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"Wang, Degang"
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Diplomacy of quasi-alliances in the Middle East
Quasi-alliance refers to the ideation, mechanism and behavior of policy-makers to carry out security cooperation through informal political and security arrangements. As a \"gray zone\" between alliance and neutrality, quasi-alliance is a hidden national security statecraft. Based on declassified archives and secondary sources, this book probes the theory and practice of quasi-alliances in the Middle East. Four cases are chosen to test the hypotheses of quasi-alliance, one of which is the Anglo-French-Israeli quasi-alliance during the Suez Canal War of 1956.
Book
Frequency‐to‐spectrum mapping GAN for semisupervised hyperspectral anomaly detection
Most unsupervised or semisupervised hyperspectral anomaly detection (HAD) methods train background reconstruction models in the original spectral domain. However, due to the noise and spatial resolution limitations, there may be a lack of discrimination between backgrounds and anomalies. This makes it easy for the autoencoder to capture the low‐level features shared between the two, thereby increasing the difficulty of separating anomalies from the backgrounds, which runs counter to the purpose of HAD. To this end, the authors map the original spectrums to the fractional Fourier domain (FrFD) and reformulate it as a mapping task in which restoration errors are employed to distinguish background and anomaly. This study proposes a novel frequency‐to‐spectrum mapping generative adversarial network for HAD. Specifically, the depth separable features of backgrounds and anomalies are enhanced in the FrFD. Due to the semisupervised approach, FTSGAN needs to learn the embedded features of the backgrounds, thus mapping and restoring them from the FrFD to the original spectral domain. This strategy effectively prevents the model from focussing on the numerical equivalence of input and output, and restricts the ability of FTSGAN to restore anomalies. The comparison and analysis of the experiments verify that the proposed method is competitive.
Journal Article
Synthesis and Thermal Degradation Study of Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane (POSS) Modified Phenolic Resin
In this paper, a new polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane containing a phenol group (POSS-Phenol) is prepared through the Michael addition reaction, which is added to the synthesis of phenolic resin as a functional monomer. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) is used to demonstrate the chemistry structure of the synthesized POSS modified phenolic resin. After introducing POSS into the resole, a comprehensive study is conducted to reveal the effects of POSS on the thermal degradation of phenolic resin. First, thermal degradation behaviors of neat phenolic resin and modified phenolic resin are carried out by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Then, the gas volatiles from thermal degradation are investigated by thermogravimetric mass spectrometry (TG-MS). Finally, the residues after thermal degradation are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The research indicates that POSS modified phenolic resin shows a better thermal stability than neat phenolic resin, especially at high temperatures under air atmosphere. On the one hand, the introduction of the POSS group can effectively improve the release temperature of oxygen containing volatiles. On the other hand, the POSS group forms silica at high temperatures under air, which can effectively inhibit the thermal oxidation of phenolic resin and make phenolic resin show a better high-temperature oxidation resistance.
Journal Article
Ten years’ experience in prenatal diagnosis of α-thalassemia in a municipal hospital and retrospective analysis of ultrasonic abnormalities
Objective
This study reviewed and analyzed the prenatal diagnosis experience of thalassemia in our center over the past decade and the abnormal ultrasonic characteristics of fetuses with hemoglobin (Hb) Bart’s hydrops fetalis.
Methods
Pregnant women and their partners who tested positive for α
0
-thalassemia or were diagnosed with thalassemia intermedia (HbH diseases) underwent genetic counseling, and a prenatal diagnostic procedure for α-thalassemia was recommended. Ultrasonography was performed before prenatal diagnosis.
Results
Invasive prenatal α-thalassemia diagnosis and ultrasonography were performed in 1049 patients at risk for Hb Bart’s hydrops fetalis syndrome at our hospital from 2012 to 2021. Chorionic villus sampling (CVS) was performed in 58 cases (5.5%), amniocentesis in 902 cases (86%), and cordocentesis in 89 cases (8.5%). Hb Bart’s hydrops fetalis syndrome was diagnosed in 280 fetuses. The most common body cavity effusion was pericardial effusion, ascites, and fetal systemic edema.
Conclusions
The extensive experience at our center shows that carrier screening, molecular diagnostics, genetic counseling, and prenatal diagnosis are effective measures to prevent Hb Bart’s hydrops fetalis syndrome. The ultrasonographic abnormalities in fetuses with Hb Bart’s hydrops are mainly caused by an increase in cardiac output, which leads to the body cavity effusion from various organs.
Journal Article
Spatial Sampling and Grouping Information Entropy Strategy Based on Kernel Fuzzy C-Means Clustering Method for Hyperspectral Band Selection
The high spectral resolution of hyperspectral images (HSIs) provides rich information but causes data redundancy, which imposes a computational burden on practical applications. Band selection methods can select a subset of HSI without changing the main information to reduce the spectral dimension. Clustering-based methods can reduce band correlation significantly, but traditional clustering methods are mostly hard clustering and are not accurate enough to partition the bands. An unsupervised band selection method based on fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) was introduced to tackle this problem. However, FCM can easily obtain the local optimal solution and take a long time to process high-dimensional data. Hence, this work applies kernel function and a sampling strategy to reduce calculation time, and information entropy is used to initialize the cluster center. A kernel FCM algorithm based on spatial sampling and a grouping information entropy strategy is proposed and called SSGIE-KFCM. This method not only optimizes the calculation process and reduces the amount of computation data, accelerating the calculation efficiency, but also adopts grouping information entropy to improve the probability of obtaining a global optimal solution. Classification experiments on two public HSI datasets show that: (1) The classification performance of the whole band can be achieved or even exceeded by using only a small number of bands to achieve the purpose of dimensionality reduction. (2) The classification accuracy can be improved compared with the FCM method. (3) With the introduction of sampling strategy and kernel function, the computational speed is at least 24 times faster than that of FCM. It has been proven that the SSGIE-KFCM method can significantly reduce the amount of HSI while retaining the primary information of the original data, which further promotes the research and application of HSI in the remote sensing area.
Journal Article
Large-Kernel Central Block Masked Convolution and Channel Attention-Based Reconstruction Network for Anomaly Detection of High-Resolution Hyperspectral Imagery
In recent years, the rapid advancement of drone technology has led to an increasing use of drones equipped with hyperspectral sensors for ground imaging. Hyperspectral data captured via drones offer significantly higher spatial resolution, but this also introduces more complex background details and larger target scales in high-resolution hyperspectral imagery (HRHSI), posing substantial challenges for hyperspectral anomaly detection (HAD). Mainstream reconstruction-based deep learning methods predominantly emphasize spatial local information in hyperspectral images (HSIs), relying on small spatial neighborhoods for reconstruction. As a result, large anomalous targets and background details are often well reconstructed, leading to poor anomaly detection performance, as these targets are not sufficiently distinguished from the background. To address these limitations, we propose a novel HAD network for HRHSI based on large-kernel central block masked convolution and channel attention, termed LKCMCA. Specifically, we first employ the pixel-shuffle technique to reduce the size of anomalous targets without losing image information. Next, we design a large-kernel central block masked convolution to make the network pay more attention to the surrounding background information, enabling better fusion of the information between adjacent bands. This, coupled with an efficient channel attention mechanism, allows the network to capture deeper spectral features, enhancing the reconstruction of the background while suppressing anomalous targets. Furthermore, we introduce an adaptive loss function by down-weighting anomalous pixels based on the mean absolute error. This loss function is specifically designed to suppress the reconstruction of potentially anomalous pixels during network training, allowing our model to be considered an excellent background reconstruction network. By leveraging reconstruction error, the model effectively highlights anomalous targets. Meanwhile, we produced four benchmark datasets specifically for HAD tasks using existing HRHSI data, addressing the current shortage of HRHSI datasets in the HAD field. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our LKCMCA method achieves superior detection performance, outperforming ten state-of-the-art HAD methods on all datasets.
Journal Article
Prevalence of cleft lip and/or cleft palate in Guangdong province, China, 2015–2018: a spatio-temporal descriptive analysis
ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the temporal and spatial characteristics of cleft lip and/or palate based on a large-scale birth defect monitoring database.MethodsData on perinatal infants and children with cleft lip and/or palate defects from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2018 in Guangdong province of China were collected. The variables including the demographic data, basic family information (address, education level, etc.), the infant’s birth weight, gender and other basic parameters were collected and analysed.ResultsDuring the study period, the prevalence of cleft lip and/or palate was 7.55 per 10 000 perinatal infants. The prevalence of cleft lip, cleft palate and cleft lip and palate were 2.34/10 000, 2.22/10 000 and 2.98/10 000, respectively. The prevalence of cleft lip and/or palate showed a pronounced downward trend, reducing from 8.47/10 000 in 2015 to 6.51/10 000 in 2018. We observed spatial heterogeneity of prevalence of cleft lip and/or palate across the study period in Guangdong. In the Pearl River Delta region, the overall prevalence of cleft lip and/or palate was 7.31/10 000, while the figure (7.86/10 000) was slightly higher in the non-Pearl River Delta region (p<0.05). Concerning infant gender, the prevalence was in general higher in boys than girls (p<0.05). In addition, the higher prevalence was more common in mothers older than 35 years old. For the birth season, infants born in spring tended to have a higher prevalence than those born in other seasons, regardless of the prevalence of cleft lip and palate calculated separately or jointly (p<0.05). The majority of newborns with cleft lip and palate were accompanied by other birth defects.ConclusionThis study contributes a better understanding of the characteristics of spatio-temporal trends for birth defects of cleft lip and/or palate in south China.
Journal Article
Chromosomal microarray analysis for prenatal diagnosis of uniparental disomy: a retrospective study
Background
Chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) is a valuable tool in prenatal diagnosis for the detection of chromosome uniparental disomy (UPD). This retrospective study examines fetuses undergoing invasive prenatal diagnosis through Affymetrix CytoScan 750 K array analysis. We evaluated both chromosome G-banding karyotyping data and CMA results from 2007 cases subjected to amniocentesis.
Results
The detection rate of regions of homozygosity (ROH) ≥ 10 Mb was 1.8% (33/2007), with chromosome 11 being the most frequently implicated (17.1%, 6/33). There were three cases where UPD predicted an abnormal phenotype based on imprinted gene expression.
Conclusion
The integration of UPD detection by CMA offers a more precise approach to prenatal genetic diagnosis. CMA proves effective in identifying ROH and preventing the birth of children affected by imprinting diseases.
Journal Article
Diagnostic challenge and surgical management of Boerhaave’s syndrome: a case series
Background
Boerhaave’s syndrome is the spontaneous rupture of the esophagus, which requires early diagnosis and treatment. Symptoms may vary, and diagnosis can be challenging.
Case presentation
Case 1: A 54-year-old Chinese man presented to us with sudden-onset epigastric pain radiating to the back following hematemesis. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed a full-thickness rupture of the esophageal wall. Subsequent computed tomography showed frank pneumomediastinum and heterogeneous pleural effusion. Immediately, esophageal perforation repair operation and jejunostomy were performed. The postoperative period was uneventful, and he was discharged.
Case 2: A 62-year-old Chinese man was admitted to the emergency department with thoracic dull pain and chest distress. Chest computed tomography scan showed pneumomediastinum and large left-sided pleural effusion. Esophagus fistula was confirmed by contrast esophagography. Then, we performed thoracotomy to repair the esophageal tear as well as to debride and irrigate the left pleural space. His postoperative period was uneventful, with no leakage or stricture.
Case 3: The patient was a 69-year-old Chinese male presenting with severe retrosternal and upper abdominal pain following an episode of forceful vomiting. Thoracic computed tomography scan revealed a rupture in the left distal part of the esophagus, a pneumomediastinum, and left-sided pleural effusions. Conservative treatment failed to improve disease conditions. Open thoracic surgery was performed with debridement and drainage of the mediastinum and the pleural cavity, after which he made a slow but full recovery.
Conclusions
We highlight that early diagnosis and appropriate surgical treatment are essential for optimum outcome in patients with esophageal rupture. We emphasize the importance of critical care support, particularly in the early stages of management.
Journal Article
Functional Validation of a Novel Deep Intronic IMPG2 Variant Causing Pseudoexon Activation in Retinitis Pigmentosa with Macular Involvement
Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a genetically heterogeneous group of inherited retinal dystrophies often accompanied by macular involvement. Variants in
are known to cause RP type 56 and vitelliform macular dystrophy type 5, but the pathogenic role of deep intronic variants has rarely been characterized. This study aimed to identify and functionally validate a novel deep intronic
variant in a patient with RP.
A comprehensive clinical, genetic, and functional assessment was performed. Ophthalmic evaluations included fundus photography, optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography (OCTA), and multifocal electroretinography (mfERG). Whole-genome sequencing followed by Sanger validation and segregation analysis was conducted. In silico splicing prediction and dual minigene assays (pcMINI and pcMINI-C) in HEK293T and HeLa cells were employed to evaluate the splicing effect of the variant.
A novel homozygous deep intronic variant in
(NM_016247.4:c.909-1659A>G), absent from public databases, was identified. Splice prediction tools suggested creation of a cryptic donor site. Functional assays demonstrated aberrant splicing with retention of a 132 bp pseudoexon, introducing a premature termination codon and thereby likely triggering nonsense-mediated decay rather than generating a stable truncated protein. Segregation analysis confirmed autosomal recessive inheritance. The proband exhibited lifelong night blindness, progressive peripheral visual field constriction, and macular structural and functional impairment, consistent with
-associated retinopathy.
This study provides the first functional evidence that a deep intronic
variant causes pseudoexon activation leading to a premature termination codon and likely nonsense-mediated decay. These findings expand the
mutational spectrum, highlight the pathogenic potential of deep intronic variants, and emphasize the importance of functional assays for reclassifying variants of uncertain significance in inherited retinal diseases.
Journal Article