Emotion classification based on brain–computer interface (BCI) systems is an appealing research topic. Recently, deep learning has been employed for the emotion classifications of BCI systems and compared to traditional classification methods improved results have been obtained. In this paper, a novel deep neural network is proposed for emotion classification using EEG systems, which combines the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Sparse Autoencoder (SAE), and Deep Neural Network (DNN) together. In the proposed network, the features extracted by the CNN are first sent to SAE for encoding and decoding. Then the data with reduced redundancy are used as the input features of a DNN for classification task. The public datasets of DEAP and SEED are used for testing. Experimental results show that the proposed network is more effective than conventional CNN methods on the emotion recognitions. For the DEAP dataset, the highest recognition accuracies of 89.49% and 92.86% are achieved for valence and arousal, respectively. For the SEED dataset, however, the best recognition accuracy reaches 96.77%. By combining the CNN, SAE, and DNN and training them separately, the proposed network is shown as an efficient method with a faster convergence than the conventional CNN.

Diabetes can affect many parts of the body and is associated with serious complications. Oxidative stress is a major contributor in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications and bilirubin has been shown to have antioxidant effects. The number of studies on the effect of bilirubin on the risk of diabetic complications has increased, but the results are inconsistent. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to determine the relationship between bilirubin concentration and the risk of diabetic complications, and to investigate if there was a dose-response relationship. We carried out an extensive search in multiple databases. A fixed or random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled estimates. We conducted a dose-response meta-analysis to analyze the association between these estimates. A total of 132,240 subjects from 27 included studies were analyzed in our meta-analysis. A negative nonlinear association between bilirubin concentration and the risk of diabetic complications was identified (OR: 0.77, 95% CI: 0.73–0.81), with a nonlinear association. We also found that there was a negative association between bilirubin concentration and the risk of diabetic nephropathy, diabetic retinopathy and diabetic neuropathy. The results of our meta-analysis indicate that bilirubin may play a protective role in the occurrence of diabetic complications.

Objective PM2.5, which is a major contributor to air pollution, has large effects on lung cancer mortality. We want to analyse the long-term trends in lung cancer burden attributable to PM2.5 exposure and provide evidence that can be used for preventive measures and health resource planning. Methods Mortality data related to lung cancer were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 project. A joinpoint regression analysis was used to assess the magnitude and direction of the trends in mortality from 1990 to 2019, and the age-period-cohort method was used to analyse the temporal trends in the mortality rate of lung cancer attributable to PM2.5 exposure by age, period, and cohort. Results From 1990 to 2019, the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) attributable to PM2.5 exposure trended slowly upwards, and the ASMR due to ambient PM2.5 exposure (APE) increased significantly, that due to household PM2.5 exposure (HPE) decreased. The longitudinal age curves show that the mortality rates due to PM2.5 exposure among younger individuals were low, and they significantly increased from their levels among those in the 45–49 age group to their levels among those in the over-85 age group. From 1990 to 2019, the period RRs due to APE increased, but those due to HPE decreased. Similar trends were observed in the cohort RRs. The overall net drift per year attributable to PM2.5 exposure was below 0. The local drift values increased with age and were above 0 for the over-80 age groups. The overall net drifts per year were above zero for APE and below zero for HPE. The corresponding results among males were higher than those among females. Conclusions In China, the type of air pollution responsible for lung cancer has changed from household air pollution to ambient air pollution. PM2.5 exposure is more harmful among males and older people. Ambient air pollution should be emphasized, and China should strengthen its implementation of effective public policies and other interventions.

Gametocyte is the sole form of the Plasmodium falciparum which is transmissible to the mosquito vector. Here, we report that an Apicomplexan Apetala2 (ApiAP2) family transcription factor, PfAP2-G2 (Pf3D7_1408200), plays a role in the development of gametocytes in P. falciparum by regulating the expression of PfMDV-1 (Pf3D7_1216500). Reverse transcriptase-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) analysis showed that PfAP2-G2 was highly expressed in the ring stage. Indirect immunofluorescence assay showed nuclear localization of PfAP2-G2 in asexual stages. The knockout of PfAP2-G2 led to a ~95% decrease in the number of mature gametocytes with a more substantial influence on the production and maturation of the male gametocytes, resulting in a higher female/male gametocyte ratio. To test the mechanism of this phenotype, RNA-seq and RT-qPCR showed that disruption of PfAP2-G2 led to the down-regulation of male development gene-1 (PfMDV-1) in asexual stages. We further found that PfAP2-G2 was enriched at the transcriptional start site (TSS) of PfMDV-1 by chromatin immunoprecipitation and qPCR assay in both ring stage and schizont stage, which demonstrated that PfMDV-1 is one of the targets of PfAP2-G2. In addition, RT-qPCR also showed that PfAP2-G (Pf3D7_1222600), the master regulator for sexual commitment, was also down-regulated in the PfAP2-G2 knockout parasites in the schizont stage, but no change in the ring stage. This phenomenon suggested that PfAP2-G2 played a role at the asexual stage for the development of parasite gametocytes and warrants further investigations in regulatory pathways of PfAP2-G2.