ABSTRACT This paper discusses the design of a safflower picking robot control system and focuses on a navigation control subsystem based on multisensor fusion. A navigation subsystem, an identification and positioning subsystem, a picking subsystem, and a levelling subsystem are designed. The hardware and software of the navigation subsystem are designed in detail, and a multisensor fusion positioning method based on extended Kalman fusion technology is proposed. The accuracy and stability levels of different combined navigation methods are compared. To test the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method, an outdoor test is carried out. The test results show that the outdoor fusion positioning accuracy of the robot is less than 8 cm, and when the satellite signal is lost, the navigation control subsystem can still provide high positioning accuracy. The final positioning result obtained using the integrated positioning method of the wheel odometer + IMU + DGNSS is approximately 52% higher than that of the odometer, approximately 29% higher than that of the wheel odometer + IMU, and approximately 11% higher than that of the IMU + DGNSS.

Abstract We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of ultra-mini percutaneous nephrolithotomy (UMP) and retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) for the management of lower calyceal stones. A group of 136 patients with a single lower calyceal stone (2-3 cm in diameter) was divided into the UMP or RIRS groups. The average operation time in the RIRS group was significantly longer than that in the UMP group, and the intraoperative blood loss in the former was markedly less than that in the latter. Besides, in the RIRS group, the decreased value of postoperative Hb was obviously lower, the postoperative hospital stay was evidently shorter, and the total hospitalization expenses were markedly less than those in UMP group were. Moreover, the success rate of the first-stage lithotripsy in the UMP group was notably higher than that in RIRS group. The RIRS group had an obviously lower VAS score but a markedly higher BCS score than the UMP group six hours after surgery. At 24 h after operation, the levels of serum CRP, TNF-α and IL -6 in patients in both groups were remarkably increased, and they were evidently lower in the RIRS group than those in the UMP group were. Three days after surgery, the levels of serum CRP, TNF-α and IL -6 were notably lower in the UMP group than those in RIRS group were. RIRS and UMP are safe and effective in the treatment of 2-3 cm lower calyceal stones. The first-stage UMP is characterized by a high stone-free rate (SFR), short operation time and low postoperative infection risk, while RIRS is associated with less blood loss and low total expenses.

Resumen Nuestro objetivo fue comparar la eficacia y seguridad de la nefrolitotomía percutánea ultramini (UMP) y la cirugía intrarrenal retrógrada (CRIR) en el manejo quirúrgico de los cálculos caliceales inferiores. Un grupo de 136 pacientes con un solo cálculo calicial inferior (2-3 cm de diámetro) se dividió en un grupo UMP o un grupo CRIR. El tiempo de operación promedio en el grupo CRIR fue significativamente más largo que en el grupo UMP, y la pérdida de sangre intraoperatoria en el primero fue marcadamente menor que en el segundo. Además, en el grupo CRIR, el valor disminuido de la Hb postoperatoria fue obviamente menor, la estancia hospitalaria postoperatoria fue evidentemente más corta y los gastos totales de hospitalización fueron notablemente menores que los del grupo UMP. Además, la tasa de éxito de la litotricia de primera etapa en el grupo UMP fue notablemente más alta que en el grupo CRIR. El grupo CRIR tuvo una puntuación VAS obviamente más baja pero una puntuación BCS marcadamente más alta que el grupo UMP a seos horas después de la operación. A las 24 h después de la operación, los niveles séricos de PCR, TNF-α e IL -6 en los pacientes de ambos grupos aumentaron notablemente y fueron evidentemente más bajos en el grupo CRIR que en el grupo UMP. Tres días después de la operación, los niveles séricos de PCR, TNF-α e IL -6 fueron notablemente más bajos en el grupo UMP que en el grupo CRIR. Los procedimientos CRIR y el UMP son seguros y eficaces en el tratamiento de cálculos caliciales inferiores de 2-3 cm. El UMP de primera etapa se caracteriza por tener una tasa libre de cálculo (SFR) alta, un tiempo de operación corto y un riesgo de infección posoperatorio bajo, y el RIRS se caracteriza por una menor pérdida de sangre y gastos totales bajos.

ABSTRACT To mitigate the large demand for safflower picking labour and the low efficiency of manual picking, a safflower picking robot that is based on a parallel manipulator is designed. The whole robot mainly consists of a walking device, parallel manipulator device, vision device, picking device, filament collection device, control system, and motor drive system. The forward and inverse kinematics analysis of the parallel manipulator is analysed via a geometric method, the kinematics model is established, and the computational analysis of the parallel manipulator working speed is based on the Jacobi matrix. For driving angle errors of 0.001∼0.005°, the moving platform's motion accuracy is 0.2174–0.9387 mm, which meets the position accuracy requirements of the test stage. Based on MATLAB software, the Monte Carlo method is employed to solve the working space of the parallel manipulator, which is approximately an equilateral triangle with a side length of 0.35 m, which satisfies the safflower growth space picking conditions. The prototype is constructed, and safflower picking experiments are carried out under laboratory conditions. The average picking period of each flower bulb was 16 s, and the average net picking rate of the filaments was 87.91%. The experimental results verified the applicability of the safflower picking robot.

ABSTRACT Cropland soil respiration (Rs) is a major part of CO2 transportation between the atmosphere and terrestrial ecosystems. Stalk retention is an effective method to conduct sustainable agricultural development. However, the relationship between long-term maize (Zea mays L.) stalk retention and seedtime Rs is not yet fully understood; two experimental zones with the same management history were therefore chosen to conduct the comparative study. Rainfed maize monoculture was the only crop cultivated in the study site. One zone (CZ) was covered by 5639 kg ha-1 maize stalk residue (MSR) after harvesting, and the other zone (BZ) has been left bare since autumn 2000. Annual measurements with 10 replicates were conducted at seedtime in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Results showed that mean Rs was 4.11 and 4.99 (g CO2 g-1 soil h-1 for CZ and BZ, respectively. Compared with BZ, CZ soil moisture was higher, but its soil temperature was lower. Although soil microbial abundances in CZ and BZ had decreasing trends between two adjacent seedtimes, there was a nonsignificant decrease of actinomycetes (p > 0.1) and fungi (p > 0.1) in BZ. The mean percentages of alkyl-carbon (Alkyl-C) were 25.6% and 35.0% for CZ and BZ, respectively. Redundancy analyses (RDA) showed that decreasing soil temperature, soil fungi, Alkyl-C as well as increasing soil moisture could explain reduced Rs in CZ. Maize stalk retention reduces seedtime Rs, thus maize stalk retention might contribute to soil C sequestration.

Abstract Large quantities of kitchen waste are produced in modern society and its disposal poses serious environmental and social problems. The aim of this study was to isolate degradative strains from kitchen waste and to develop a novel and effective microbial agent. One hundred and four strains were isolated from kitchen waste and the 84 dominant strains were used to inoculate protein-, starch-, fat- and cellulose-containing media for detecting their degradability. Twelve dominant strains of various species with high degradability (eight bacteria, one actinomycetes and three fungi) were selected to develop a compound microbial agent "YH" and five strains of these species including H7 (Brevibacterium epidermidis), A3 (Paenibacillus polymyxa), E3 (Aspergillus japonicus), F9 (Aspergillus versicolor) and A5 (Penicillium digitatum), were new for kitchen waste degradation. YH was compared with three commercial microbial agents-"Tiangeng" (TG), "Yilezai" (YLZ) and Effective Microorganisms (EM), by their effects on reduction, maturity and deodorization. The results showed that YH exerted the greatest efficacy on mass loss which decreased about 65.87% after 14 days. The agent inhibited NH3 and H2S emissions significantly during composting process. The concentration of NH3 decreased from 7.1 to 3.2 ppm and that of H2S reduced from 0.7 to 0.2 ppm. Moreover, E4/E6 (Extinction value460nm/Extinction value665nm) of YH decreased from 2.51 to 1.31, which meant YH had an obvious maturity effect. These results highlighted the potential application of YH in composting kitchen waste.

Abstract: Introduction and aim. Hyponatremia is common in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and is associated with increased mortality. Tolvaptan, a vasopressor V2 receptor antagonist, can increase free wáter excretion, but its efficacy and safety in cirrhotic patients remain unclear. Material and methods. We studied the usage and safety of tolvaptan in cirrhotic patients in a real-life, non-randomized, multicenter prospective cohort study. Forty-nine cirrhotic patients with hyponatremia were treated with tolvaptan 15 mg daily, and 48 patients not treated with tolvaptan in the same period served as controls. Improvement in serum sodium level was defined as an increase in serum sodium from < 125 to ≥ 125 mmol/L or from 125-134 to ≥ 135 mmol/L on day 7. Results. Twenty-three (47%) patients in the tolvaptan group and 17 (35%) in the control group had normal serum sodium on day 7 (p = 0.25). Serum sodium improved in 30 (61%) patients in the tolvaptan group and 17 (35%) patients in the control group (p = 0.011). Adverse events occurred in 46-47% of patients in both groups, and tolvaptan was not associated with worsened liver function. No patient with normal serum sodium on day 7 died within 30 days of treatment, whereas 16% of those with persistent hyponatremia died (p = 0.0019). Conclusion. In conclusion, short-term tolvaptan treatment is safe and can improve serum sodium level in cirrhotic patients with hyponatremia. Normalization of serum sodium level is associated with better survival.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the gross tumor volume of resectable gastric adenocarcinoma on multidetector computed tomography could predict the presence of regional lymph node metastasis and could determine N categories. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 202 consecutive patients with gastric adenocarcinoma who had undergone gastrectomy 1 week after contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography were retrospectively identified. The gross tumor volume was evaluated on multidetector computed tomography images. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to determine whether the gross tumor volume could predict regional lymph node metastasis, and the Mann-Whitney U test was performed to compare the gross tumor volume among N categories. Additionally, a receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to identify the accuracy of the gross tumor volume in differentiating N categories. RESULTS: The gross tumor volume could predict regional lymph node metastasis (p<0.0001) in the univariate analysis, and the multivariate analyses indicated that the gross tumor volume was an independent risk factor for regional lymph node metastasis (p=0.005, odds ratio=1.364). The Mann-Whitney U test showed that the gross tumor volume could distinguish N0 from the N1-N3 categories, N0-N1 from N2-N3, and N0-N2 from N3 (all p<0.0001). In the T1-T4a categories, the gross tumor volume could differentiate N0 from the N1-N3 categories (cutoff, 12.3 cm3), N0-N1 from N2-N3 (cutoff, 16.6 cm3), and N0-N2 from N3 (cutoff, 24.6 cm3). In the T4a category, the gross tumor volume could differentiate N0 from the N1-N3 categories (cutoff, 15.8 cm3), N0-N1 from N2-N3 (cutoff, 17.8 cm3), and N0-N2 from N3 (cutoff, 24 cm3). CONCLUSION: The gross tumor volume of resectable gastric adenocarcinoma on multidetector computed tomography could predict regional lymph node metastasis and N categories.

CONTEXTO: As complicações cardiovasculares são a principal causa de morte em pacientes com acromegalia, e a morte súbita tem sido associada a taquiarritmias ventriculares. Em outros pacientes com risco de vida por taquiarritmias ventriculares malignas, a aplicação cirúrgica de um cardioversor-desfibrilador implantável (CDI) provou ser altamente eficaz na redução das taxas de morte súbita. RELATO DE CASO: O presente artigo relata o caso de um paciente acromegálico de 50 anos de idade e do sexo masculino, que apresentava sintomas de síncope induzida por taquicardia ventricular. Foi implantado cirurgicamente nesse paciente um CDI e na mesma intervenção cirúrgica foi completamente removido um adenoma hipofisário responsável pela acromegalia. A cirurgia foi bem-sucedida e o paciente deixou de sofrer de arritmias ventriculares. Durante seis meses de acompanhamento, não se documentaram, nesse paciente, episódios arrítmicos. CONCLUSÃO: A taquiarritmia ventricular maligna pode ser efetivamente controlada em pacientes com acromegalia pela implantação de um CDI combinado com a remoção cirúrgica do adenoma hipofisário.

CONTEXT: In patients with acromegaly, cardiovascular complications are the main cause of death; sudden death has been associated with ventricular tachyarrhythmias. In other patients with life-threatening malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmias, surgical placement of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) has proved highly effective in reducing sudden death rates. CASE REPORT: The present article reports the case of a 50-year-old male acromegalic patient who presented symptoms of syncope induced by ventricular tachycardia. An ICD was surgically implanted and a pituitary adenoma, which was responsible for the acromegaly, was completely removed in the same procedure. The surgery was successful and the ventricular arrhythmias were effectively terminated. During six months of follow-up, no documented arrhythmic episodes occurred. CONCLUSION: In patients with acromegaly, malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmia might be effectively controlled by implantation of an ICD and surgical removal of the pituitary adenoma.

Chitinase plays a positive role in the pathogenicity of Bacillus thuringiensis to insect pests. We used touchdown PCR to clone the chitinase (Schi) gene from Bacillus thuringiensis serovar sotto (Bt sotto) chromosomal DNA. Our DNA sequencing analysis revealed that the Bt sotto Schi gene consists of an open reading frame (ORF) of 2067 nucleotides with codes for the chitinase precursor. We also found that the putative promoter consensus sequences (the -35 and -10 regions) of the Bt soto Schi gene are identical to those of the chiA71 gene from Bt Pakistani, the chiA74 gene from Bt kenyae and the ichi gene from Bt israelensis. The Schi chitinase precursor is 688 amino acids long with an estimated molecular mass of 75.75 kDa and a theoretical isoelectric point of 5.74, and contains four domains, which are, in sequence, a signal peptide, an N-terminal catalytic domain, a fibronectin type III like domain and a C-terminal chitin-binding domain. Sequence comparison and the evolutionary relationship of the Bt sotto Schi chitinase to other chitinase and chitinase-like proteins are also discussed.