Semi-analytical stochastic study of radionuclide transport in the saturated zone below Yucca Mountain

The objective of this study is to predict radionuclide solute transport process in the saturated zone below the Yucca Mountain project area. Based on a stochastic perturbation approach, a numerical method of moments has been developed and used to predict the mean, variance and upper bound of the radionuclide mass flux through a control plane 5-km downstream of the footprint of the repository. This study enhances the analysis of the effect of medium’s heterogeneity on solute transport prediction, especially on prediction uncertainty

Brain Imaging of Nicotinic Receptors in Alzheimer's Disease

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are a family of ligand-gated ion channels which are widely distributed in the human brain. Several lines of evidence suggest that two major subtypes (α4β2 and α7) of nAChRs play an important role in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Postmortem studies demonstrated alterations in the density of these subtypes of nAChRs in the brain of patients with AD. Currently, nAChRs are one of the most attractive therapeutic targets for AD. Therefore, several researchers have made an effort to develop novel radioligands that can be used to study quantitatively the distribution of these two subtypes in the human brain with positron emission tomography (PET) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). In this paper, we discuss the current topics on in vivo imaging of two subtypes of nAChRs in the brain of patients with AD

Association Between the Ratio of Ovarian Stimulation Duration to Original Follicular Phase Length and In Vitro Fertilization Outcomes: A Novel Index to Optimise Clinical Trigger Time

The duration of ovarian stimulation which is largely dependent on the ovarian response to hormonal stimulation may influence in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes. Menstrual cycle length is potentially a good indicator of ovarian reserve and can predict ovarian response. Ovarian stimulation and the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle are both processes of follicular development. There is no published research to predict the duration of ovarian stimulation based on the length of the menstrual cycle. Our retrospective cohort study included 6110 women with regular menstrual cycles who underwent their first IVF treatment between January 2015 and October 2020. Cycles were classified according to quartiles of the ratio of ovarian stimulation duration to original follicular phase length (OS/FP). Multivariate generalized linear models were applied to assess the association between OS/FP and IVF outcomes. The odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR) was estimated for each quartile with the lowest quartile as the comparison group. OS/FP of 0.67 to 0.77 had more retrieved and mature oocytes (adjusted RR 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.07–1.15, p for trend = 0.001; adjusted RR 1.14, 95% CI 1.09–1.19, p for trend = 0.001). OS/FP of 0.67 to 0.77 showed the highest rate of fertilization (adjusted OR 1.11, 95% CI 1.05–1.17, p for trend = 0.001). OS/FP > 0.77 had the lowest rate of high-quality blastocyst formation (adjusted OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.71–0.93, p for trend = 0.01). No apparent association was noted between OS/FP and clinical pregnancy, live birth, or early miscarriage rate. In conclusion, OS/FP has a significant effect on the number of oocytes, fertilization rate, and high-quality blastocyst formation rate. MCL could be used to predict the duration of ovarian stimulation with an OS/FP of 0.67 to 0.77, which provides a new indicator for the individualized clinical optimization of the trigger time

Numerical solutions of time-space fractional advection-dispersion equations

Summary This paper establishes a difference approximation on time-space fractional advectiondispersion equations. Based on the difference approximation an ideal numerical example has been solved, and the result is compared with the one of the rigorous time fractional advection-dispersion equation and the rigorous space fractional advection-dispersion equation respectively. The results show: when time fractional order parameter γ=1 or space fractional order parameter α=2, the numerical calculation result of the time-space fractional advection-dispersion equations is in accordance with that of the rigorous time fractional advection-dispersion equation or the rigorous space fractional advection-dispersion equation. The variation law of the result with parameter is also similar to them, that is when γ is smaller, diffusion is slower; when α is smaller, diffusion is faster. The simulation calculation for a practical example indicates that time-space fractional advection-dispersion equations can simulate the skewness and the tail of anomalous diffusion. This paper provides a efficient tool for the research of fractional advection-dispersion equations

DocStormer: Revitalizing Multi-Degraded Colored Document Images to Pristine PDF

For capturing colored document images, e.g. posters and magazines, it is common that multiple degradations such as shadows, wrinkles, etc., are simultaneously introduced due to external factors. Restoring multi-degraded colored document images is a great challenge, yet overlooked, as most existing algorithms focus on enhancing color-ignored document images via binarization. Thus, we propose DocStormer, a novel algorithm designed to restore multi-degraded colored documents to their potential pristine PDF. The contributions are: firstly, we propose a "Perceive-then-Restore" paradigm with a reinforced transformer block, which more effectively encodes and utilizes the distribution of degradations. Secondly, we are the first to utilize GAN and pristine PDF magazine images to narrow the distribution gap between the enhanced results and PDF images, in pursuit of less degradation and better visual quality. Thirdly, we propose a non-parametric strategy, PFILI, which enables a smaller training scale and larger testing resolutions with acceptable detail trade-off, while saving memory and inference time. Fourthly, we are the first to propose a novel Multi-Degraded Colored Document image Enhancing dataset, named MD-CDE, for both training and evaluation. Experimental results show that the DocStormer exhibits superior performance, capable of revitalizing multi-degraded colored documents into their potential pristine digital versions, which fills the current academic gap from the perspective of method, data, and task

Regulatory and functional divergence among members of Ibβfruct2, a sweet potato vacuolar invertase gene controlling starch and glucose content

Sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] is an important food and industrial crop. Its storage root is rich in starch, which is present in the form of granules and represents the principal storage carbohydrate in plants. Starch content is an important trait of sweet potato controlling the quality and yield of industrial products. Vacuolar invertase encoding gene Ibβfruct2 was supposed to be a key regulator of starch content in sweet potato, but its function and regulation were unclear. In this study, three Ibβfruct2 gene members were detected. Their promoters displayed differences in sequence, activity, and cis-regulatory elements and might interact with different transcription factors, indicating that the three Ibβfruct2 family members are governed by different regulatory mechanisms at the transcription level. Among them, we found that only Ibβfruct2-1 show a high expression level and promoter activity, and encodes a protein with invertase activity, and the conserved domains and three conserved motifs NDPNG, RDP, and WEC are critical to this activity. Only two and six amino acid residue variations were detected in sequences of proteins encoded by Ibβfruct2-2 and Ibβfruct2-3, respectively, compared with Ibβfruct2-1; although not within key motifs, these variations affected protein structure and affinities for the catalytic substrate, resulting in functional deficiency and low activity. Heterologous expression of Ibβfruct2-1 in Arabidopsis decreased starch content but increased glucose content in leaves, indicating Ibβfruct2-1 was a negative regulator of starch content. These findings represent an important advance in understanding the regulatory and functional divergence among duplicated genes in sweet potato, and provide critical information for functional studies and utilization of these genes in genetic improvement