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To address the challenges of underwater target detection, including complex background interference, light attenuation, severe occlusion, and overlap between targets, as well as the wide-scale variation in objects, we propose MAS-YOLOv11, an improved model integrating three key enhancements: First, we introduce the C2PSA_MSDA module, which integrates multi-scale dilated attention (MSDA) into the C2PSA module of the backbone, enhancing multi-scale feature representation via dilated convolutions and cross-scale attention. Second, an adaptive spatial feature fusion detection head (ASFFHead) replaces the original head. By employing learnable spatial weighting parameters, ASFFHead adaptively fuses features across different scales, significantly improving the robustness of multi-scale object detection. Third, we introduce a Slide Loss function with dynamic sample weighting to enhance hard sample learning. By mapping the loss weights nonlinearly to detection confidence, this mechanism effectively enhances the overall detection accuracy. The experimental results demonstrate that the improved model yields significant performance advancements on the DUO dataset: the recall rate is enhanced by 3.7%, the F1-score is elevated by 3%, and the mAP@50 and mAP@50-95 attain values of 77.4% and 55.1%, respectively, representing increases of 3.5% and 3.3% compared to the baseline model. Furthermore, the model achieves an mAP@50 of 76% on the RUOD dataset, which further corroborates its cross-domain generalization capability.

Aiming at the problems of inaccurate segmentation and low detection efficiency caused by irregular tumor shape and large size differences in brain MRI images, this study proposes a brain tumor segmentation algorithm, YOLO-BT, based on YOLOv11. YOLO-BT uses UNetV2 as the backbone network to enhance the feature extraction ability of key regions through the attention mechanism. The BiFPN structure is introduced into the neck network to replace the traditional feature splicing method, realize the two-way fusion of cross-scale features, improve detection accuracy, and reduce the amount of calculations required. The D-LKA mechanism is introduced into the C3k2 structure, and the large convolution kernel is used to process complex image information to enhance the model’s ability to characterize different scales and irregular tumors. In this study, multiple sets of experiments were performed on the Figshare Brain Tumor dataset to test the performance of YOLO-BT. The data results show that YOLO-BT improves Precision by 2.7%, Recall, mAP50 by 0.9%, and mAP50-95 by 0.3% in the candidate box-based evaluation compared to YOLOv11. In mask-based evaluations, Precision improved by 2.5%, Recall by 2.8%, mAP50 by 1.1%, and mAP50-95 by 0.5%. At the same time, the mIOU increased by 6.1%, and the Dice coefficient increased by 3.6%. It can be seen that the YOLO-BT algorithm is suitable for brain tumor detection and segmentation.

Background CircRNAs have a potential regulatory effect on Renal cell carcinoma (RCC). However, there is still a significant lack of research on their action pathways and mechanisms in the treatment of RCC. The aim of this study is to identify the effects of Circ_001024 on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of RCC cells, and to elucidate the molecular mechanisms by which Circ_001024 promotes the malignant biological behaviors of RCC cell lines. Methods The expression of Circ_001024 in RCC was detected using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) To confirm Circ_001024’s structure and properties, tests using Sanger sequencing, RNase R, and actinomycin D were performed. The localization in RCC cells was identified using the Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) assay. Bioinformatics analysis, Spearman correlation analysis, dual-luciferase reporter assay, and RNA pull-down assay were used to verify the interactions among Circ_001024, its targeted miR-145-3p, and the targeted protein GLUT5,and these interactions were further validated by rescue experiments. In addition, Western blot (WB) was used to detect the expression changes of the signaling pathway target protein GLUT5, and the clinicopathological characteristics of GLUT5 in RCC were analyzed. Results The gene Circ_001024 showed high expression levels in RCC, predominantly found in the cytoplasm of RCC cells. Forced expression of Circ_001024 accelerated RCC progression by enhancing cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, whereas Circ_001024 knockdown elicited the reverse effects. miR-145-3p could interact with both Circ_001024 and the targeted protein GLUT5. Overexpression of miR-145-3p could partially reverse the changes in the proliferation, migration, and invasion abilities caused by overexpression of Circ_001024. Moreover, the expression of GLUT5 was associated with the World Health Organization/International Society of Urological Pathology (WHO/ISUP) grade, but not with age, gender, tumor diameter, or TNM staging. Conclusion Circ_001024 is highly expressed in RCC. Within RCC, Circ_001024 can promote the proliferation, migration, and invasion of RCC cells through the competitive inhibition of miR-145-3p, which controls GLUT5 expression. Graphical Abstract

Observational studies have shown an association between systemic autoimmune disease (AD) and multiple malignancies. However, due to the difficulty indetermining the temporal nature of the order, their causal relationship remains elusive. Based on pooled data from a large population-wide genome-wide association study (GWAS), this study explores the genetic causality between systemic autoimmune disease and renal malignancy. We took a series of quality control steps from a large-scale genome-wide association study to select single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with systemic autoimmune disease as instrumental variables(IVs) to analyze genetic causality with renal malignancies. Inverse variance weighting (IVW), MR- Egger, weighted median, simple model and weighted model were used for analysis. The results were mainly based on IVW (Random Effects), followed by sensitivity analysis. Inverse-Variance Weighted(IVW) and MR-Egger were used to test for heterogeneity. MR- Egger is also used for pleiotropic testing. A single SNP analysis was used to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with potential impact. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to evaluate causality, and sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate pleiotropy and instrumental validity. Acute and subacute iridocylitis (P = 0.006, OR = 1.077), Ankylosing spondylitis (P = 0.002, OR = 1.051), and spondyloarthritis (P = 0.009, OR = 1.073) were positively associated with an increased risk of renal malignancy. Coxarthrosis (P = 0.008, OR = 0.483), Juvenile rheumatism (P = 0.011, OR = 0.897), and Systemic lupus erythematosus (P = 0.014, OR = 0.869) were negatively associated with an increased risk of renal malignancy. The results of sensitivity analysis were consistent without heterogeneity or pleiotropy. Our study suggests a causal relationship between different systemic autoimmune diseases and renal malignancies. These findings prompt health care providers to take seriously the potential risk of systemic autoimmune disease and provide new insights into the genetics of kidney malignancies.

Cognitive impairment is prevalent in hemodialysis end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. It might be associated with poor prognosis. Nevertheless, the underlying mechanisms have not been completely clarified. This study explored spontaneous brain activity in ESRD patients on hemodialysis by using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). Nineteen ESRD patients on regular hemodialysis were included in this study. Eighteen age-, sex- and education level-matched volunteers were enrolled as the healthy control group. All participants had resting-state functional MRI scanning, neuropsychological tests and laboratory testing. ALFF was used for assessing intrinsic brain activity. Independent samples t-test was used for obtaining group difference. Spearman correlation analysis was applied to assess the association between ALFF changes, neuropsychological and clinical indices. Compared to the healthy control group, hemodialysis patients showed decreased ALFF in the precuneus, right angular gyrus/inferior lobule as well as increased ALFF in the left parahippocampus/hippocampus and right precentral/postcentral gyrus. The ALFF abnormalities in these regions were closely associated with hemoglobin levels. In addition, increased ALFF in the left parahippocampus/hippocampus showed negative correlation with the score of long delayed free recall. Hemodialysis patients had aberrant ALFF in the default mode network regions, particularly in the precuneus and parahippocampus/hippocampus, which may be correlated with neuropathological mechanisms involved in hemodialysis.

BackgroundThe mechanism of chronic migraine (CM) is complex, central sensitization is considered as one of the pathological mechanism. Synaptic plasticity is the basis of central sensitization. Metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) plays a vital role in the synaptic plasticity of the central nervous system. However, whether mGluR5 can promote the central sensitization by regulating synaptic plasticity in CM is unknown.MethodsMale Wistar rats were used to establish a CM rat model, and the expression of mGluR5 mRNA and protein were detected by qRT-PCR and western blot. The allodynia was assessed by mechanical and thermal thresholds, and central sensitization was assessed by expression of the phosphorylation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) response element-binding protein (CREB) at Serine 133(pCREB-S133) and c-Fos. The synaptic-associated protein postsynaptic density protein 95 (PSD), synaptophysin (Syp), and synaptophysin-1(Syt-1), synaptic ultrastructure, and dendritic spines were detected to explore synaptic plasticity. The expression of PKC, total NR2B(tNR2B), and phosphorylation of NR2B at Tyr1472(pNR2B-Y1472) were detected by western blot.ResultsWe found that the expression of mGluR5 was upregulated in CM rats. Downregulated the mGluR5 with MPEP alleviated the allodynia and reduced the expression of CGRP, pCREB-S133, c-Fos, PSD, Syp and Syt-1 and synaptic transmission. Moreover, the administration of MPEP inhibited the upregulation of PKC and pNR2B-Y1472.ConclusionsThese results indicate that mGluR5 contributes to central sensitization by regulating synaptic plasticity in CM through the PKC/NR2B signal, which suggests that mGluR5 may be a potential therapeutic candidate for CM.

This paper proposes a quasi-dense feature matching algorithm that combines image semantic segmentation and local feature enhancement networks to address the problem of the poor matching of image features because of complex distortions, considerable occlusions, and a lack of texture on large oblique stereo images. First, a small amount of typical complex scene data are used to train the VGG16-UNet, followed by completing the semantic segmentation of multiplanar scenes across large oblique images. Subsequently, the prediction results of the segmentation are subjected to local adaptive optimization to obtain high-precision semantic segmentation results for each planar scene. Afterward, the LoFTR (Local Feature Matching with Transformers) strategy is used for scene matching, enabling enhanced matching for regions with poor local texture in the corresponding planes. The proposed method was tested on low-altitude large baseline stereo images of complex scenes and compared with five classical matching methods. Results reveal that the proposed method exhibits considerable advantages in terms of the number of correct matches, correct rate of matches, matching accuracy, and spatial distribution of corresponding points. Moreover, it is well-suitable for quasi-dense matching tasks of large baseline stereo images in complex scenes with considerable viewpoint variations.

Rock bolts, as a type of reinforcing element, are widely adopted in underground excavations and civil engineering structures. Given the importance of rock bolts, the research outlined in this paper attempts to develop a portable non-destructive evaluation method for assessing the length of installed rock bolts for inspection purposes. Traditionally, piezoelectric elements or hammer impacts were used to perform non-destructive evaluation of rock bolts. However, such methods suffered from many major issues, such as the weak energy generated and the requirement for permanent installation for piezoelectric elements, and the inconsistency of wave generation for hammer impact. In this paper, we proposed a portable device for the non-destructive evaluation of rock bolt conditions based on a giant magnetostrictive (GMS) actuator. The GMS actuator generates enough energy to ensure multiple reflections of the stress waves along the rock bolt and a lead zirconate titantate (PZT) sensor is used to detect the reflected waves. A new integrated procedure that involves correlation analysis, wavelet denoising, and Hilbert transform was proposed to process the multiple reflection signals to determine the length of an installed rock bolt. The experimental results from a lab test and field tests showed that, by analyzing the instant phase of the periodic reflections of the stress wave generated by the GMS transducer, the length of an embedded rock bolt can be accurately determined.

Enabled by piezoceramic transducers, ultrasonic logging images often suffer from low contrast and indistinct local details, which makes it difficult to analyze and interpret geologic features in the images. In this work, we propose a novel partially overlapped sub-block histogram-equalization (POSHE)-based optimum clip-limit contrast enhancement (POSHEOC) method to highlight the local details hidden in ultrasonic well logging images obtained through piezoceramic transducers. The proposed algorithm introduces the idea of contrast-limited enhancement to modify the cumulative distribution functions of the POSHE and build a new quality evaluation index considering the effects of the mean gradient and mean structural similarity. The new index is designed to obtain the optimal clip-limit value for histogram equalization of the sub-block. It makes the choice of the optimal clip-limit automatically according to the input image. Experimental results based on visual perceptual evaluation and quantitative measures demonstrate that the proposed method yields better quality in terms of enhancing the contrast, emphasizing the local details while preserving the brightness and restricting the excessive enhancement compared with the other seven histogram equalization-based techniques from the literature. This study provides a feasible and effective method to enhance ultrasonic logging images obtained through piezoceramic transducers and is significant for the interpretation of actual ultrasonic logging data.

Dried lemon slices (LSs) have become increasingly popular as a healthful beverage when infused in hot water. This study examined the effects of freeze drying (FD), hot air drying (HAD), heat pump drying (HPD), and far-infrared drying (FID) on the quality of dried LSs and their brewed beverages. The results show that FD-LSs and their corresponding beverages have the most appealing appearance and maximum levels of ascorbic acid (2.47 and 0.80 mg/g, respectively), synephrine (8.15 and 0.94 mg/g, respectively), and the overwhelming majority of natural and available phenolic compounds, as well as the strongest antioxidant activity, although numerous volatile compounds in FD-LSs were in the lowest abundances. HPD-LSs exhibited similar trends to FD-LSs but contained the peak concentrations of limonene (2258.87 μg/g), γ-terpinene (704.19 μg/g), β-pinene (502.92 μg/g), and α-pinene (188.91 μg/g), which were the four most abundant volatile compounds in dried LSs. Additionally, active ingredients in HPD-LSs generally featured relative high levels of available amounts. In contrast, HAD- and FID-LSs typically displayed unfavorable coloration and low retention levels of natural and available active ingredients. Consequently, FD and HPD demonstrate superior suitability for the commercial-scale production of dried LSs.