Motion-Invariant Variational Auto-Encoding of Brain Structural Connectomes

Mapping of human brain structural connectomes via diffusion MRI offers a unique opportunity to understand brain structural connectivity and relate it to various human traits, such as cognition. However, motion artifacts from head movement during image acquisition can impact the connectome reconstructions, rendering the subsequent inference results unreliable. We aim to develop a generative model to learn low-dimensional representations of structural connectomes that are invariant to motion artifacts, so that we can link brain networks and human traits more accurately, and generate motion-adjusted connectomes. We applied the proposed model to data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study and the Human Connectome Project (HCP) to investigate how our motion-invariant connectomes facilitate understanding of the brain network and its relationship with cognition. Empirical results demonstrate that the proposed motion-invariant variational auto-encoder (inv-VAE) outperforms its competitors on various aspects. In particular, motion-adjusted structural connectomes are more strongly associated with a wide array of cognition-related traits than other approaches without motion adjustment

How Does Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy Influence Residents' Perceptions of Rural Living Conditions? A Study of 16 Villages in Gansu Province, Northwest China

Rural living conditions (RLCs) in China are influential on the overall development and stability of regions, particularly for populations in distant poverty-stricken villages. This paper takes 16 villages of Chedao town in Gansu province, Northwest China (NWC) as our case study. Using data from the Poverty Alleviation and Assistance (PAA) project launched by Lanzhou University in June 2017, and the perceptions of residents of Chedao, we pinpoint RLC changes in the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) process. The three main results show that: (1) From the residents' perceptions, the impact of alleviation measures on RLC is mainly reflected in improved housing conditions, infrastructure, and public services. We find no significant effect on cultural conditions. However, eco-environmental conditions have obviously weakened. (2) Housing size, accessibility, distance to shops, and safe drinking water are the most significant factors in housing conditions, infrastructure, public services, and eco-environmental conditions, respectively. (3) Out of the different levels of rural poverty households (RPHs), severe rurality villages are more strongly aware of the positive changes in RLC than residents of mild rurality villages. Moreover, in residents' view, housing conditions are most improved in severe rurality villages, infrastructure is most improved in moderate rurality villages, and public services are most improved in mild rurality villages. Eco-environmental conditions worsen across all levels. Our findings shed light on the perceptions of residents on changes occurring in rural living conditions, and provide a basis for subsequent studies of RLC in Northwest China

Census 2010 Demographic Profile: Madison County

This demographic profile describes characteristics of the local and state population based on results from the 2010 Census. The decennial census is an official enumeration, or count, of all residents on April 1st of the census year. The results of the census provide us with information about basic demographic characteristics of the population, including age, race, ethnicity, household composition, housing occupancy, and housing tenure

Study on multidrug resistance related genes of Salmonella isolated from food and clinical samples

ObjectiveTo investigate distribution of integron and extended-spectrum β-lactamase produced by Salmonella isolated from food and clinical samples， and explore the relationship between different drug resistance genes and multidrug resistance.MethodsPhenotype of ESBL-producing strains were confirmed by K-B method. The ESBL related drug resistance genes （blaTEM， blaSHV， blaCTX） and the mobile element integron in Salmonella were amplified by polymerase chain reaction. The amplified products of integron variable region were sequenced and the drug resistance gene cassettes were analyzed.ResultsThree hundred and nine Salmonella strains were isolated. A total of 138 Salmonella strains were isolated from food， including poultry （n=96）， raw pork （n=19） and aquatic products （n=23）. One hundred and seventy one Salmonella strains were isolated from clinical samples. The drug resistance rate of 309 Salmonella strains was 78.3%， and the multidrug resistance rate was 41.1%. The antimicrobial resistance rate of poultry was the highest. A total of 56 ESBL-producing strains were detected， of which 35 strains carried the ESBL genes （15 strains carried blaTEM； 10 strains carried blaCTX， 10 strains carried blaTEM and blaCTX ）. The blaSHV gene was not detected. A total of 98 strains which carried class I integron gene were detected， and the positive rate was 31.7%. Among the 98 strains， 54 strains carried drug resistance gene cassette. Forty seven strains carried dfrA and aadA， 1 strain carried linG-aadA22， the rest were empty gene cassette. The multi-drug resistance rates of integron positive and ESBL-producing strains were as high as 98.0% and 89.3%， respectively. The positive rate of integron in ESBL-producing strains was 76.8% （43/56）.ConclusionThe class I integron and ESBL-producing Salmonella were widely distributed in this area. The genotypes of ESBL-producing strains were mainly blaTEM and blaCTX. Both integron and ESBL-producing strains were associated with multidrug resistance. The dug resistance situation of Salmonella in this area was serious， and it was particularly necessary to pay attention to the standardized use of antibiotics in poultry breeding

SIRT6 protects against endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis in mice

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