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Obesity is a prominent risk factor for male infertility, and a high-fat diet is an important cause of obesity. Therefore, diet control can reduce body weight and regulate blood glucose and lipids, but it remains unclear whether it can improve male fertility and its mechanism. This study explores the effects of switching from a high-fat diet (HFD) to a normal diet (ND) on the fertility potential of obese male mice and its related mechanisms. In our study, male mice were separated into three groups: normal diet group (NN), continuous high-fat diet group (HH), and return to normal diet group (HN). The reproductive potential of mice was tested through cohabitation. Enzymatic methods and ELISA assays were used to measure metabolic indicators, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels and intratesticular testosterone levels. Transmission electron microscopy and immunofluorescence with biotin tracers assessed the integrity of the blood-testis barrier (BTB). Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were inspected for the assessment of oxidative stress. The expression and localization of BTB-related proteins were detected through the immunoblot and immunofluorescence. The mice in the high-fat diet group indicated increased body weight and epididymal fat weight, elevated serum TC, HDL, LDL, and glucose, decreased serum FSH, and dramatic lipid deposition in the testicular interstitium. Analysis of fertility potential revealed that the fertility rate of female mice and the number of pups per litter in the HH group were significantly reduced. After the fat intake was controlled by switching to a normal diet, body weight and epididymal fat weight were significantly reduced, serum glucose and lipid levels were lowered, serum FSH level was elevated and the deposition of interstitial lipids in the testicles was also decreased. Most significantly, the number of offspring of male mice returning to a normal diet was significantly increased. Following further mechanistic analysis, the mice in the sustained high-fat diet group had disrupted testicular BTB integrity, elevated levels of oxidative stress, and abnormal expression of BTB-related proteins, whereas the restoration of the normal diet significantly ameliorated the above indicators in the mice. Our study confirms diet control by switching from a high-fat diet to a normal diet can effectively reduce body weight, ameliorate testicular lipotoxicity and BTB integrity in male mice, and improve fertility potential, providing an effective treatment option for obese male infertility.

Livestock’s live body dimensions are a pivotal indicator of economic output. Manual measurement is labor-intensive and time-consuming, often eliciting stress responses in the livestock. With the advancement of computer technology, the techniques for livestock live body dimension measurement have progressed rapidly, yielding significant research achievements. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the recent advancements in livestock live body dimension measurement, emphasizing the crucial role of computer-vision-based sensors. The discussion covers three main aspects: sensing data acquisition, sensing data processing, and sensing data analysis. The common techniques and measurement procedures in, and the current research status of, live body dimension measurement are introduced, along with a comparative analysis of their respective merits and drawbacks. Livestock data acquisition is the initial phase of live body dimension measurement, where sensors are employed as data collection equipment to obtain information conducive to precise measurements. Subsequently, the acquired data undergo processing, leveraging techniques such as 3D vision technology, computer graphics, image processing, and deep learning to calculate the measurements accurately. Lastly, this paper addresses the existing challenges within the domain of livestock live body dimension measurement in the livestock industry, highlighting the potential contributions of computer-vision-based sensors. Moreover, it predicts the potential development trends in the realm of high-throughput live body dimension measurement techniques for livestock.

Background Hydrangea macrophylla var. Maculata ‘Yinbianxiuqiu’ (YB) is an excellent plant species with beautiful flowers and leaves with silvery white edges. However, there are few reports on its leaf color characteristics and color formation mechanism. Results The present study compared the phenotypic, physiological and transcriptomic differences between YB and a full-green leaf mutant (YM) obtained from YB. The results showed that YB and YM had similar genetic backgrounds, but photosynthesis was reduced in YB. The contents of pigments were significantly decreased at the edges of YB leaves compared to YM leaves. The ultrastructure of chloroplasts in the YB leaves was irregular. Transcriptome profiling identified 7,023 differentially expressed genes between YB and YM. The expression levels of genes involved in photosynthesis, chloroplast development and division were different between YB and YM. Quantitative real-time PCR showed that the expression trends were generally consistent with the transcriptome data. Conclusions Taken together, the formation of the silvery white leaf color of H. macrophylla var. maculata was primarily due to the abnormal development of chloroplasts. This study facilitates the molecular function analysis of key genes involved in chloroplast development and provides new insights into the molecular mechanisms involved in leaf coloration in H. macrophylla .

Background and objective The femoral neck system (FNS) has been extensively studied and applied for the treatment of young patients with femoral neck fractures. The purpose of this study was to explore the biomechanical impact variations in reduction qualities on femoral neck fractures, considering factors such as tip-apex distance, the positioning of the bolt in the cortical corridor of the femoral neck, and bone mineral density. Materials and methods A randomly selected volunteer was recruited, whose clinical data on the femur were collected to establish finite element models for positive reduction, anatomical reduction, and negative reduction respectively. Based on the constructed models, different scenarios were established by varying the tip-apex distance, bone mineral density, and positioning of the bolt in the cortical corridor of the femoral neck. Under a vertical load of 2100 N, the displacement and Von Mises stress (VMS) distribution of each group of models were evaluated through simulation testing. Results Under a load of 2100 N, the maximum VMS values of the femoral neck system and femoral head was recorded during negative reduction, 968.85 MPa and 80.09 MPa respectively. In addition, factors influencing the negative reduction of FNS and the femoral head were identified to be the tip-apex distance > 10 mm, the presence of osteoporosis, and the bolt positioned in the lower-middle to the third part of the cortical corridor of the femoral neck. Conclusion The displacement and stress of negative reduction were greater than those of positive reduction and anatomical reduction when the tip-apex distance > 10 mm, and the bolt was situated in the lower-middle to the third part of the cortical corridor of the femoral neck, and in the presence of osteoporosis. This means that we recommend positive repositioning over negative repositioning when anatomical repositioning is not clinically feasible.

Both-column fractures of the acetabulum represent a particularly complex category of injury, with a high proportion necessitating surgical intervention. The most common surgical method is open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF), but this has problems like blood loss, long operations, and trauma after surgery. Robot-assisted percutaneous screw fixation is a minimally invasive treatment for both-column acetabular fractures. It has several clinical advantages, including precise screw positioning and stable performance. A comparison of the clinical efficacy of open reduction and internal fixation and robot-assisted percutaneous screws in the treatment of both-column acetabular fractures and biomechanical analyses were performed to compare the stability of the two fixation methods. Firstly, A finite element model was constructed for the purposes of analyzing both-column acetabular fractures, percutaneous screws, and reconstruction plates. Divided into four experimental groups: Group I: Acetabular anterior and posterior columns are screwed with a 6.5 mm percutaneous screw. Group II: The anterior column of the acetabulum is fixed with a 6.5 mm percutaneous screw, while the posterior column is fixed with a 7.3 mm percutaneous screw. Group III: Acetabular anterior and posterior columns are screwed with a 7.3 mm percutaneous screw. Group IV: Acetabular anterior and posterior columns are fixed with a 6-hole reconstruction plate. Each fracture group was tested under axial loads of 600 N to measure the hipbone’s displacement, Von Mises stress (VMS), and its internal fixation components. Secondly, 36 patients with both-column acetabular fractures admitted from September 2020 to September 2023 were retrospectively analyzed; 19 of them in the ORIF group, and 17 of them in the robot-assisted group. A comparison of the operative time, duration of intraoperative fluoroscopy, intraoperative blood loss, incision length, Matta’s radiological criteria, and Harris Hip Score (HHS) in two groups of patients. In terms of finite element analysis, the maximum VMS was observed for internal fixation in group II, and the minimum VMS was observed in group IV. The displacements of groups I, II, and III internal fixation were the same (approximately 1.00 mm), and the minimum internal fixation displacement was observed in group IV. The mean operating time in the ORIF group was 190.45 ± 25.40 min, the incision length was 20.56 ± 3.38 centimeters, the intraoperative bleeding was 958.73 ± 128.68 ml, and the fluoroscopy time was 55.18 ± 10.25 s. The mean operating time in the robotic group was 99.7 ± 18.8 min, with an incision length of 7.35 ± 0.56 cm, intraoperative bleeding of 50.00 ± 15.20 ml, and fluoroscopy time of 22.52 ± 14.50 s. There was a significant difference between the above data ( P  < 0.001). There was no significant difference in Matta’s radiological criteria between the two groups. HHS at three months postoperatively and six months postoperatively were 77.81 ± 2.23 and 84.78 ± 4.65 in the ORIF group, and at three months postoperatively and six months postoperatively in the robotic group were 72.19 ± 1.85 and 82.28 ± 3.32. The use of robot-assisted percutaneous screw internal fixation for both-column acetabular fractures has been demonstrated to have similar fixed strength and therapeutic effect to that of ORIF plate fixation. In contrast, robot-assisted percutaneous screw therapy offers the advantages of minimal invasiveness and precision, thereby providing a novel therapeutic option for the clinical treatment of both-column acetabular fractures.

To realize tomato growth period monitoring and yield prediction of tomato cultivation, our study proposes a visual object tracking network called YOLO-deepsort to identify and count tomatoes in different growth periods. Based on the YOLOv5s model, our model uses shufflenetv2, combined with the CBAM attention mechanism, to compress the model size from the algorithm level. In the neck part of the network, the BiFPN multi-scale fusion structure is used to improve the prediction accuracy of the network. When the target detection network completes the bounding box prediction of the target, the Kalman filter algorithm is used to predict the target’s location in the next frame, which is called the tracker in this paper. Finally, calculate the bounding box error between the predicted bounding box and the bounding box output by the object detection network to update the parameters of the Kalman filter and repeat the above steps to achieve the target tracking of tomato fruits and flowers. After getting the tracking results, we use OpenCV to create a virtual count line to count the targets. Our algorithm achieved a competitive result based on the above methods: The mean average precision of flower, green tomato, and red tomato was 93.1%, 96.4%, and 97.9%. Moreover, we demonstrate the tracking ability of the model and the counting process by counting tomato flowers. Overall, the YOLO-deepsort model could fulfill the actual requirements of tomato yield forecast in the greenhouse scene, which provide theoretical support for crop growth status detection and yield forecast.

High manganese steel can improve its microstructure after aging treatment, which is beneficial for enhancing strength, toughness, and wear resistance. This study aims to explore the effect of aging treatment on mechanical properties and wear resistance of high manganese steel (containing 25% Mn, called Mn25 steel) by designing different aging temperatures (450 °C, 500 °C, and 550 °C) with the same aging time (1 h). The results indicated that with the increase in aging treatment temperature, the surface hardness of Mn25 steel first increased and then decreased, but was still higher than that of untreated Mn25 steel. In addition, the impact toughness of steel decreased first and then increased with the increase in aging temperature, with the optimal hardness and impact toughness exhibited at 550 °C. The impact abrasive wear test results showed that the weight loss of Mn25 steel decreased with the increase in aging treatment temperature. After aging treatment at 550 °C, the weight loss is the lowest, which shows the optimal wear resistance performance. Under a high-impact load of 5.0 J, the hardness increased by nearly 49.96% after impact abrasive wear, and the effective hardening layer of the steel was the thickest, about 3800 μm. This is mainly related to the best match between the hardness and impact toughness of high manganese steel after aging treatment. The wear morphology is often caused by various wear mechanisms working together to cause the wear loss of Mn25 steel during the impact wear process. The wear morphologies of the Mn25 steel were mainly characterized by press-in particles, furrow, spalling, and strain fatigue. Through experimental analysis, a suitable aging treatment process has been determined, providing a theoretical basis for the practical application of high manganese steel.

Wearable electronics have received extensive attention in human–machine interactions, robotics, and health monitoring. The use of multifunctional sensors that are capable of measuring a variety of mechanical or environmental stimuli can provide new functionalities for wearable electronics. Advancements in material science and system integration technologies have contributed to the development of high-performance flexible multifunctional sensors. This review presents the main approaches, based on functional materials and device structures, to improve sensing parameters, including linearity, detection range, and sensitivity to various stimuli. The details of electrical, biocompatible, and mechanical properties of self-powered sensors and wearable wireless systems are systematically elaborated. Finally, the current challenges and future developmental directions are discussed to offer a guide to fabricate advanced multifunctional sensors.

Hydrangea ( Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) Ser.) is a famous ornamental plant species with high resistance to aluminum (Al). The aluminum-activated malate transporter (ALMT) family encodes anion channels, which participate in many physiological processes, such as Al tolerance, pH regulation, stomatal movement, and mineral nutrition. However, systematic studies on the gene family have not been reported in hydrangea. In this study, 11 candidate ALMT family members were identified from the transcriptome data for hydrangea, which could be divided into three clusters according to the phylogenetic tree. The protein physicochemical properties, phylogeny, conserved motifs and protein structure were analyzed. The distribution of base conservative motifs of HmALMTs was consistent with that of other species, with a highly conserved WEP motif. Furthermore, tissue-specific analysis showed that most of the HmALMTs were highly expressed in the stem under Al treatment. In addition, overexpression of HmALMT5 , HmALMT9 and HmALMT11 in yeasts enhanced their tolerance to Al stress. Therefore, the above results reveal the functional role of HmALMTs underlying the Al tolerance of hydrangea. The present study provides a reference for further research to elucidate the functional mechanism and expression regulation of the ALMT gene family in hydrangea.

Objective The thickness of the lateral femoral wall, which is an important indicator for evaluating the stability and integrity of intertrochanteric fractures, has been widely studied in recent years. However, as a typical representative of internal fixation treatment, there are few reports on the biomechanical comparison between PFNA and DHS + CS. This study focused primarily on the biomechanical effects of different lateral femoral wall thicknesses on two types of internal fixation through finite element analysis. Methods We randomly recruited a healthy adult and collected his femoral CT data to establish a model of femoral intertrochanteric fracture with different lateral femoral wall thicknesses. Following PFNA and DHS + CS fixation, femoral models were simulated, and variations in stress and displacement of the internal fixation and femoral head were recorded under the same physiological load. Results First, finite element mechanical analysis revealed that the stress and displacement of the internal fixation and femoral head were lower in the femoral model after PFNA fixation than in the DHS + CS model. Second, as the outer wall thickness decreased, the stress and deformation endured by both types of internal fixation gradually increased. Conclusions Finite element analysis determined that PFNA exhibits significantly better biomechanical stability than DHS + CS when subjected to varying lateral femoral wall thicknesses. Moreover, lateral femoral wall thickness substantially affects the stability of the two internal fixation biomechanical environments. When the thickness of the lateral femoral wall is too small, we do not recommend using extramedullary fixation because there is a significant risk of internal fixation fracture.