Pixel clustering for color image segmentation

Programming and Computer Software - Image segmentation using a hierarchical sequence of piecewise constant approximations that minimally differ from the original image in terms of the total squared...     

电梯层门的定期检验及案例分析

层门属于电梯的重要部件之一,它把乘客和井道、轿厢进行有效隔离,让乘客拥有一个安全良好的使用空间,有效保障乘梯人员的安全性和舒适性.层门若在带病情况下运行,乘坐电梯的人员将面临严重的安全威胁,甚至造成剪切、坠落等事故,因此乘客的乘梯安全很大程度上取决于电梯层门是否处于正常使用状态.为确保层门能够充分发挥出自身功能,减少甚至避免因层门引起的事故发生,层门的安全检验成为主要的研究对象.简要阐述了层门的结构形式,重点介绍了层门检验的主要对象和检验细节,最后对检验过程中碰到的层门滑块与防脱钩装置不能契合、层门副门锁动作不可靠两则案例进行分析探讨,为后期的检验提供参考.     

Glycosylation in Indolent,Significant and Aggressive Prostate Cancer by Automated High-Throughput N-Glycan Profiling

The diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) is a major health-care concern worldwide. This cancer can manifest itself in many distinct forms and the transition from clinically indolent PCa to the more invasive aggressive form remains poorly understood. It is now universally accepted that glycan expression patterns change with the cellular modifications that accompany the onset of tumorigenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate if differential glycosylation patterns could distinguish between indolent, significant, and aggressive PCa. Whole serum N-glycan profiling was carried out on 117 prostate cancer patients’ serum using our automated, high-throughput analysis platform for glycan-profiling which utilizes ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) to obtain high resolution separation of N-linked glycans released from the serum glycoproteins. We observed increases in hybrid, oligomannose, and biantennary digalactosylated monosialylated glycans (M5A1G1S1, M8, and A2G2S1), bisecting glycans (A2B, A2(6)BG1) and monoantennary glycans (A1), and decreases in triantennary trigalactosylated trisialylated glycans with and without core fucose (A3G3S3 and FA3G3S3) with PCa progression from indolent through significant and aggressive disease. These changes give us an insight into the disease pathogenesis and identify potential biomarkers for monitoring the PCa progression, however these need further confirmation studies.     

ACE2, the Receptor that Enables Infection by SARS-CoV-2: Biochemistry,Structure, Allostery and Evaluation of the Potential Development of ACE2 Modulators

Angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) is the human receptor that interacts with the spike protein of coronaviruses, including the one that produced the 2020 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Thus, ACE2 is a potential target for drugs that disrupt the interaction of human cells with SARS-CoV-2 to abolish infection. There is also interest in drugs that inhibit or activate ACE2, that is, for cardiovascular disorders or colitis. Compounds binding at alternative sites could allosterically affect the interaction with the spike protein. Herein, we review biochemical, chemical biology, and structural information on ACE2, including the recent cryoEM structures of full-length ACE2. We conclude that ACE2 is very dynamic and that allosteric drugs could be developed to target ACE2. At the time of the 2020 pandemic, we suggest that available ACE2 inhibitors or activators in advanced development should be tested for their ability to allosterically displace the interaction between ACE2 and the spike protein.