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As an indispensable environment element for crop growth, air temperature has brought challenge for the sustainable development of rice ( Oryza sativa L.) production. Elevated air temperature led to great loss in rice grain yield in many districts suffering from heat stress due to the greenhouse effect worldwide, which has received more and more attention from researchers. A field experiment was conducted to investigate impacts of high air temperature (HAT) after rice heading stage on dynamics of SPAD values, soluble sugar, soluble protein, and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents of flag leaves, and grain yield attributes. The results showed that HAT significantly reduced SPAD values, soluble sugar and protein contents, seed-setting rate, number of filled grains per panicles, 1000-grain weight, and grain yield, while increased MDA content. There exists strong correlation between each physiological parameter and days from heading stage to maturity, which can be simulated by quadratic curve equation or linear regression equation. Under HAT, the enhanced MDA content and decreased soluble sugar content demonstrated the damage of membrane structure and photosynthesis function of rice flag leaves, which was partially attributed to the reduced SPAD value and soluble protein content. In the present experiment, rice seed-setting rate was more vulnerable to HAT than grain weight. The disturbance of physiological metabolism in flag leaves was a fundamental reason for the reduction of rice grain yield under HAT.

High-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are mostly used in the current field of ship classification, but in practical applications, moderate-resolution SAR images that can offer wider swath are more suitable for maritime surveillance. The ship targets in moderate-resolution SAR images occupy only a few pixels, and some of them show the shape of bright spots, which brings great difficulty for ship classification. To fully explore the deep-level feature representations of moderate-resolution SAR images and avoid the “dimension disaster”, we innovatively proposed a feature fusion framework based on the classification ability of individual features and the efficiency of overall information representation, called maximum-information-minimum-redundancy (MIMR). First, we applied the Filter method and Kernel Principal Component Analysis (KPCA) method to form two feature subsets representing the best classification ability and the highest information representation efficiency in linear space and nonlinear space. Second, the MIMR feature fusion method is adopted to assign different weights to feature vectors with different physical properties and discriminability. Comprehensive experiments on the open dataset OpenSARShip show that compared with traditional and emerging deep learning methods, the proposed method can effectively fuse non-redundant complementary feature subsets to improve the performance of ship classification in moderate-resolution SAR images.

Serological tests play an essential role in monitoring and combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Recombinant spike protein (S protein), especially the S1 protein, is one of the major reagents used for serological tests. However, the high cost of S protein production and possible cross-reactivity with other human coronaviruses pose unavoidable challenges. By taking advantage of a peptide microarray with full spike protein coverage, we analyzed 2,434 sera from 858 COVID-19 patients, 63 asymptomatic patients and 610 controls collected from multiple clinical centers. Based on the results, we identified several S protein-derived 12-mer peptides that have high diagnostic performance. In particular, for monitoring the IgG response, one peptide (aa 1148–1159 or S2–78) exhibited a sensitivity (95.5%, 95% CI 93.7–96.9%) and specificity (96.7%, 95% CI 94.8–98.0%) comparable to those of the S1 protein for the detection of both symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. Furthermore, the diagnostic performance of the S2–78 (aa 1148–1159) IgG was successfully validated by ELISA in an independent sample cohort. A panel of four peptides, S1–93 (aa 553–564), S1–97 (aa 577–588), S1–101 (aa 601–612) and S1–105 (aa 625–636), that likely will avoid potential cross-reactivity with sera from patients infected by other coronaviruses was constructed. The peptides identified in this study may be applied independently or in combination with the S1 protein for accurate, affordable, and accessible COVID-19 diagnosis.

ObjectiveWe aimed to describe the association between in-hospital infection and prognosis among patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) who received percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).DesignThis observational cohort originated from a database of patients with NSTE-ACS who underwent PCI from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2014.SettingFive centres in South China.ParticipantsThis multicentre observational cohort study consecutively included 8197 patients with NSTE-ACS who received PCI. Only patients with adequate information to diagnose or rule out infection were included. Patients were excluded if they were diagnosed with a malignant tumour, were pregnant or presented with cardiogenic shock at the index date. Patients were grouped by whether they had in-hospital infection or not.Primary and secondary outcome measuresThe primary outcome was all-cause death and major bleeding during hospitalisation. The secondary outcomes included all-cause death and major bleeding during follow-up and in-hospital myocardial infarction.ResultsOf the 5215 patients, 206 (3.95%) acquired infection. Patients with infection had a higher rate of in-hospital all-cause death and major bleeding (4.4% vs 0.2% and 16.5% vs 1.2%, respectively; p<0.001). After adjusting for confounders, infection remained independently associated with in-hospital and long-term all-cause death (OR, 13.19, 95% CI 4.59 to 37.87; HR, 2.03, 95% CI 1.52 to 2.71; p<0.001) and major bleeding (OR, 10.24, 95% CI 6.17 to 16.98; HR, 5.31, 95% CI 3.49 to 8.08; p<0.001). A subgroup analysis confirmed these results.ConclusionsThe incidence of infection is low during hospitalisation, but is associated with worse in-hospital and long-term outcomes.

One of the best ways to control COVID-19 is vaccination. Among the various SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, inactivated virus vaccines have been widely applied in China and many other countries. To understand the underlying protective mechanism of these vaccines, it is necessary to systematically analyze the humoral responses that are triggered. By utilizing a SARS-CoV-2 microarray with 21 proteins and 197 peptides that fully cover the spike protein, antibody response profiles of 59 serum samples collected from 32 volunteers immunized with the inactivated virus vaccine BBIBP-CorV were generated. For this set of samples, the microarray results correlated with the neutralization titers of the authentic virus, and two peptides (S1-5 and S2-22) were identified as potential biomarkers for assessing the effectiveness of vaccination. Moreover, by comparing immunized volunteers to convalescent and hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the N protein, NSP7, and S2-78 were identified as potential biomarkers for differentiating COVID-19 patients from individuals vaccinated with the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. The comprehensive profile of humoral responses against the inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccine will facilitate a deeper understanding of the vaccine and provide potential biomarkers for inactivated virus vaccine-related applications.

Donor-derived infection (DDI) associated with Scedosporium spp is extremely rare, and results in a very poor prognosis. The present study reports a probable DDI due to Scedosporium boydii (S. boydii) from a donor with neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus. Two recipients developed Scedosporiosis after kidney transplantation from the same donor. Recipient 1 died of central nervous system infection due to S. boydii based on the clinical presentations, and the positive metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and culture results for the cerebrospinal fluid. The other recipient with urinary tract obstruction due to S. boydii, which was identified through the positive culture and mNGS results of the removed stents, was successfully treated by stent replacement and voriconazole administration. Undiagnosed disseminated donor infection and the transmission of S. boydii should be given attention, particularly when the donor and recipients have primary immunodeficiency disease. The screening of donors and recipients for S. boydii using mNGS may be helpful in guiding antifungal prophylaxis and treatment recipients, due to its higher sensitivity and shorter diagnostic time relative to other traditional techniques.

To investigate whether the addition of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to the TIMI risk score enhances the prediction of in-hospital and long-term death in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. 673 patients with STEMI were divided into three groups based on TIMI risk score for STEMI: low-risk group (TIMI ≤3, n = 213), moderate-risk group (TIMI 4–6, n = 285), and high-risk group (TIMI ≥7, n = 175). The predictive value was evaluated using the receiver operating characteristic. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine risk predictors. The rates of in-hospital death (0.5 vs 3.2 vs 10.3 %, p < 0.001) and major adverse cardiovascular events (14.6 vs 22.5 vs 40.6 %, p < 0.001) were significantly higher in high-risk group. Multivariate analysis showed that TIMI risk score (OR 1.24, 95 % CI 1.04–1.48, P = 0.015) and LVEF (OR 3.85, 95 % CI 1.58–10.43, P = 0.004) were independent predictors of in-hospital death. LVEF had good predictive value for in-hospital death (AUC: 0.838 vs 0.803, p = 0.571) or 1-year death (AUC: 0.743 vs 0.728, p = 0.775), which was similar to TIMI risk score. When compared with the TIMI risk score alone, the addition of LVEF was associated with significant improvements in predicting in-hospital (AUC: 0.854 vs 0.803, p = 0.033) or 1-year death (AUC: 0.763 vs 0.728, p = 0.016). The addition of LVEF to TIMI risk score enhanced net reclassification improvement (0.864 for in-hospital death, p < 0.001; 0.510 for 1-year death, p < 0.001). LVEF was associated with in-hospital and long-term mortality in STEMI patients and had additive prognostic value to TIMI risk score.

Purpose Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) is a serious complication and associated with poor clinical outcomes. The protective value of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) administration on CIN is still controversial in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary angiography (CAG). We performed a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for BNP in preventing CIN. Methods We systematically searched PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov for RCTs comparing administration of BNP versus non-BNP for preventing CIN. Publication bias was assessed by funnel plots. Relative risk (RR) was calculated for incidence of CIN and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) using the random or fixed effect model according to heterogeneity analysis. Results There were five RCTs with 1441 patients in this analysis. BNP treatment was associated with lower incidence of CIN (RR = 0.38, 95 % CI 0.27–0.54, p  < 0.001) and MACEs (RR = 0.47, 95 % CI 0.24–0.95, p  = 0.034) with no significant heterogeneity ( I 2  = 0 %, p  = 0.701; I 2  = 60 %, p  = 0.113, respectively). Similar results were seen in subgroup analysis. Prophylactic BNP significantly decreased the incidence of CIN after cardiac catheterization in the studies of regarding sodium chloride as placebo ( I 2  = 0 %, RR = 0.39, 95 % CI 0.27–0.56, p  < 0.001) or JADAD score > 3 ( I 2  = 0 %, RR = 0.38, 95 % CI 0.21–0.68, p  = 0.001). Conclusions Preprocedural BNP treatment significantly decreased the incidence of CIN and short-term MACEs in patients undergoing PCI or CAG.

Background： Retroperitoneal fibrosis （RPF） is an uncommon disease that is characterized by development of fibrosclerotic tissues involving retroperitoneal structures. This study aimed to investigate the clinical features of 30 patients with RPF in a single center in Beijing in a 10-year period. Methods： We retrospectively analyzed clinical data on demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, laboratory findings, radiological findings, modalities of treatments, outcomes and prognosis of 30 patients with RPF. Patients were treated in Beijing Chao-Yang Hospital between January 2003 and December 2013. Results： The mean age of patients with RPF was 56.7 ± 14.4 years. Twenty-three patients were men and seven patients were women. Acute phase reactants were elevated in most patients. Rheumatic factor was positive in 4/25 （16.0%） patients, and antinuclear antibody was positive in 6/22 （27.3%） patients. Elevation oflgG4 was observed in 9/22 （40.9%） patients. The most common type was Ⅰ＋ Ⅲ （17 = 13）, followed by Ⅰ ＋ Ⅱ＋ Ⅲ（n = 12）. Five patients undertook an 18F-fluoro-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography examination and increased uptake was detected in four patients. Eight patients received combination therapy with glucocorticoids and tamoxifen. Surgical intervention treatments included intraureteral double-J stent implantation （n = 26）, percutaneous nephrostomy （n = 2）, open ureterolysis and intraperitonealization of the ureters （n = 5） and laparoscopic ureterolysis and intraperitonealization of the ureters （n = 5）. Three patients underwent hemodialysis because of renal failure. Conclusions： Clinical characteristics of RPF patients in our study are similar to those previously reported. Steroids and immunosuppressive therapy combined with ureterolysis could be a viable choice of treatment for RPF. More prospective, multi-center studies with a longer follow-up are warranted.