Expansion of three types of transposon superfamilies within 25 Mya lead to large genome size of a rice insect pest.

The brown planthoppers (BPH, Nilaparvata lugens), white backed planthopper (WBPH, Sogatella furcifera) and small brown planthopper (SBPH, Laodelphax striatellus) are widely distributed rice insect pests, causing huge annual yield loss of rice production. Though these three planthoppers belong to the same family, Delphacidae of Hemiptera, their genome sizes (GS) are very different, ranging from 541 to 1088 Mb. To uncover the main factors driving GS changes of three planthoppers, we first estimated the GS of their ancestor Fulgoroidea, to be 794.

Causal association of plasma -3 PUFA with peptic ulcer disease: a two-sample Mendelian randomisation study.

Dietary -3 PUFA may have potential benefits in preventing peptic ulcer disease (PUD). However, data from observational epidemiological studies are limited. Thus, we conducted a Mendelian randomisation analysis to reveal the causal impact of -3 PUFA on PUD.

[A lightweight convolutional neural network for myositis classification from muscle ultrasound images].

Existing classification methods for myositis ultrasound images have problems of poor classification performance or high computational cost. Motivated by this difficulty, a lightweight neural network based on a soft threshold attention mechanism is proposed to cater for a better IIMs classification. The proposed network was constructed by alternately using depthwise separable convolution (DSC) and conventional convolution (CConv).

The complete chloroplast genome of (Pitard) Sealy, a golden camellia of Vietnam.

(Pit.) Sealy 1949 is a rare and precious species with golden flowers, which hold important ornamental and breeding values. In this study, the complete chloroplast genome of is reported for the first time.

Engineered IscB-ωRNA system with expanded target range for base editing.

As the evolutionary ancestor of Cas9 nuclease, IscB proteins serve as compact RNA-guided DNA endonucleases and nickases, making them strong candidates for base editing. Nevertheless, the narrow targeting scope limits the application of IscB systems; thus, it is necessary to find more IscBs that recognize different target-adjacent motifs (TAMs). Here, we identified 10 of 19 uncharacterized IscB proteins from uncultured microbes with activity in mammalian cells.

Research progress on differentiation and regulation of plant chromoplasts.

Carotenoids, natural tetraterpenoids found abundantly in plants, contribute to the diverse colors of plant non-photosynthetic tissues and provide fragrance through their cleavage products, which also play crucial roles in plant growth and development. Understanding the synthesis, degradation, and storage pathways of carotenoids and identifying regulatory factors represents a significant strategy for enhancing plant quality. Chromoplasts serve as the primary plastids responsible for carotenoid accumulation, and their differentiation is linked to the levels of carotenoids, rendering them a subject of substantial research interest.

Optimum Parameters in Ultrasound Coherent Plane Wave Compounding for High LPWV Estimation: Validation on Phantom and Feasibility in 10 Subjects.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to determine the optimum and fine values of the number and transmission angles of tilted plane waves for coherent plane-wave compounding (CPWC)-based high local pulse wave velocity (LPWV) estimation.

Methods: A Verasonics system incorporating a linear array probe L14-5/38 with 128 elements and a pulsatile pump, CompuFlow1000, were used to acquire radio frequency data of 3, 5, 7, and 9 tilted plane wave sequences with angle intervals from 0° to 12° with a coarse interval increment step of 1°, and the angle intervals from 0° to 2° with a fine interval increment step of 0.25° from a carotid vessel phantom with the LPWV of 13.

Generation of rat forebrain tissues in mice.

Interspecies blastocyst complementation (IBC) provides a unique platform to study development and holds the potential to overcome worldwide organ shortages. Despite recent successes, brain tissue has not been achieved through IBC. Here, we developed an optimized IBC strategy based on C-CRISPR, which facilitated rapid screening of candidate genes and identified that Hesx1 deficiency supported the generation of rat forebrain tissue in mice via IBC.

Stability Analysis in Milling Based on the Localized Differential Quadrature Method.

Chatter stability analysis is an effective way to optimize the cutting parameters and achieve chatter-free machining. This paper proposes a milling chatter stability analysis method based on the localized differential quadrature method (LDQM), which has the advantages of simple principle, easy application, and high computational efficiency. The milling process, considering the regeneration effect, is modeled using linear periodic delay differential equations (DDE), then the state transition matrix during the adjacent cutting period is constructed based on the LDQM, and finally, the stability of the milling process is obtained based on the Floquet theory.

Reconstructive interpolation for pulse wave estimation to improve local PWV measurement of carotid artery.

Ultrasonic transit time (TT)-based local pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurement is defined as the distance between two beam positions on a segment of common carotid artery (CCA) divided by the TT in the pulse wave propagation. However, the arterial wall motions (AWMs) estimated from ultrasonic radio frequency (RF) signals with a limited number of frames using the motion tracking are typically discrete. In this work, we develop a method involving motion tracking combined with reconstructive interpolation (MTRI) to reduce the quantification errors in the estimated PWs, and thereby improve the accuracy of the TT-based local PWV measurement for CCA.

Double-Network Organohydrogels Toughened by Solvent Exchange.

Double-network hydrogels based on calcium alginate are extensively exploited. Unfortunately, their low strength and unstable constitution to open environments limit their application potential. Herein, a new type of double-network organohydrogel (OHG) is proposed.

Ultra-fast ultrasound blood flow velocimetry for carotid artery with deep learning.

Accurate measurement of blood flow velocity is important for the prevention and early diagnosis of atherosclerosis. However, due to the uncertainty of parameter settings, the autocorrelation velocimetry methods based on clutter filtering are prone to incorrectly filter out the near-wall blood flow signal, resulting in poor velocimetric accuracy. In addition, the Doppler coherent compounding acts as a low-pass filter, which also leads to low values of blood flow velocity estimated by the above methods.

A Study on a Parameter Estimator for the Homodyned K Distribution Based on Table Search for Ultrasound Tissue Characterization.

Objective: The homodyned K (HK) distribution is considered to be the most suitable distribution in the context of tissue characterization; therefore, the search for a rapid and reliable parameter estimator for HK distribution is important.

Methods: We propose a novel parameter estimator based on a table search (TS) for HK parameter estimates. The TS estimator can inherit the strength of conventional estimators by integrating various features and taking advantage of the TS method in a rapid and easy operation.

Global trends and prospects in research of artificial cornea over past 20 years: a bibliometric and visualized analysis.

Background: Many studies have been focused on the area of the artificial cornea. In our study, a bibliometric analysis was performed on the artificial cornea to identify the global key research fields and trends over the past 20 years.

Methods: Publications about artificial cornea were retrieved and downloaded from the Web of Science Core Collection from 2002 to 2021.

Optimally filtering and matching processing for regional upstrokes to improve ultrasound transit time-based local PWV estimation.

Background And Objective: Pulse wave velocity (PWV) is an important index for quantifying the elasticity of artery. Local PWV estimates based on ultrasonic transit time (TT) methods, however, are affected by the reflected waves and ultrasonic noise, biasing the spatiotemporal propagation of the time fiduciary point (TFP) positioning in the distension waveforms. In this study, an optimally filtering and matching processing for regional upstrokes is proposed to improve the ultrasound TT-based local PWV estimation.

An Improved Parameter Estimator of the Homodyned K Distribution Based on the Maximum Likelihood Method for Ultrasound Tissue Characterization.

The homodyned K distribution (HK) can generally describe the ultrasound backscatter envelope statistics distribution with parameters that have specific physical meaning. However, creating robust and reliable HK parameter estimates remains a crucial concern. The maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) usually yields a small variance and bias in parameter estimation.

[Design and implementation for portable ultrasound-aided breast cancer screening system].

Early screening is an important means to reduce breast cancer mortality. In order to solve the problem of low breast cancer screening rates caused by limited medical resources in remote and impoverished areas, this paper designs a breast cancer screening system aided with portable ultrasound Clarius. The system automatically segments the tumor area of the B-ultrasound image on the mobile terminal and uses the ultrasound radio frequency data on the cloud server to automatically classify the benign and malignant tumors.

Resolution of (R,S)-1-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol by lipase-catalyzed stereoselective transesterification and the process optimization.

An efficient lipase-catalyzed stereoselective transesterification reaction system was established for resolution of 1-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol (MOPE) enantiomers. A series of lipases were tested and compared. The immobilized lipase Novozym 40086 is selected as the best choice.

Ultrasound simulation of blood with different red blood cell aggregations and concentrations.

Background: Considerable progress of ultrasound simulation on blood has enhanced the characterizing of red blood cell (RBC) aggregation.

Objective: A novel simulation method aims at modeling the blood with different RBC aggregations and concentrations is proposed.

Methods: The modeling process is as follows: (i) A three-dimensional scatterer model is first built by a mapping with a Hilbert space-filling curve from the one-dimensional scatterer distribution.

Programmable RNA editing with compact CRISPR-Cas13 systems from uncultivated microbes.

Competitive coevolution between microbes and viruses has led to the diversification of CRISPR-Cas defense systems against infectious agents. By analyzing metagenomic terabase datasets, we identified two compact families (775 to 803 amino acids (aa)) of CRISPR-Cas ribonucleases from hypersaline samples, named Cas13X and Cas13Y. We engineered Cas13X.