Research on Beef Skeletal Maturity Determination Based on Shape Description and Neural Network

Physiological maturity is an important indicator for beef quality. In traditional method, the maturity grade is determined by subjectively evaluating the degree of cartilage ossification at the tips of the dorsal spine of the thoracic vertebrae. This paper uses the computer vision to replace the artificial method for extracting object (cartilage and bone) regions. Hu invariant moments of object region were calculated as the regional shape characteristic parameters. A trained Hopfield neural network model was used for recognizing cartilage and bone area in thoracic vertebrae image based on minimum Euclidean distance. The result showed that the accuracy of network recognition for cartilage and bone region was 92.75% and 87.68%, respectively. For automatically maturity prediction, the accuracy of prediction was 86%. Algorithm proposed in this paper proved the image description and neural network modeling was an effective method for extracting image feature regions

Baicalin Normalizes Blood Glucose Level in Streptozotocin -induced Diabetic Rats

This study aimed to determine the effect of baicalin on insulin resistance, glucose absorption, and blood lipids in type 2 diabetic rat model. Diabetic rats were treated with baicalin (40, 80 mg/kg) for 40 days. The results showed that diabetic rats treated with baicalin resulted in a significant decrease in the concentration of plasma triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improved the body weight. Furthermore, baicalin markedly decreased blood glucose level in the diabetic rats. The levels of plasma insulin and resistin exhibited significantly lower in the diabetic rats treated with baicalin than those of the model group. These findings suggest that baicalin can improve adipose metabolic disturbance in the experimental type 2 diabetic rats, can effectively ameliorate insulin resistance and plasma glucose transport by decreasing the levels of plasma resistin.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Baicalin Normalizes Blood Glucose Level in Streptozotocin -induced Diabetic Rats

This study aimed to determine the effect of baicalin on insulin resistance, glucose absorption, and blood lipids in type 2 diabetic rat model. Diabetic rats were treated with baicalin (40, 80 mg/kg) for 40 days. The results showed that diabetic rats treated with baicalin resulted in a significant decrease in the concentration of plasma triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improved the body weight. Furthermore, baicalin markedly decreased blood glucose level in the diabetic rats. The levels of plasma insulin and resistin exhibited significantly lower in the diabetic rats treated with baicalin than those of the model group. These findings suggest that baicalin can improve adipose metabolic disturbance in the experimental type 2 diabetic rats, can effectively ameliorate insulin resistance and plasma glucose transport by decreasing the levels of plasma resistin.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Baicalin Normalizes Blood Glucose Level in Streptozotocin -induced Diabetic Rats

This study aimed to determine the effect of baicalin on insulin resistance, glucose absorption, and blood lipids in type 2 diabetic rat model. Diabetic rats were treated with baicalin (40, 80 mg/kg) for 40 days. The results showed that diabetic rats treated with baicalin resulted in a significant decrease in the concentration of plasma triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, improved the body weight. Furthermore, baicalin markedly decreased blood glucose level in the diabetic rats. The levels of plasma insulin and resistin exhibited significantly lower in the diabetic rats treated with baicalin than those of the model group. These findings suggest that baicalin can improve adipose metabolic disturbance in the experimental type 2 diabetic rats, can effectively ameliorate insulin resistance and plasma glucose transport by decreasing the levels of plasma resistin.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

Comprehensive Analysis and Comparison on the Codon Usage Pattern of Whole Mycobacterium tuberculosis Coding Genome from Different Area

Phenomenon of unequal use of synonymous codons in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is common. Codon usage bias not only plays an important regulatory role at the level of gene expression, but also helps in improving the accuracy and efficiency of translation. Meanwhile, codon usage pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome is important for interpreting evolutionary characteristics in species. In order to investigate the codon usage pattern of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome, 12 Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes from different area are downloaded from the GeneBank. The correlations between G3, GC12, whole GC content, codon adaptation index, codon bias index, and so on of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes are calculated. The ENC-plot, relationship between A3/(A3+T3) and G3/(G3+C3), GC12 versus GC3 plot, and the RSCU of overall/separated genomes all show that the codon usage bias exists in all 12 Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes. Lastly, relationship between CBI and the equalization of ENC shows a strong negative correlation between them. The relationship between protein length and GC content (GC3 and GC12) shows that more obvious differences in the GC content may be in shorter protein. These results show that codon usage bias existing in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes could be used for further study on their evolutionary phenomenon

G9a Suppression Alleviates Corneal Neovascularization through Blocking Nox4-Mediated Oxidative Stress

Background. G9a, a well-known methyltransferase, plays a vital role in biological processes. However, its role in corneal neovascularization (CoNV) remains unclear. Methods. In vitro and in vivo models were assessed in hypoxia-stimulated angiogenesis and in a mouse model of alkali burn-induced CoNV. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured under hypoxic conditions and different reoxygenation times to identify the molecular mechanisms involved in this process. Results. In this study, we found that G9a was positively related to corneal alkali burn-induced injury. Inhibition of G9a with BIX 01294 (BIX) alleviated corneal injury, including oxidative stress and neovascularization in vivo. Similarly, inhibition of G9a with either BIX or small interfering RNA (siRNA) exerted an inhibitory effect on hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R)-induced oxidative stress and angiogenesis in HUVECs. Moreover, our study revealed that ablation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) with N-acetyl-cysteine suppressed angiogenesis in HUVECs exposed to H/R stimulation. Furthermore, NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4), which was positively associated with ROS production and angiogenesis, was elevated during H/R. This effect could be reversed through suppression of the transcription activity of G9a with BIX or siRNA. In addition, the Nrf2/HO-1 pathway, upstream of Nox4, was activated in both BIX-treated mice and G9a-inhibited HUVECs. Collectively, our results demonstrated that inhibition of G9a-alleviated corneal angiogenesis by inhibiting Nox4-dependent ROS production through the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway. These findings indicate that G9a may be a valuable therapeutic target for CoNV

Investigation on the blurred image restoration based on brain‐inspired model

Abstract Though relatively good effect has been achieved by the image de‐blurring method based on deep learning, the existing methods still suffer from the problem of unclear restoration of the edges. Therefore, brain‐inspired image restoration model based on human attention and “fine vision” is proposed to improve the blind restoration quality of the image in this paper according to the response mechanism of the different cerebral cortices for high and low spatial resolutions. The designed brain‐inspired model consists of dual‐channel network available to realize the function of feature merger for low and high resolutions, which is used to extract the image edges with detailed information filtered out. Confirmatory experiment is implemented based on the blurred image in the data set of GOPRO, LIVE and set14. As per the result, the model proposed is available for relatively good restoration of blurred image and super‐resolution, as well as looking results by visual inspection

Attributes of Audit Committee Chairs，CEO Power and Earnings Quality

【中文摘要】本文利用沪深主板上市公司 2008～2017 年的数据，综合专业性和影响力两大能力特征度量审计委员会召集人能力，实证考察召集人能力特征对盈余信息质量的影响。研究发现，综合能力高的召集人能显著抑制公司盈余管理水平。而随着 CEO（ chief executive officer，首席执行官）权力的增大，召集人综合能力对公司盈余管理水平的抑制效果会被削弱。进一步研究发现，召集人的专业性和公司地位可显著提高盈余信息质量，且召集人的专业性对盈余信息质量的监督作用不会受到 CEO 权力的制约。本文的研究丰富了审计委员会召集人特征方面的文献，同时也有助于为上市公司及监管机构进一步优化审计委员会召集人的任职资格，以及为公司董事会合理配置 CEO 权力提供理论依据和政策参考。 【Abstract】Based on a sample of A-share listed companies over the period of 2008-2017，this paper examines the relationship between two attributes of audit committee chairs，as measured respectively by acounting expertise and powerfulness，and earnings quality. The results suggest that the audit committee chairs’ overall qualifications based on the two attributescan significantly reduce the levels of accrual and real earnings management. However，CEO power significantly weakens the positive relation between audit committee chairs’ overall qualifications and earnings quality. Nevertheless，a firm’s industry position and the accounting expertise of its audit committee chair can substantially improve its earnings quality，and this relation is not tampered by CEO power. Our results highlight the role of the attributes of audit committee chairs in improving earnings quality and，from the regulations point of view，the importance of establishing qualification critieria for audit committee chairs of listed companies in China. Lastly，our results provide an empirical basis for the theory as well as policies that argues for the balance of CEO power in the boardroom among the board members.本文受到国家自然科学基金项目“审计契约压力传导对审计质量的影响及契约参与方应对策略研究”（ 71672131）、 “审计投入对审计质量的影响、作用机理与经济后果研究” （ 71902147）的资助

Fast mobility induced self-lubrication at metallic glass surface

The enhanced surface mobility in metallic glasses (MGs) has been a constant source of fascination due to its unique mechanical properties. We show experimentally that the mobile surface layer of MGs functions as a lubricating layer in friction experiments, which is evidenced by a reduction of a friction coefficient of 50% or less and suppression of dissipative stick-slip behavior with decreasing scratch depth down to nanoscale in the various MGs. The lubrication mechanism could be attributed to easier shearing of the mobile surface layer induced by homogeneous plastic flow. Importantly, the thickness of the self-lubricating layer is inversely proportional to glass transition temperature with a higher homologous temperature yielding a larger thickness. These results extend the fundamental understanding of the ubiquitous MG surface and present a path for the rational design of self-lubricating materials

A literature-derived dataset on risk factors for dry eye disease

Abstract Dry eye disease (DED) is a common disease associated with disorder of tear secretion. Research on risk factors for DED, such as depression, arthritis, thyroid disease, stroke and diabetes, is important to facilitate its diagnosis and prognosis. We created a dataset on risk factors for DED (DrDED) with public access that can provide up-to-date and validated data acquired from systematically searched and screened, high-quality studies. The established DrDED contained 119 studies published between 2000 and 2022. The range of the study sample size was from 43 to 4,871,504. The study types were, as follows: cross-sectional (n = 92), retrospective cohort (n = 9), prospective cohort (n = 10), and case-control (n = 8) studies. Data from eligible studies were collected and presented for the present study, including the publication information, study characteristics, definition and prevalence of the disease, and risk factors for DED, together with the strength of association. With the publication of new relevant studies, the DrDED will be updated, and the data will be made accessible to the users. Design Type(s) Dataset creation objective Measurement Type(s) Patient outcome • scientific publication • risk factors • dry eye disease Technology Type(s) Digital curation • documenting • meta-analysis Factor Type(s) Depression • arthritis • thyroid disease • stroke disease • diabetes Sample Characteristic(s) Homo sapiens • dry eye disease • globa