Spatiotemporal Changes of Antibiotic Resistance, Potential Pathogens, and Health Risk in Kindergarten Dust.

The microorganisms present in kindergartens are extremely important for children's health during their three-year preschool education. To assess the risk of outdoor dust in kindergartens, the antibiotic resistome and potential pathogens were investigated in dust samples collected from 59 kindergartens in Xiamen, southeast China in both the winter and summer. Both high-throughput quantitative PCR and metagenome analysis revealed a higher richness and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in winter ( < 0.

Clinical features and genetic variations of severe neonatal hyperbilirubinemia: Five case reports.

Background: Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia is a common problem faced by pediatricians. The role of genetic factors in neonatal jaundice has been gradually recognized. This study aims to identify genetic variants that influence the bilirubin level in five patients using next-generation sequencing (NGS).

Ammonium has stronger Cd detoxification ability than nitrate by reducing Cd influx and increasing Cd fixation in Solanum nigrum L.

Cadmium (Cd) is a harmful heavy metal that affects the growth and development of plants. Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient for plants, and appropriate N management can improve Cd tolerance. The aim of our study was to explore the effects of different forms of N on the molecular and physiological responses of the hyperaccumulator Solanum nigrum to Cd toxicity.

Natural killer cells promote the differentiation of follicular helper T cells instead of inducing apoptosis in myasthenia gravis.

Recent evidence has shown that natural killer (NK) cells have an immunoregulatory function in the pathogenesis of myasthenia gravis (MG). In this study, the phenotype and function of NK cell subsets in peripheral blood of new-onset MG (N-MG) and stable MG (S-MG) patients were explored. Circulating CD56 and CD56 NK cells were increased and decreased, respectively, in patients with N-MG and S-MG compared with healthy control (HC).

Analysis of key genes reveal lysine demethylase 5B promotes prostate cancer progression.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common types of cancer in males globally. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying PCa progression remain largely unclear. In the present study, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets and datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) were used to analyze the expression of lysine demethylase 5B (KDM5B) in PCa.

Fate of Labile Organic Carbon in Paddy Soil Is Regulated by Microbial Ferric Iron Reduction.

Global paddy soil is the primary source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. It is therefore highly important to understand the carbon cycling in paddy soil. Microbial reduction of iron, which is widely found in paddy soil, is likely coupled with the oxidation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and suppresses methanogenesis.

Adaptive Learning Control for Nonlinear Systems With Randomly Varying Iteration Lengths.

This paper proposes adaptive iterative learning control (ILC) schemes for continuous-time parametric nonlinear systems with iteration lengths that randomly vary. As opposed to the existing ILC works that feature nonuniform trial lengths, this paper is applicable to nonlinear systems that do not satisfy the globally Lipschitz continuous condition. In addition, this paper introduces a novel composite energy function based on newly defined virtual tracking error information for proving the asymptotical convergence.

A New Differential Evolution Algorithm for Minimax Optimization in Robust Design.

Minimax optimization, which is actively involved in numerous robust design problems, aims at pursuing the solutions with best worst-case performances. Although considerable research has been devoted to the development of minimax optimization algorithms, there still exist several fundamental limitations for existing approaches, e.g.

Multiple Exponential Recombination for Differential Evolution.

Differential evolution (DE) is a popular population-based metaheuristic approach for solving numerical optimization problems. In recent years, considerable research has been devoted to the development of new mutation strategies and parameter adaptation mechanisms. However, as one of the basic algorithmic components of DE, the crossover operation has not been sufficiently examined in existing works.

[Pollution Characteristics and Ecological Risk Assessment of Vanadium in Sediments of the Three Gorges Reservoir (Chongqing-Yichang Section)].

In order to investigate the pollution characteristics of vanadium in sediments of the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR), 67 sediment samples were collected from the section between Chongqing to Yichang in TGR. The concentration and chemical speciation of vanadium were measured and the spatial distribution of vanadium was discussed. Current pollution level of vanadium in TGR sediments was assessed by index of geoaccumulation and Häkanson ecological risk index.

A mathematical prognosis model for pancreatic cancer patients receiving immunotherapy.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly types of cancer since it typically spreads rapidly and can seldom be detected in its early stage. Pancreatic cancer therapy is thus a challenging task, and appropriate prognosis or assessment for pancreatic cancer therapy is of critical importance. In this work, based on available clinical data in Niu et al.

Using Three-Dimensional Fluorescence Spectrum Technology to Analyze the Effects of Natural Dissolved Organic Matter on the Pesticide Residues in the Soil.

The behavior of pesticide in soil is influenced by dissolved organic matter (DOM) through competition adsorption, adsorption, solubilization, accelerated degradation, and so on. Thus DOM and its components play an important role in the environmental risk in the soil ecosystem and groundwater environment. Currently, most studies focused on the short-term effect of high concentration of DOM on the pesticide residues.

Isoflavone Attenuates the Caspase-1 and Caspase-3 Level in Cell Model of Parkinsonism.

The study has investigated the effect of isoflavone attenuates the caspase-1 and caspase-3 level in cell model of Parkinsonism. The subjects were PC12 cells. They were randomly divided into six groups: control, MPP(+) (250 μmol/L), isoflavone (10 μM), isoflavone (10 μM) + MPP(+) (250 μmol/L), Z-YVAD-CHO (10 nM) + MPP(+) group, and Z-DEVD-CHO (10 nM) + MPP(+) group.

A 3D undulatory locomotion system inspired by nematode C. elegans.

This paper provides an undulatory locomotion model inspired by C. elegans, whose nervous system and muscular structure are well studied. C.

Dynamically weighted ensemble classification for non-stationary EEG processing.

Objective: The non-stationary nature of EEG poses a major challenge to robust operation of brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). The objective of this paper is to propose and investigate a computational method to address non-stationarity in EEG classification.

Approach: We developed a novel dynamically weighted ensemble classification (DWEC) framework whereby an ensemble of multiple classifiers are trained on clustered features.

Biological modeling of complex chemotaxis behaviors for C. elegans under speed regulation--a dynamic neural networks approach.

In this paper, the modeling of several complex chemotaxis behaviors of C. elegans is explored, which include food attraction, toxin avoidance, and locomotion speed regulation. We first model the chemotaxis behaviors of food attraction and toxin avoidance separately.

Effects of synaptic connectivity on liquid state machine performance.

The Liquid State Machine (LSM) is a biologically plausible computational neural network model for real-time computing on time-varying inputs, whose structure and function were inspired by the properties of neocortical columns in the central nervous system of mammals. The LSM uses spiking neurons connected by dynamic synapses to project inputs into a high dimensional feature space, allowing classification of inputs by linear separation, similar to the approach used in support vector machines (SVMs). The performance of a LSM neural network model on pattern recognition tasks mainly depends on its parameter settings.

Relations between plasma von Willebrand factor or endothelin-1 and restenosis following carotid artery stenting.

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the relation between plasma von Willebrand factor (VWF) or endothelin-1 (ET-1) and post-carotid artery stenting (CAS) restenosis.

Materials And Methods: Plasma levels of VWF and ET-1 were measured in 61 patients (36 males, mean age 64.4 ± 6.

Adaptive learning control for finite interval tracking based on constructive function approximation and wavelet.

Using a constructive function approximation network, an adaptive learning control (ALC) approach is proposed for finite interval tracking problems. The constructive function approximation network consists of a set of bases, and the number of bases can evolve when learning repeats. The nature of the basis allows the continuous adaptive learning of parameters when the network undergoes any structural changes, and consequently offers the flexibility in tuning the network structure.

High prevalence of impaired fasting glucose in Chinese children and adolescents with prehypertension/hypertension.

Aim: To assess the prevalence of impaired fasting glucose among Chinese children and adolescents with prehypertension/hypertension (PHP/HP), overweight/obesity (OW/OB) or both in the general population.

Methods: In total, 3409 children and adolescents among the age group of 10-18 years were enrolled. These subjects were then divided into four groups: OW/OB, PHP/HP, OW/OB + PHP/HP and a control group.

[Evaluation of cardiac function after neonatal asphyxia by Doppler tissue imaging].

Objective: To investigate the value of Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) in evaluation the changes of cardiac function after neonatal asphyxia.

Methods: Sixty-two full-term neonates suffering from asphyxia at birth were divided into 2 groups according to Apgar scores: severe asphyxia group with the Apgar scores < or = 3 (n = 31) and mild asphyxia group with the Apgar scores > 3 and < or = 7 (n = 31). Thirty normal neonates were used as control group.

Left ventricular systolic function of newborns with asphyxia evaluated by tissue Doppler imaging.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the left ventricular systolic function of newborns with asphyxia using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). Newborns with a history of asphyxia were divided into severe and mild groups based on their Apgar scores; normal newborns without asphyxia served as the controls. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), fraction shortening (FS), and stroke volume (SV) were measured by M-mode echocardiography at 24, 48, and 72 h after birth.

A general internal model approach for motion learning.

In this paper, we present a general internal model (GIM) approach for motion skill learning at elementary and coordination levels. A unified internal model (IM) is developed for describing discrete and rhythmic movements. Through analysis, we show that the GIM possesses temporal and spatial scalabilities which are defined as the ability to generate similar movement patterns directly by means of tuning some parameters of the IM.