Cerebral oxygen desaturation occurs frequently in patients with hypertension undergoing major abdominal surgery

Hypertensive patients are more likely to experience latent cerebral ischemia causing regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) decrease during general anesthesia. The aim of this prospective observational study was to assess the incidence of decreased rSO2 in hypertensive patients undergoing major abdominal surgery and the perioperative factors affecting this change in rSO2. A total of 41 hypertensive patients were enrolled and stratified according to their hypertension as controlled and uncontrolled. The intraoperative rSO2 and physiological data were routinely collected. The Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) was used to test cognitive function before surgery and after 4 days. Cerebral desaturation was defined as a decrease in rSO2 of more than 20% of the baseline value. There were 20 patients (49%) suffering intraoperative cerebral desaturation classified into cerebral desaturation group (group D) and those 21 without intraoperative desaturation classified into normal group (group N). The area under the curve below 90 and 80% of baseline (AUCrSO2 <90% of baseline and AUCrSO2 <80% of baseline) was lower in patients of group N (2752.4 ± 1453.3 min% and 0.0 min%) than in patients of group D (6264.9 ± 1832.3 min% and 4486.5 ± 1664.9 min%, P < 0.001). Comparing the two groups, the number of uncontrolled hypertensive individuals in group D (12/20) was significantly more than group N (4/21) (P = 0.007). A significant correlation was observed between relative decrease in MAP and relative decrease in rSO2 (r2 = 0.495, P < 0.001). Moreover, nine patients (45%) in group D occurred early postoperative cognitive function decline were more than three patients (14.3%) in group N (P = 0.031). This pilot study showed a large proportion of hypertensive patient experienced cerebral desaturation during major abdominal surgery and uncontrolled hypertension predisposed to this desaturation. NCT02147275 (registered at http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)

End-to-End Light License Plate Detection and Recognition Method Based on Deep Learning

In the field of intelligent robot and automatic drive, the task of license plate detection and recognition (LPDR) are undertaken by mobile edge computing (MEC) chips instead of large graphics processing unit (GPU) servers. For this kind of small computing capacity MEC chip, a light LPDR network with good performance in accuracy and speed is urgently needed. Contemporary deep learning (DL) LP recognition methods use two-step (i.e., detection network and recognition network) or three-step (i.e., detection network, character segmentation method, and recognition network) strategies, which will result in loading two networks on the MEC chip and inserting many complex steps. To overcome this problem, this study presents an end-to-end light LPDR network. Firstly, this network adopts the light VGG16 structure to reduce the number of feature maps and adds channel attention at the third, fifth, and eighth layers. It can reduce the number of model parameters without losing the accuracy of prediction. Secondly, the prediction of the LP rotated angle is added, which can improve the matching between the bounding box and the LP. Thirdly, the LP part of the feature map is cropped by the relative position of detection module, and the region-of-interest (ROI) pooling and fusion are performed. Seven classifiers are then used to identify the LP characters through the third step’s fusion feature. At last, experiments show that the accuracy of the proposed network reaches 91.5 and that the speed reaches 63 fps. In the HiSilicon 3516DV300 and the Rockchip Rv1126 Mobile edge computing chips, the speed of the network has been tested for 15 fps

An Approach of Path Optimization Algorithm for 3D Concrete Printing Based on Graph Theory

In this paper, a method of 3D concrete printing is used to find the optimal path of the nozzle running path. We propose a path optimization algorithm based on graph theory to solve two key problems in 3D concrete printing. The partitioning algorithm based on graph theory was adopted to improve the forming quality of concrete components, and ant colony algorithm was used to reduce printing time. The method was evaluated with 3D concrete printing experiments after introducing the process of implementing the partition algorithm and ant colony algorithm. The experiment results show a significant reduction in the idle strokes and the nozzle head-up times of the running path planned by the method in this paper. This has a direct impact on shortening the printing time and improving the forming quality. Compared with the other three conventional algorithms, the idle strokes of the nozzle planned by the method in this paper are reduced by 18.94%, 37.88%, and 66.67%, and the nozzle head-up times are reduced by 1.59%, 2.15%, and 8.69%. It provides a practical reference for the path optimization of 3D concrete printing

An Approach of Path Optimization Algorithm for 3D Concrete Printing Based on Graph Theory

In this paper, a method of 3D concrete printing is used to find the optimal path of the nozzle running path. We propose a path optimization algorithm based on graph theory to solve two key problems in 3D concrete printing. The partitioning algorithm based on graph theory was adopted to improve the forming quality of concrete components, and ant colony algorithm was used to reduce printing time. The method was evaluated with 3D concrete printing experiments after introducing the process of implementing the partition algorithm and ant colony algorithm. The experiment results show a significant reduction in the idle strokes and the nozzle head-up times of the running path planned by the method in this paper. This has a direct impact on shortening the printing time and improving the forming quality. Compared with the other three conventional algorithms, the idle strokes of the nozzle planned by the method in this paper are reduced by 18.94%, 37.88%, and 66.67%, and the nozzle head-up times are reduced by 1.59%, 2.15%, and 8.69%. It provides a practical reference for the path optimization of 3D concrete printing

The Pro-197-Thr mutation in the ALS gene confers novel resistance patterns to ALS-inhibiting herbicides in Bromus japonicus in China

IntroductionBromus japonicus is one of the most notorious agricultural weeds in China. The long-term use of ALS-inhibiting herbicides has led to rapid evolution of herbicide resistance in B. japonicus. B. japonicus population (BJ-R) surviving mesosulfuron-methyl treatment was collected from wheatland. Here, we aimed to confirm the resistance mechanisms in this putative resistant population.MethodsThe dose-reponse tests were used to test the resistance level of the B. japonicus to ALS-inhibiting herbicides. Pretreatment with P450 and GST inhibitors and GST activity assays were used to determine whether P450 or GST was involved in the resistance of the BJ-R population. Sanger sequencing was used to analyse the ALS mutation of the BJ-R population. RT-qPCR was used to confirm the the expression levels of the ALS gene in mesosulfuron-methyl -resistant (BJ-R) and-susceptible (BJ-S) B. japonicus. An in vitro ALS activity assay was used to determine the ALS activity of the BJ-R and BJ-S populations. Homology modelling and docking were used to determine the binding energy of the BJ-R and BJ-S populations with ALS-inhibiting herbicides.ResultsB. japonicus population (BJ-R) was confirmed to be 454- and 2.7-fold resistant to the SU herbicides mesosulfuron-methyl and nicosulfuron, and 7.3-, 2.3-, 1.1- and 10.8-fold resistant to the IMI herbicide imazamox, the TP herbicide penoxsulam, the PTB herbicide pyribenzoxim and the SCT herbicide flucarbazone-sodium, respectively, compared with its susceptible counterpart (BJ-S). Neither a P450 inhibitor nor a GST inhibitor could reverse the level of resistance to mesosulfuron-methyl in BJ-R. In addition, no significant differences in GST activity were found between the BJ-R and BJ-S. ALS gene sequencing revealed a Pro-197-Thr mutation in BJ-R, and the gene expression had no significant differences between the BJ-R and BJ-S. The ALS activity of BJ-R was 106-fold more tolerant to mesosulfuron-methyl than that of BJ-S. Molecular docking showed that the binding energy of the ALS active site and mesosulfuron-methyl was changed from -6.67 to -4.57 kcal mol-1 due to the mutation at position 197.DiscussionThese results suggested that the Pro-197-Thr mutation was the main reason for the high resistance level of BJ-R to mesosulfuron-methyl. Unlike previous reports of the cross-resistance pattern conferred by this mutation, we firstly documented that the Pro-197-Thr mutation confers broad cross-resistance spectrums to ALS-inhibiting herbicides in B. japonicus

Traces of Potassium Induce Restructuring of the Anatase TiO₂(001)-(1×4) Surface from a Reactive to an Inert Structure

Reconstruction of solid surfaces is generally accompanied by changes in surface activities. Here, via a combined experimental and theoretical study, we successfully identified that a trace amount of potassium dopant restructures the mineral anatase TiO2(001) single-crystal surface from an added molecule (ADM) termination to an added oxygen (AOM) one without changing the (1×4) periodicity. The anatase TiO2(001)-(1×4)-ADM surface terminated with 4-fold coordinated Ti4c and 2-fold coordinated O2c sites is (photo)catalytically active, whereas the anatase TiO2(001)-(1×4)-AOM surface terminated with O2c and inaccessible 5-fold coordinated Ti5c sites is inert. These results unveiled a mechanism of dopant-induced transformation from a reactive to an inert TiO2(001)-(1×4) surface, which unifies the existing arguments about the surface structures and (photo)catalytic activity of anatase TiO2(001)-(1×4)

Traces of Potassium Induce Restructuring of the Anatase TiO₂(001)-(1×4) Surface from a Reactive to an Inert Structure

Reconstruction of solid surfaces is generally accompanied by changes in surface activities. Here, via a combined experimental and theoretical study, we successfully identified that a trace amount of potassium dopant restructures the mineral anatase TiO2(001) single-crystal surface from an added molecule (ADM) termination to an added oxygen (AOM) one without changing the (1×4) periodicity. The anatase TiO2(001)-(1×4)-ADM surface terminated with 4-fold coordinated Ti4c and 2-fold coordinated O2c sites is (photo)catalytically active, whereas the anatase TiO2(001)-(1×4)-AOM surface terminated with O2c and inaccessible 5-fold coordinated Ti5c sites is inert. These results unveiled a mechanism of dopant-induced transformation from a reactive to an inert TiO2(001)-(1×4) surface, which unifies the existing arguments about the surface structures and (photo)catalytic activity of anatase TiO2(001)-(1×4)

Oxygen Vacancy-Induced Novel Low-Temperature Water Splitting Reactions on FeO(111) Monolayer-Thick Film

We have used XPS, UPS, and TDS to comparatively study water chemisorption and reaction on stoichiometric FeO(111) monolayer-thick film on Pt(111), stoichiometric FeO(111) monolayer-thick islands on Pt(111), and FeO(111) monolayer-thick films with oxygen vacancies on Pt(111) at 110 K. On stoichiometric FeO(111) monolayer-thick film, water undergoes reversible molecular adsorption. On stoichiometric FeO(111) monolayer-thick islands on Pt(111), water dissociates at coordination-unsaturated Fe­(II) sites of the FeO(111)–Pt­(111) interface to form OH following H₂O + Fe_CUS + FeO → Fe_CUS–O_wH + FeOH in which O_w means O from H₂O. Upon heating, H₂ evolution occurs above 500 K. On FeO(111) monolayer-thick films with oxygen vacancies, water dissociates and molecularly chemisorbs to form a mixed adsorbate layer of H­(a), OH, and H₂O­(a) following both H₂O + Fe–O_vacancy + FeO → FeO_wH + FeOH and H₂O + 2 Fe–O_vacancy → FeO_wH + H­(a)–Fe–O_vacancy. Upon heating, besides the high-temperature H₂ evolution, additional H₂ desorption peaks appear simultaneously with the low-temperature desorption features of adsorbed H₂O­(a), revealing novel low-temperature water splitting reactions. The formation of hydrated-proton surface species within a mixed adsorbate layer of H­(a), OH, and H₂O­(a) on FeO(111) monolayer-thick films with oxygen vacancies is proposed to explain such novel low-temperature water splitting reactions. These results greatly enrich the surface chemistry of water on solid surfaces

Stabilization of Cu 2 O through Site-Selective Formation of a Co 1 Cu Hybrid Single-Atom Catalyst

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