Edge computing of reliable multimodal (2D RGB/3D RGB-Depth) data has a wide range of applications. However, many of currently reported visual processors cannot flexibly handle multimodal data, e.g., ...the visual streams of RGB-Depth data. The key challenge exists that these prior visual processors do not come with efficient and unified instruction set architecture (ISA) for both conventional and intelligent cognition on the 2D/3D multimodal sensory data. To fill such a gap, this paper proposes a programmable intelligent visual vector processor compatible with multimodal 2D/3D visual data processing (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">1920\times 1080</tex-math> </inline-formula>-pixel resolution). The processor consists of a reconfigurable processing element (PE) array, a memory access network flexibly configurable to be fine-or coarse-grained, and a high throughput I/O interface. The vectorial PE array with neighbor PE access increases the data reuse rate and parallel computation efficiency, and can implement both convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and conventional image processing algorithms. The proposed ISA is customized and optimally tailored targeting 2D/3D image processing from RGB/Time-of-Flight(ToF) raw data to intelligent inference results. The chip is fabricated in a 55-nm CMOS process. The experimental results showed that the area efficiency, peak performance, and peak throughput of our chip attained as high as 14.41 GOPS/mm<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">^2</tex-math> </inline-formula>, 409.6 GOPS, and 9.6 Gbps at 200 MHz, respectively. The measured processing speeds of this chip on ToF depth reconstruction is 87 fps (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">480\times 270</tex-math> </inline-formula>) or 31 fps(<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">1920\times 1080</tex-math> </inline-formula>),on 3D object classification is 219 fps (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">256\times 256</tex-math> </inline-formula>), and on CNN-based 2D object tracking is 36 fps (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">256\times 256</tex-math> </inline-formula>).
Objectives
High glucose (HG)–mediated bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) dysfunction plays a key role in impaired bone formation induced by type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). Morroniside is an ...iridoid glycoside derived from the Chinese herb Cornus officinalis, and it has abundant biological activities associated with cell metabolism and tissue regeneration. However, the effects and underlying mechanisms of morroniside on HG‐induced BMSC dysfunction remain poorly understood.
Materials and methods
Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) staining, ALP activity and Alizarin Red staining were performed to assess the osteogenesis of BMSCs. Quantitative real‐time PCR and Western blot (WB) were used to investigate the osteo‐specific markers, receptor for advanced glycation end product (RAGE) signalling and glyoxalase‐1 (Glo1). Additionally, a T1DM rat model was used to assess the protective effect of morroniside in vivo.
Results
Morroniside treatment reverses the HG‐impaired osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs in vitro. Morroniside suppressed advanced glycation end product (AGEs) formation and RAGE expression by triggering Glo1. Moreover, the enhanced osteogenesis due to morroniside treatment was partially blocked by the Glo1 inhibitor, BBGCP2. Furthermore, in vivo, morroniside attenuated bone loss and improved bone microarchitecture accompanied by Glo1 upregulation and RAGE downregulation.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that morroniside attenuates HG‐mediated BMSC dysfunction partly through the inhibition of AGE‐RAGE signalling and activation of Glo1 and may be a potential treatment for diabetic osteoporosis.
Under pathological diabetic conditions, chronic hyperglycaemia leads to the increased accumulation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) by methylglyoxal (MG) and activation of receptor for advanced glycation end product (RAGE) signalling. Subsequently, AGE‐RAGE activation induces bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell (BMSC) dysfunction due to a combination of decreased osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs and enhanced inflammation, reactive oxygen species generation and BMSC apoptosis. Finally, reduced osteogenesis of BMSCs causes impaired bone formation in type 1 diabetes. Morroniside triggers Glo1 to degrade MG, thus downregulating AGE‐RAGE signalling, rectifying these downstream detrimental effects and attenuating BMSC dysfunction induced by high glucose.
Diabetes is common in COVID-19 patients and associated with unfavorable outcomes. We aimed to describe the characteristics and outcomes and to analyze the risk factors for in-hospital mortality of ...COVID-19 patients with diabetes.
This two-center retrospective study was performed at two tertiary hospitals in Wuhan, China. Confirmed COVID-19 patients with diabetes (
= 153) who were discharged or died from 1 January 2020 to 8 March 2020 were identified. One sex- and age-matched COVID-19 patient without diabetes was randomly selected for each patient with diabetes. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were abstracted. Cox proportional hazards regression analyses were performed to identify the risk factors associated with the mortality in these patients.
Of 1,561 COVID-19 patients, 153 (9.8%) had diabetes, with a median age of 64.0 (interquartile range 56.0-72.0) years. A higher proportion of intensive care unit admission (17.6% vs. 7.8%,
= 0.01) and more fatal cases (20.3% vs. 10.5%,
= 0.017) were identified in COVID-19 patients with diabetes than in the matched patients. Multivariable Cox regression analyses of these 306 patients showed that hypertension (hazard ratio HR 2.50, 95% CI 1.30-4.78), cardiovascular disease (HR 2.24, 95% CI 1.19-4.23), and chronic pulmonary disease (HR 2.51, 95% CI 1.07-5.90) were independently associated with in-hospital death. Diabetes (HR 1.58, 95% CI 0.84-2.99) was not statistically significantly associated with in-hospital death after adjustment. Among patients with diabetes, nonsurvivors were older (76.0 vs. 63.0 years), most were male (71.0% vs. 29.0%), and they were more likely to have underlying hypertension (83.9% vs. 50.0%) and cardiovascular disease (45.2% vs. 14.8%) (all
values <0.05). Age ≥70 years (HR 2.39, 95% CI 1.03-5.56) and hypertension (HR 3.10, 95% CI 1.14-8.44) were independent risk factors for in-hospital death of patients with diabetes.
COVID-19 patients with diabetes had worse outcomes compared with the sex- and age-matched patients without diabetes. Older age and comorbid hypertension independently contributed to in-hospital death of patients with diabetes.
Abstract
Background
Osteogenesis is tightly coupled with angiogenesis during bone repair and regeneration. However, the underlying mechanisms linking these processes remain largely undefined. The ...present study aimed to test the hypothesis that epidermal growth factor-like domain-containing protein 6 (EGFL6), an angiogenic factor, also functions in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs), playing a key role in the interaction between osteogenesis and angiogenesis.
Methods
We evaluated how EGFL6 affects angiogenic activity of human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) via proliferation, transwell migration, wound healing, and tube-formation assays. Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and Alizarin Red S (AR-S) were used to assay the osteogenic potential of BMSCs. qRT-PCR, western blotting, and immunocytochemistry were used to evaluate angio- and osteo-specific markers and pathway-related genes and proteins. In order to determine how EGFL6 affects angiogenesis and osteogenesis in vivo, EGFL6 was injected into fracture gaps in a rat tibia distraction osteogenesis (DO) model. Radiography, histology, and histomorphometry were used to quantitatively evaluate angiogenesis and osteogenesis.
Results
EGFL6 stimulated both angiogenesis and osteogenic differentiation through Wnt/β-catenin signaling in vitro. Administration of EGFL6 in the rat DO model promoted CD31
hi
EMCN
hi
type H-positive capillary formation associated with enhanced bone formation. Type H vessels were the referred subtype involved during DO stimulated by EGFL6.
Conclusion
EGFL6 enhanced the osteogenic differentiation potential of BMSCs and accelerated bone regeneration by stimulating angiogenesis. Thus, increasing EGFL6 secretion appeared to underpin the therapeutic benefit by promoting angiogenesis-coupled bone formation. These results imply that boosting local concentrations of EGFL6 may represent a new strategy for the treatment of compromised fracture healing and bone defect restoration.
A Case for Camera-as-a-Service Xu, Mengwei; Liu, Yunxin; Liu, Xuanzhe
IEEE pervasive computing,
2021-April-June-1, 2021-4-1, Letnik:
20, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A new vision of harnessing the ocean of video data captured by cameras in an efficient, secure, and manageable way. Following the hardware trends in reality, we advocate to treat cameras as the ...first-class computing and storage platform, and expose their services to third parties. To this end, the cameras should move from hard-coded to software-defined, from dumb data source to autonomous data processor, from isolated to orchestrated, and from one-shot to human-in-the-loop.
Peripheral nerve injury is a major societal concern. Black phosphorus (BP) has inherent advantages over cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine. However, controlling spontaneous degradation and ...size-dependent cytotoxicity remains challenging and poses difficulties for clinical translation. In this study, we constructed zero-dimensional BP quantum dots (QDs) modified with antioxidant β-carotene and comprehensively investigated them in Schwann cells (SCs) to elucidate their potential for peripheral nerve repair. In vitro experiments demonstrated that BPQD@β-carotene has an inappreciable toxicity and good biocompatibility, favoring neural regrowth, angiogenesis, and inflammatory regulation of SCs. Furthermore, the PI3K/Akt and Ras/ERK1/2 signaling pathways were activated in SCs at the genetic, protein, and metabolite levels. The BPQD@β-carotene-embedded GelMA/PEGDA scaffold enhanced functional recovery by promoting axon remyelination and regeneration and facilitating intraneural angiogenesis in peripheral nerve injury models of rats and beagle dogs. These results contribute to advancing knowledge of BP nanomaterials in tissue regeneration and show significant potential for application in translational medicine.Peripheral nerve injury is a major societal concern. Black phosphorus (BP) has inherent advantages over cell-based therapies in regenerative medicine. However, controlling spontaneous degradation and size-dependent cytotoxicity remains challenging and poses difficulties for clinical translation. In this study, we constructed zero-dimensional BP quantum dots (QDs) modified with antioxidant β-carotene and comprehensively investigated them in Schwann cells (SCs) to elucidate their potential for peripheral nerve repair. In vitro experiments demonstrated that BPQD@β-carotene has an inappreciable toxicity and good biocompatibility, favoring neural regrowth, angiogenesis, and inflammatory regulation of SCs. Furthermore, the PI3K/Akt and Ras/ERK1/2 signaling pathways were activated in SCs at the genetic, protein, and metabolite levels. The BPQD@β-carotene-embedded GelMA/PEGDA scaffold enhanced functional recovery by promoting axon remyelination and regeneration and facilitating intraneural angiogenesis in peripheral nerve injury models of rats and beagle dogs. These results contribute to advancing knowledge of BP nanomaterials in tissue regeneration and show significant potential for application in translational medicine.
Knowledge graph (KG) technology is a newly emerged knowledge representation method in the field of artificial intelligence. Knowledge graphs can form logical mappings from cluttered data and ...establish triadic relationships between entities. Accurate derivation and reasoning of knowledge graphs play an important role in guiding power equipment operation and decision-making. Due to the complex and weak relations from multi-source heterogeneous data, the use of KGs has become popular in research to represent potential information in power knowledge reasoning. In this review, we first summarize the key technologies of knowledge graph representation and learning. Then, based on the complexity and real-time changes of power system operation and maintenance, we present multiple data processing, knowledge representation learning, and the graph construction process. In three typical power operation and fault decision application scenarios, we investigate current algorithms in power KG acquisition, representation embedding, and knowledge completion to illustrate accurate and exhaustive recommendations. Thus, using KGs to provide reference solutions and decision guidance has a significant role in improving the efficiency of power system operations. Finally, we summarize the achievements and difficulties of current research and give an outlook for future, promising roles of KG in power systems.
Distraction osteogenesis (DO) is a powerful method to reconstruct segmented bone defects in the extremities. However, the main shortcoming of DO is the time-consuming consolidation period. To shorten ...the consolidation process, two biocompatible inorganic ions, strontium and silicone, were applied to design a biocompatible material to enhance bone mineralization ability during DO. In the present study, we integrated strontium into a one-pot synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles to obtain strontium-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles characterized by a homogeneous spherical morphology and uniform ion-releasing dynamics. This dual-ion releasing osteogenic and angiogenic drug delivery system was investigated to accelerate mineralization in DO. Osteogenesis was promoted by activation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, while bone resorption was inhibited by reduction of the osteoclastogenic factor RANKL/OPG. In addition, angiogenesis may have been enhanced indirectly by secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) from bone marrow stem cells. Therefore, strontium-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles could be a potential biomaterial candidate for accelerating consolidation during DO.
In our study, strontium and silicone ions were used to design a biocompatible material to enhance bone mineralization ability during the distraction osteogenesis (DO) procedure. Novel strontium-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles (Sr-MSNs) were successfully prepared by the in situ one-pot method. Strontium chloride (green) was added to tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) (blue) and stirred with cetyltrimethylammonium (CTAB) (white). After being aged overnight, the Sr-MSNs self-assembled to become spherical nanoparticles with homogeneous strontium dispersion. CTAB was eventually removed from the nanoparticles to obtain pure strontium-doped mesoporous nanoparticles. The Sr-MSNs showed excellent biocompatibility and biological effects. Sr-MSNs enhanced the osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs by activating Wnt/β-catenin pathways. Sr-MSNs could also suppress bone resorption by upregulating OPG secretion and downregulating RANKL secretion. Angiogenic ability was also indirectly enhanced by the increase in VEGF secretion from Sr-MSN-treated BMSCs. In an in vivo model of rat tibial distraction osteogenesis, local injection of Sr-MSNs was observed to enhance bone and vessel regeneration. Therefore, strontium-doped mesoporous silica nanoparticles could be a promising reliable biomaterial candidate for accelerating consolidation during DO for future clinical translation. Display omitted
Cobalt (Co) ions, which can mimic hypoxia to promote angiogenesis, exhibit great potential for bone repair. However, a key point for the use of Co ions is that their release profile should be ...controllable and, more importantly, suitable for the bone regeneration process. Here, 2-ethylimidazole (eIm) was introduced into zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 (ZIF-67) to slow down Co-ion release and fabricate eIm-doped ZIF-67 (eIm/ZIF-67), which was combined into gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) to obtain an in situ photo-cross-linking nanocomposite hydrogel as a tunable Co-ion controlled release system. A tunable and controlled release of Co ions from the nanocomposite hydrogel was achieved by variation of linker composition, and GelMA with 75% eIm/ZIF-67 (with 75% eIm in the precursor solutions) could maintain a 21-day sustained release of Co ions, which is matched with early-stage angiogenesis during the bone formation process. Our in vitro study also showed that the GelMA@eIm/ZIF-67 hydrogel could reduce cytotoxicity and effectively promote the angiogenic activity of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Moreover, an in vivo rat calvarial defect model demonstrated that the GelMA@eIm/ZIF-67 hydrogel exhibited remarkably enhanced bone formation and neovascularization abilities and had good biocompatibility as shown in organ histopathological examinations. Therefore, this novel nanocomposite hydrogel has strong therapeutic potential as a desirable Co-ion controlled release system and a powerful proangiogenic/osteogenic agent for the treatment of bone defects.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of the endoscopic-assisted locking block modified Krackow technique with a V-Y flap. The hypothesis was that the minimally ...invasive technique can reduce wound complications and facilitate early recovery.
Methods
In total, 29 men with chronic Achilles tendon rupture who underwent either minimally invasive technique (
n
= 13) or open repair (
n
= 16) at our department between 2013 and 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The rate of complications, time to return to moderate-intensity exercise, American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society ankle hindfoot score, Achilles tendon Total Rupture Score, heel-rise repetitions in 1 min, heel-rise height, and bilateral calf circumference at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years postoperatively were recorded.
Results
All incisions healed primarily in the minimally invasive technique group; however, three patients in the open repair group experienced wound complications. The time to return to moderate-intensity exercise, American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society score, Achilles tendon Total Rupture Score, heel-rise repetition ratio, and heel-rise height ratio at 6 months postoperatively in the minimally invasive technique group were significantly better than those in the open repair group. However, it was not significantly different between both groups at 2 years postoperatively.
Conclusion
Endoscopy allowed scar tissue and adhesions to be removed, allowing the tendon ends to be mobilized out of the small proximal and distal incisions. Minimally invasive technique may result in a lower wound complication incidence and provide better early functional recovery and return to moderate-intensity exercise time than the conventional open procedure in treating chronic Achilles tendon ruptures.
Clinical trial registration
Wuxi Ninth People’s Hospital Medical Ethical Committee, LW2021026.
Level of evidence
III.
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