Medical image segmentation is a hot topic in the field medical image processing. The segmentation methods based on level set and the ones based on fuzzy set are currently very popular in the field of ...medical image segmentation. But these methods do not balance between global and local features of the image. This paper combines the advantages of these two methods, proposes a fuzzy Chan-Vese model, which introduces fuzzy clustering into Chan-Vese model. This model extends the regional energy part of Chan-Vese model to regional energy based on fuzzy clustering, meanwhile adds fuzzy cluster objects as the constraint of the model, so it can take account of global and local features of the image. In the medical image segmentation experiments, this paper uses OTSU method to execute initial segmentation for getting the initial segmentation curve, and then uses fuzzy Chan-Vese model to realize image segmentation. Experimental results show that, with the help of prior knowledge of segmentation prototypes of medical images, the proposed method has achieved very good segmentation results.
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•Identify the importance of sustainable hythane fuel via biological process.•Compare biohythane with other biological processes for bioenergy production.•Advantage of biohythane over ...biogas are improved energy recovery and reduced fermentation time.•Highlight and comment the technical issues towards scale up of biohythane system.•Bioprocess control and utilization of products are practical challenges.
A concept of biohythane production by combining biohydrogen and biomethane together via two-stage anaerobic fermentation (TSAF) has been recently proposed and considered as a promising approach for sustainable hythane generation from waste biomass. The advantage of biohythane over traditional biogas are more environmentally benign, higher energy recovery and shorter fermentation time. However, many of current efforts to convert waste biomass into biohythane are still at the bench scale. The system bioprocess study and scale up for industrial application are indispensable. This paper outlines the general approach of biohythane by comparing with other biological processes. The technical challenges are highlighted towards scale up of biohythane system, including functionalization of biohydrogen-producing reactor, energy efficiency, and bioprocess engineering of TSAF.
Trichothecene mycotoxins are found worldwide in cereal grains and in animal feed and human food produced from contaminated grains, which creates a food safety risk. Chemical and biological reactions ...are being evaluated for their usefulness in transforming trichothecene mycotoxins into other, less toxic, compounds for improved safety in food chains. Trichothecene transformation reactions discovered to date include alkalization, oxidation, reduction, hydrolysis, hydration and conjugation. Many of these reactions can change the structures of selected mycotoxins but not necessarily reduce their toxicity. More emphasis should be placed on understanding detoxification reactions, the toxicity of transformation products, and enzymes responsible for the transformations.
Ion transport plays an important role in various biological processes because of the ability of ions to move rapidly in biological ion channel‐confined spaces. For example, rapid proton transport in ...ATPases is attributed to confined channel spaces and conjugated sites. According to molecular dynamics simulations, the confined spaces and conjugated sites in nanochannels can enhance ion transport. Herein, it is demonstrated that the ATPase‐like structures of sulfonic acid‐modified covalent organic framework nanochannels, which promote the formation of highly ordered and continuous water molecular chains and confined spaces, can support ion (H+, Li+, Na+, and K+) transport rates that are an order of magnitude higher than those of bulk water. The ion transport rates in the nanochannel are superior to those in other artificial channels. Moreover, the selectivity of cations in the nanochannel is evaluated using the diffusion potential with a concentration gradient. The simulations and experimental results demonstrate that confined spaces and conjugated sites are crucial for efficient ion transport in nanochannels modified by sulfonic acid groups as cation conductor materials.
By mimicking the distribution of β‐binding sites in the F1 region of ATPases, the NUS‐9 channel to achieve rapid ion transport is exploited. Molecular dynamics simulations and experimental results demonstrate that high cation selectivity and transportation occur in the channel, which is attributed to the NUS‐9 channel providing a continuous and confined space and conjugated sites.
The industrial yeast
is widely used as a cell factory to produce proteins, chemicals and advanced biofuels. We have previously constructed
strains that overexpress protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), ...which is a kind of molecular chaperone that can improve the expression of an exogenous protein when they are co-expressed. Chicken cystatin (cC) is a highly thermostable cysteine protease inhibitor and a homologous protein of human cystatin C (HCC). Wild-type cC and the two mutants, I66Q and ΔW (a truncated cC lacking the á-helix 2) represent proteins with different degrees of stability.
Wild-type cC, I66Q and ΔW were each overexpressed in
without and with the coexpression of PDI and their extracellular levels were determined and compared. Transcriptomic profiling was performed to compare the changes in the main signaling pathways and cell components (other than endoplasmic reticulum quality control system represented by molecular chaperones) in
in response to intracellular folding stress caused by the expression of exogenous proteins with different stabilities. Finally, hub genes hunting was also performed.
The coexpression of PDI was able to increase the extracellular levels of both wild-type cC and the two mutants, indicating that overexpression of PDI could prevent the misfolding of unstable proteins or promote the degradation of the misfolded proteins to some extent. For
cells that expressed the I66Q or ΔW mutant, GO (Gene Ontology) and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) analyses of the common DEGs in these cells revealed a significant upregulation of the genes involved in protein processing, but a significant downregulation of the genes enriched in the Ribosome, TCA and Glycolysis/Gluconeogenesis pathways. Hub genes hunting indicated that the most downregulated ribosome protein, C4QXU7 in this case, might be an important target protein that could be manipulated to increase the expression of foreign proteins, especially proteins with a certain degree of instability.
These findings should shed new light on our understanding of the regulatory mechanism in yeast cells that responds to intracellular folding stress, providing valuable information for the development of a convenient platform that could improve the efficiency of heterologous protein expression in
Programmed death one homolog (PD-1H) is an immunoglobulin superfamily molecule and primarily acts as a coinhibitor in the initiation of T cell response to antigens. Here, we report that genetic ...ablation of PD-1H in mice blocks the differentiation of naive T cells to Foxp3
inducible Treg cells (iTreg) with a significant decrease of iTreg in lymphoid organs. This effect of PD-1H is highly specific for iTreg because both naturally generated iTreg in gut-related tissues and in vitro induced iTreg by TGF-β were decreased whereas the genesis of natural Treg (nTreg) remains normal. The suppressive function of both iTreg and nTreg, however, is not affected by the loss of PD-1H. In addition to decreased production, PD-1H deficient iTreg could also rapidly convert to CD4
T helper 1 or T helper 17 cells in an inflammatory environment. Our results indicate that PD-1H is required for maintenance of iTreg pool size by promoting its differentiation and preventing its conversion to other CD4
T cell subsets. These findings may have important implications for manipulating Tregs to control inflammation.
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•An effective urea-degrading strain LH1 was isolated from soil on soybean root.•The mutant LHUM 107 exhibited outstanding calcite precipitation ability.•Response surface methodology ...brought forward the optimal conditions.•Extracellular urease was more effective targeted for CaCO3 precipitation.
Microbial calcite precipitation is a promising and environmental friendly biological technology in remediation of the surface and subsurface of porous media, especially for in situ soil remediation. The present study isolate a urea-degrading strain LH1 from soil on soybean root, identified as Bacillus niabensis strain (99% similarity) by 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. Then, using ultraviolet mutagenesis method, a mutant LHUM107 with outstanding urease-producing ability was further obtained to study its effects on calcite precipitation. The mutant LHUM107 had good genome stability and exhibited 92.2% urea-degrading efficiency till 21st generation. Response surface methodology (RSM) noted that the urea degradation was more dependent on initial urea addition, and brought forward the optimal conditions. Adapting to these optimal conditions, calcite precipitation by mutant LHUM107 and extracellular urease was respectively further investigated. It was shown that extracellular urease excreted from mutant LHUM107 was more effective and more targeted for CaCO3 precipitation.
Invasion and metastasis are the major causes of death in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a critical step in tumor progression and ...transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) signaling has been shown to play an important role in EMT. In this study, we investigated how TGF-β1 signaling pathways contributed to EMT in three ESCC cell lines as well as 100 patients of nomadic ethnic Kazakhs residing in northwest Xinjiang Province of China. In vitro analyses included Western blotting to detect the expression of TGF-β1/Smad and EMT-associated proteins in Eca109, EC9706 and KYSE150 cell lines following stimulation with recombinant TGF-β1 and SB431542, a potent inhibitor of ALK5 that also inhibits TGF-β type II receptor. TGF-β-activated Smad2/3 signaling in EMT was significantly upregulated as indicated by mesenchymal markers of N-cadherin and Vimentin, and in the meantime, epithelial marker, E-cadherin, was markedly downregulated. In contrast, SB431542 addition downregulated the expression of N-cadherin and Vimentin, but upregulated the expression of E-cadherin. Moreover, the TGF-β1-induced EMT promoted invasion capability of Eca109 cells. Tumor cells undergoing EMT acquire fibroblastoid-like phenotype. Expressed levels of TGF-β1/Smad signaling molecules and EMT-associated proteins were examined using immunohistochemical analyses in 100 ESCC tissues of Kazakh patients and 58 matched noncancerous adjacent tissues. The results showed that ESCC tissues exhibited upregulated expression of TGF-β1/Smad. We also analyzed the relationship between the above proteins and the patients' clinicopathological characteristics. The TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway in human Eca109 ESCC cells may carry similar features as in Kazakh ESCC patients, suggesting that TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway may be involved in the regulation of EMT in ethnic Kazakh patients with ESCC from Xinjiang, China.
With the growing economy and technology, disease prevention and individual health are becoming more and more important. It is highly urgent to develop a non-toxic, self-powered, and safe high-voltage ...power source to prevent diseases spread by mosquitoes, especially in isolated or remote areas. Herein, we reported a high-performance rotary triboelectric nanogenerator (R-TENG) based on customized theoretical simulations and a ferroelectric nanocomposite intermediate layer. The customized theoretical simulations based on gradient electrode gaps were established to optimize gap angles and segment numbers of the electrodes, which could prevent air breakdown and enhance the R-TENG output energy by at least 1.5 times. Meanwhile, the electrical output performance of the TENG was further enhanced with a highly oriented BaTiO3 (BTO) nanoparticles intermediate layer by about 2.5 times. The open-circuit voltage of R-TENG reached more than 6 kV and could continuously light 3420 light-emitting devices (LEDs) or 4 serially connected 36 W household fluorescent lamps. Therefore, a self-powered high-voltage disease prevention system is developed based on the high-performance R-TENG to reduce the risk of disease transmission. This work provides a prospective strategy for the further development of TENGs and expands practical applications of self-powered and high-voltage systems.
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