138 research outputs found
Exploring Gravity via strongly lensed fast radio bursts
This study aims to investigate the strong gravitational lensing effects in
gravity. We present the theoretical analytic expressions for the lensing
effects in gravity, including deflection angle, magnification, and time
delay. On this basis, we also take the plasma lensing effect into
consideration. We compare the lensing effects between the General Relativity in
a vacuum environment and the gravity in a plasma environment. From a
strongly lensed fast radio burst, the results indicate that in a plasma
environment, General Relativity and gravity can generate
indistinguishable image positions, but the magnification and time delay on
these positions are significantly different, which can be distinguished by
current facilities in principle. Therefore, the discrepancies between
observational results and theoretical expectations can serve as clues for a
modified gravity theory and provide constraints on gravity
RCLane: Relay Chain Prediction for Lane Detection
Lane detection is an important component of many real-world autonomous
systems. Despite a wide variety of lane detection approaches have been
proposed, reporting steady benchmark improvements over time, lane detection
remains a largely unsolved problem. This is because most of the existing lane
detection methods either treat the lane detection as a dense prediction or a
detection task, few of them consider the unique topologies (Y-shape,
Fork-shape, nearly horizontal lane) of the lane markers, which leads to
sub-optimal solution. In this paper, we present a new method for lane detection
based on relay chain prediction. Specifically, our model predicts a
segmentation map to classify the foreground and background region. For each
pixel point in the foreground region, we go through the forward branch and
backward branch to recover the whole lane. Each branch decodes a transfer map
and a distance map to produce the direction moving to the next point, and how
many steps to progressively predict a relay station (next point). As such, our
model is able to capture the keypoints along the lanes. Despite its simplicity,
our strategy allows us to establish new state-of-the-art on four major
benchmarks including TuSimple, CULane, CurveLanes and LLAMAS.Comment: ECCV 202
No evidence of a causal relationship between ankylosing spondylitis and cardiovascular disease: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study
ObjectiveObservational studies have suggested an increased risk of cardiovascular disease in individuals with ankylosing spondylitis. However, these studies are prone to confounding factors and reverse causality. To address these limitations, we conducted a Mendelian randomization study to assess the causal relationship between AS and CVD.MethodsThe study population comprises 9,069 individuals with ankylosing spondylitis and 509,093 individuals with either of six common cardiovascular diseases and a related indicator. Causal analysis using summary effect estimates and inverse variance weighting were employed as the main methods.ResultsThe CAUSE analysis showed no evidence of a causal relationship between AS and CVD. The odds ratios for total CVD, heart failure, myocardial infarction, valvular heart disease, ischemic heart disease, and venous thromboembolism, Arterial stiffness index, were as follows: OR, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.96–1.05; P = 0.91; OR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.99–1.08; P = 0.50; OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.86–1.03; P = 0.53; OR, 0.99; 95% CI, 0.94–1.04; P = 0.99; OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91–1.04; P = 0.94; OR, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.91–1.04; P = 0.99; β, −0.0019; 95% CI, 0.97–1.01; P = 0.99. The IVW and weighted median methods also yielded consistent results, and no heterogeneity or pleiotropy was found. Likewise, a reverse Mendelian randomization analysis did not uncover a heritable causal relationship between AS and CVD.ConclusionThis Mendelian randomization study does not support a causal relationship between AS and CVD. Further research is needed to confirm this association
Exploring a digital technology framework for building rural security transformation
The safety of the original old buildings in the upgrading and remodeling of traditional rural landscape has become a key aspect that cannot be ignored. In particular, the age-old traditional buildings belong to the typical master and apprentice inheritance system of construction mode, there is no remaining architectural archives, architectural information is unclear, especially the hidden genes, it is difficult to comprehensively control the rural landscape transformation, and there is an urgent need for an effective technical means to support. By applying 3D scanning and BIM technology, engineers and technicians are able to efficiently obtain the relevant information of traditional village landscape, discover potential safety risks in advance, and take timely measures. The practice has an important application prospect in village landscape upgrading and reconstruction. The combination of 3D scanning and BIM technology in “safety renovation” can improve the level and effect of the renovation, and provide strong technical support for the smooth implementation of the traditional rural landscape upgrading and renovation
Regional catastrophic health expenditure and health inequality in China.
BackgroundCatastrophic health expenditures (CHE) can trigger illness-caused poverty and compound poverty-caused illness. Our study is the first regional comparative study to analyze CHE trends and health inequality in eastern, central and western China, exploring the differences and disparities across regions to make targeted health policy recommendations.MethodsUsing data from China's Household Panel Study (CFPS), we selected Shanghai, Henan and Gansu as representative eastern-central-western regional provinces to construct a unique 5-year CHE unbalanced panel dataset. CHE incidence was measured by calculating headcount; CHE intensity was measured by overshoot and CHE inequality was estimated by concentration curves (CC) and the concentration index (CI). A random effect model was employed to analyze the impact of household head socio-economic characteristics, the household socio-economic characteristics and household health utilization on CHE incidence across the three regions.ResultsThe study found that the incidence and intensity of CHE decreased, but the degree of CHE inequality increased, across all three regions. For all regions, the trend of inequality first decreased and then increased. We also revealed significant differences across the eastern, central and western regions of China in CHE incidence, intensity, inequality and regional differences in the CHE influencing factors. Affected by factors such as the gap between the rich and the poor and the uneven distribution of medical resources, families in the eastern region who were unmarried, use supplementary medical insurance, and had members receiving outpatient treatment were more likely to experience CHE. Families with chronic diseases in the central and western regions were more likely to suffer CHE, and rural families in the western region were more likely to experience CHE.ConclusionsThe trends and causes of CHE varied across the different regions, which requires a further tilt of medical resources to the central and western regions; improved prevention and financial support for chronic diseases households; and reform of the insurance reimbursement policy of outpatient medical insurance. On a regional basis, health policy should not only address CHE incidence and intensity, but also its inequality
Eggstraordinary health: exploring avian egg proteins and peptides in boosting immunity and health maintenance
Amidst the outbreak of the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), there has been a pivotal shift in nutritional focus towards adopting healthier lifestyles to enhance immune function. The successive resurgence of COVID-19 serves as a stark reminder that prioritizing the enhancement of our own immune systems is of paramount importance. Eggs are nutritious, productive, cost-effective, and affordable for consumption. Likewise, eggs are exclusive among the numerous ways consumers can obtain high-quality animal protein. Egg proteins and their peptide derivatives are abundant and biologically active and have significant therapeutic effects on chronic diseases induced by a variety of factors, including metabolic syndrome, making eggs an important raw material for the study of proteins and peptide-active substances. This paper reviewed methods for the isolation and purification of avian egg proteins and their derived peptides; the effects of the proteins and peptides in enhancing the body’s immunity, lowering blood pressure and expression levels of inflammatory factors; as well as the potential of the proteins and peptides in reducing the risk of chronic diseases such as osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease. This review was written with the expectation that it would provide a comprehensive understanding of the potential value of poultry egg proteins for maintaining health
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