•This paper proposed a non-contact blood pressure prediction system based on IPPG technology. The system has a whole set of BP detection steps, including video acquisition, signal extraction, ...filtering, feature extraction and selection, feature training and BP predicting. The experimental results fully comply with international standards.•Compared with the traditional BP measurement devices, the system has the advantages of simple operation, comfortable use and continuous measurement. At the same time, compared with the current studies in the NCBP field, by comparing various machine learning methods, we found the most suitable model for blood pressure prediction under the condition of small sample size. The analysis results are more convincing than using a single algorithm.•We simplified the experimental equipment of NCBP. Through experiments with different light intensity, we proved that under the condition of sufficient light, NCBP measurement does not need additional light source. Only one camera is needed to achieve blood pressure prediction.•In addition, this paper innovatively proposes a highly robust peak detection algorithm and a heat map-based ROI selection method. These two aspects are key steps in the IPPG technology.•The system has the potential of replacing the traditional cuff-based sphygmomanometers, and has guiding significance to the future development of blood pressure measurement devices.
This paper proposes a non-contact blood pressure implement (NCBP) system based on imaging photoplethysmography (IPPG) The system collects facial videos through a webcam under ambient light, and extracts pulse wave signals from the videos by means of IPPG technology. From the signals (also called IPPG signals), we extracted 26 features for estimating blood pressure (BP), and trained them through four machine learning algorithms. Finally, we selected the most accurate model for blood pressure prediction. By experimenting on 191 volunteers and comparing four models, support vector regression (SVR) is the best model for predicting blood pressure. The results of SVR are that the standard deviation (STD) and mean absolute error (MAE) of systolic blood pressure (SBP) are 3.35 mmHg, 9.97 mmHg, and those of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) are 2.58 mmHg, 7.59 mmHg respectively. We conclude that through our proposed system based on IPPG technology, blood pressure can be accurately predicted in a non-contact way. In addition, this paper proposes two new methods, the region of interest (ROI) selection method based on colormaps and robust peak extraction method, which solve the key steps in IPPG technology. Finally, we discussed the influence of light intensity on the experiment, and simplified the NCBP experimental device. The system has the potential of replacing the traditional cuff-based sphygmomanometers, and has guiding significance to the future development of blood pressure measurement devices.
Graph de-anonymization is a technique used to reveal connections between entities in anonymized graphs, which is crucial in detecting malicious activities, network analysis, social network analysis, ...and more. Despite its paramount importance, conventional methods often grapple with inefficiencies and challenges tied to obtaining accurate query graph data. This paper introduces a neural-based inexact graph de-anonymization, which comprises an embedding phase, a comparison phase, and a matching procedure. The embedding phase uses a graph convolutional network to generate embedding vectors for both the query and anonymized graphs. The comparison phase uses a neural tensor network to ascertain node resemblances. The matching procedure employs a refined greedy algorithm to discern optimal node pairings. Additionally, we comprehensively evaluate its performance via well-conducted experiments on various real datasets. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach in enhancing the efficiency and performance of graph de-anonymization through the use of graph embedding vectors.
The effects of impurities H2O and O2 in transported s-CO2 on the corrosion modes and kinetics of pipeline steels were investigated using rotating cage methodology and in-situ electrochemical noise ...(EN) technique in an autoclave. In s-CO2 with H2O and O2, pressure acts as a key factor on the solubility of H2O in s-CO2 and corrosion extents, and there is a threshold pressure (∼10 MPa) above which corrosion rate remarkably increases with pressure. In-situ EN results in different CO2 environments further reveal that corrosion in s-CO2 with H2O and O2 is dominated by gas chemical reactions rather than electrochemical reactions.
•Impurities H2O and O2 in s-CO2 only have a moderate effect on corrosion.•Pressure is a key factor by controlling the H2O solubility in s-CO2.•Corrosion remarkably increases when pressure > 10 MPa due to increased H2O content.•In-situ EN technique is developed for exploring corrosion modes in s-CO2.•Corrosion in H2O-saturated s-CO2 + O2 is dominated by gas chemical reactions.
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•Long-term exposure was performed in a SO2-containing supercritical CO2 environment.•The formed corrosion layer is porous and non-protective.•X65 experienced an almost linear increase ...in weight loss with extended time.•O2-depressed hydrogen cracking/lack of stress concentration led to low SCC.•An empirical long-term corrosion rate prediction model was developed.
In this study, four testing cycles (total 480 h) were conducted to investigate corrosion and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) of X65 steel in H2O-saturated supercritical CO2 (s-CO2) containing SO2 and O2 impurities. The results showed that X65 steels experienced severe corrosion and formed a porous corrosion layer composed of iron sulfates, carbonates and oxy-hydroxides. Increasing time from 120 to 480 h resulted in the shift of dominant corrosion products from iron carbonates to iron oxy-hydroxides due to acid regeneration cycle. The mass loss of X65 steel almost linearly increased with exposure time, indicating a nearly constant corrosion rate in the s-CO2 environment. In comparison with previous studies, timely replenishing s-CO2 fluid in a static autoclave is crucial to accurately determine the long-term corrosion kinetic of pipeline steel. Based on literature survey and current study, several factors (SO2 content, H2O content, addition of NO2) affect the long-term corrosion rate in s-CO2 environments, and a power-function-based empirical model is purposed to depict the long-term corrosion rate of X65 steel in H2O-saturated s-CO2 + O2 + 100/2000 ppm SO2. The long-term SCC assessments showed that the SCC susceptibility of X65 would be still quite low, which might be related to the O2-depressed hydrogen cracking and/or the lack of localized stress concentration.
Genomic imprinting is a phenomenon characterized by parent-of-origin-specific gene expression. While widely documented in viviparous mammals and plants, imprinting in oviparous birds remains ...controversial. Because genomic imprinting is temporal- and tissue-specific, we investigated this phenomenon only in the brain tissues of 1-day-old chickens (Gallus gallus). We used next-generation sequencing technology to compare four transcriptomes pooled from 11 chickens, generated from reciprocally crossed families, to the DNA sequences of their parents. Candidate imprinted genes were then selected from these sequence alignments and subjected to verification experiments that excluded all but one SNP. Subsequent experiments performed with two new sets of reciprocally crossed families resulted in the exclusion of that candidate SNP as well. Attempts to find evidence of genomic imprinting from long non-coding RNAs yielded negative results. We therefore conclude that genomic imprinting is absent in the brains of 1-day-old chickens. However, due to the temporal and tissue specificity of imprinting, our results cannot be extended to all growth stages and tissue types.
Structural variants (SVs) are one of the main sources of genetic variants and have a greater impact on phenotype evolution, disease susceptibility, and environmental adaptations than single ...nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). However, SVs remain challenging to accurately type, with several detection methods showing different limitations. Here, we explored SVs from 10 different chickens using PacBio technology and detected 49,501 high-confidence SVs. The results showed that the PacBio long-read detected more SVs than Illumina short-read technology genomes owing to some SV sites on chromosomes, which are related to chicken growth and development. During chicken domestication, some SVs beneficial to the breed or without any effect on the genomic function of the breed were retained, whereas deleterious SVs were generally eliminated. This study could facilitate the analysis of the genetic characteristics of different chickens and provide a better understanding of their phenotypic characteristics at the SV level, based on the long-read sequencing method. This study enriches our knowledge of SVs in chickens and improves our understanding of chicken genomic diversity.
Chicken plumage colour is a complex trait controlled by many genes. Herein, through Rhode Island Red (RIR) and White Leghorn (WL) F1 cross populations, the segregation of plumage color was observed ...in females, showing white in males, and dark red (DR) and light yellow (LY) in females. The white has been found to be caused by dominant white alleles (
) and the DR phenotype is attributed to a sex-linked recessive silver allele (S∗S). LY is a derived feather colour phenotype and the genetic mechanism of this is unclear. In order to explore the genetic basis for LY, we randomly selected 40 DR and 39 LY chickens for paired-end sequencing. Through the use of association analysis, we found the LY phenotype is caused by a 7.6 kb non-coding deletion near the SOX10 gene. This mutation has been reported to be responsible for dark brown plumage in chicken, and subsequent diagnostic PCR tests showed that the length of the long-range non-coding deletion is 7.6 kb instead of 8.3 kb as previously reported.
Salmonella infection is a serious concern in poultry farming because of its impact on both economic loss and human health. Chicks aged 20 days or less are extremely vulnerable to Salmonella pullorum ...(SP), which causes high mortality. Furthermore, an outbreak of SP infection can result in a considerable number of carriers that become potential transmitters, thus, threatening fellow chickens and offspring. In this study, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to detect potential genomic loci and candidate genes associated with two disease-related traits: death and carrier state.
In total, 818 birds were phenotyped for death and carrier state traits through a SP challenge experiment, and genotyped by using a 600 K high-density single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. A GWAS using a single-marker linear mixed model was performed with the GEMMA software. RNA-sequencing on spleen samples was carried out for further identification of candidate genes.
We detected a region that was located between 33.48 and 34.03 Mb on chicken chromosome 4 and was significantly associated with death, with the most significant SNP (rs314483802) accounting for 11.73% of the phenotypic variation. Two candidate genes, FBXW7 and LRBA, were identified as the most promising genes involved in resistance to SP. The expression levels of FBXW7 and LRBA were significantly downregulated after SP infection, which suggests that they may have a role in controlling SP infections. Two other significant loci and related genes (TRAF3 and gga-mir-489) were associated with carrier state, which indicates a different polygenic determinism compared with that of death. In addition, genomic inbreeding coefficients showed no correlation with resistance to SP within each breed in our study.
The results of this GWAS with a carefully organized Salmonella challenge experiment represent an important milestone in understanding the genetics of infectious disease resistance, offer a theoretical basis for breeding SP-resistant chicken lines using marker-assisted selection, and provide new information for salmonellosis research in humans and other animals.
Abstract
Background
Domestication alters several phenotypic, neurological, and physiological traits in domestic animals compared to those in their wild ancestors. Domestic ducks originated from ...mallards, and some studies have shown that spot-billed ducks may have also made minor genetic contributions to domestication. Compared with the two ancestral species, domestic ducks generally differ in body size and bone morphology. In this study, we performed both genomic and transcriptomic analyses to identify candidate genes for elucidating the genetic mechanisms underlying phenotypic variation.
Methods
In this study, the duck genome data from eight domestic breeds and two wild species were collected to study the genetic changes during domestication. And the transcriptome data of different tissues from wild ducks and seven domestic ducks were used to reveal the expression difference between wild and domestic ducks.
Results
Using fixation index (Fst) algorithm and transcriptome data, we found that the genes related to skeletal development had high Fst values in wild and domestic breeds, and the differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in the ossification pathway. Our data strongly suggest that the skeletal systems of domestic ducks were changed to adapt to artificial selection for larger sizes. In addition, by combining the genome and transcriptome data, we found that some Fst candidate genes exhibited different expression patterns, and these genes were found to be involved in digestive, immune, and metabolic functions.
Conclusions
A wide range of phenotypic differences exists between domestic and wild ducks. Through both genome and transcriptome analyses, we found that genes related to the skeletal system in domestic ducks were strongly selected. Our findings provide new insight into duck domestication and selection effects during the domestication.
The duodenum is an important digestive organ for poultry and houses a variety of microbes that help chickens to enhance nutrient absorption and improve production. To evaluate the characteristic of ...gut microbiome, duodenum content samples from 42-week-old native Taihang chickens with high (H) and low (L) egg-yielding were collected for 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing analysis. Consequently, 1,361,341 sequences were clustered into 2055 OTUs, with percentages of affiliation of 96.50 and 57.30% at phylum and genus levels. Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the dominant phylum, with a lower ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes in H group than in L group (p < 0.05). At genus level, overrepresentation of Bacteroides, Faecalibacterim, and Enterococcus and underrepresentation of Romboutsia were found in H group. No significant difference in overall diversity of microbiota was observed between two groups. LEFSe analysis revealed Enterococcus was significantly enriched in H group. Importantly, Enterococcus and Lactobacillus were negatively correlated. Functional prediction analysis showed the proportion of microbiota involved in the metabolism process was the highest and enriched in H group. Differences in microbiota composition between the two groups, which may be related to intestinal function difference, also provide promising biomarkers for improving laying hen production.
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