ECMO) to protect the craniocerebral blood supply, greatly increase the safety of the operation, and ensure a good prognosis.ConclusionTEVAR under V-A ECMO protection is beneficial for patients with TAAD because of its minimal trauma, rapid recovery, few complications, and low mortality

Roles of sex hormones in mediating the causal effect of vitamin D on osteoporosis: A two-step Mendelian randomization study

BackgroundAlthough 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is a risk factor for osteoporosis, it is not clear whether sex hormones mediate this casual association. We aimed to explore how sex hormones affect the association between 25(OH)D and osteoporosis to provide meaningful insights on the underlying mechanisms from a genetic perspective.MethodsGenetic variations in 25(OH)D, total testosterone (TT), androstenedione (A4), estradiol (E2), and testosterone/17β-estradiol (T/E2) were determined through summary statistics. Taking osteoporosis as the outcome (FinnGen biobank, 332,020 samples), we conducted a Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to establish the association between 25(OH)D and these sex hormones. The two-step MR analysis quantified the mediatory effects of sex hormones on osteoporosis. The results were further verified by pleiotropy and heterogeneity analyses.ResultsMR results showed that 25(OH)D (OR= 1.27, p = 0.04) and TT (OR= 1.25, p = 0.04) had a causal effect on osteoporosis. No significant associations were observed between the other sex hormones (A4, E2, and T/E2) and osteoporosis (p>0.05). Sensitivity analysis (p>0.05) confirmed the robustness of the MR results. The two-step MR analysis provided evidence that the mediatory effect of TT was 0.014 (the percentage of TT mediation was 5.91%). Moreover, the direct effect of 25(OH)D on osteoporosis was 0.221. A4, E2, and T/E2 were not considered as potential mediators of the role of 25(OH)D as a risk factor for OP.ConclusionThis study, through MR analysis, showed that TT mediates the causal effect of 25(OH)D on osteoporosis. Interventions targeting TT, therefore, have the potential to substantially reduce the burden of osteoporosis attributable to high 25(OH)D

Pushing the Limits of Machine Design: Automated CPU Design with AI

Design activity -- constructing an artifact description satisfying given goals and constraints -- distinguishes humanity from other animals and traditional machines, and endowing machines with design abilities at the human level or beyond has been a long-term pursuit. Though machines have already demonstrated their abilities in designing new materials, proteins, and computer programs with advanced artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, the search space for designing such objects is relatively small, and thus, "Can machines design like humans?" remains an open question. To explore the boundary of machine design, here we present a new AI approach to automatically design a central processing unit (CPU), the brain of a computer, and one of the world's most intricate devices humanity have ever designed. This approach generates the circuit logic, which is represented by a graph structure called Binary Speculation Diagram (BSD), of the CPU design from only external input-output observations instead of formal program code. During the generation of BSD, Monte Carlo-based expansion and the distance of Boolean functions are used to guarantee accuracy and efficiency, respectively. By efficiently exploring a search space of unprecedented size 10^{10^{540}}, which is the largest one of all machine-designed objects to our best knowledge, and thus pushing the limits of machine design, our approach generates an industrial-scale RISC-V CPU within only 5 hours. The taped-out CPU successfully runs the Linux operating system and performs comparably against the human-designed Intel 80486SX CPU. In addition to learning the world's first CPU only from input-output observations, which may reform the semiconductor industry by significantly reducing the design cycle, our approach even autonomously discovers human knowledge of the von Neumann architecture.Comment: 28 page

Insight-HXMT observations of Swift J0243.6+6124 during its 2017-2018 outburst

The recently discovered neutron star transient Swift J0243.6+6124 has been monitored by {\it the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope} ({\it Insight-\rm HXMT). Based on the obtained data, we investigate the broadband spectrum of the source throughout the outburst. We estimate the broadband flux of the source and search for possible cyclotron line in the broadband spectrum. No evidence of line-like features is, however, found up to $\rm 150~keV$. In the absence of any cyclotron line in its energy spectrum, we estimate the magnetic field of the source based on the observed spin evolution of the neutron star by applying two accretion torque models. In both cases, we get consistent results with $B\rm \sim 10^{13}~G$, $D\rm \sim 6~kpc$ and peak luminosity of $\rm >10^{39}~erg~s^{-1}$ which makes the source the first Galactic ultraluminous X-ray source hosting a neutron star.Comment: publishe

Overview to the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT) Satellite

As China's first X-ray astronomical satellite, the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT), which was dubbed as Insight-HXMT after the launch on June 15, 2017, is a wide-band (1-250 keV) slat-collimator-based X-ray astronomy satellite with the capability of all-sky monitoring in 0.2-3 MeV. It was designed to perform pointing, scanning and gamma-ray burst (GRB) observations and, based on the Direct Demodulation Method (DDM), the image of the scanned sky region can be reconstructed. Here we give an overview of the mission and its progresses, including payload, core sciences, ground calibration/facility, ground segment, data archive, software, in-orbit performance, calibration, background model, observations and some preliminary results.Comment: 29 pages, 40 figures, 6 tables, to appear in Sci. China-Phys. Mech. Astron. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1910.0443