Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Channel-wise Knowledge Distillation for Dense Prediction*

Knowledge distillation (KD) has been proven a simple and effective tool for training compact dense prediction models. Lightweight student networks are trained by extra supervision transferred from large teacher networks. Most previous KD variants for dense prediction tasks align the activation maps from the student and teacher network in the spatial domain, typically by normalizing the activation values on each spatial location and minimizing point-wise and/or pair-wise discrepancy. Different from the previous methods, here we propose to normalize the activation map of each channel to obtain a soft probability map. By simply minimizing the Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence between the channel-wise probability map of the two networks, the distillation process pays more attention to the most salient regions of each channel, which are valuable for dense prediction tasks.We conduct experiments on a few dense prediction tasks, including semantic segmentation and object detection. Experiments demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art distillation methods considerably, and can require less computational cost during training. In particular, we improve the RetinaNet detector (ResNet50 backbone) by 3.4% in mAP on the COCO dataset, and PSPNet (ResNet18 backbone) by 5.81% in mIoU on the Cityscapes dataset. Code is available at: https://git.io/Distiller
ATCN: Resource-efficient Processing of Time Series on Edge

This article presents a scalable deep learning model called Agile Temporal Convolutional Network (ATCN) for highly accurate fast classification and time series prediction in resource-constrained embedded systems. ATCN is a family of compact networks with formalized hyperparameters that enable application-specific adjustments to be made to the model architecture. It is primarily designed for embedded edge devices with very limited performance and memory, such as wearable biomedical devices and real-time reliability monitoring systems. ATCN makes fundamental improvements over the mainstream temporal convolutional neural networks, including residual connections to increase the network depth and accuracy and the incorporation of separable depth-wise convolution to reduce the computational complexity of the model. As part of the present work, two ATCN families, namely T0 and T1, are also presented and evaluated on different ranges of embedded processors: Cortex-M7 and Cortex-A57 processors. An evaluation of the ATCN models against the best-in-class InceptionTime and MiniRocket shows that ATCN almost maintains accuracy while improving the execution time on a broad range of embedded and cyber-physical applications with demand for real-time processing on the embedded edge. At the same time, in contrast to existing solutions, ATCN is the first time series classifier based on deep learning that can be run bare-metal on embedded microcontrollers (Cortex-M7) with limited computational performance and memory capacity while delivering state-of-the-art accuracy.
The wavelet-aided methods for evaluating the output signal that is designated for uninterruptible power supply systems

In the article an analysis of the quality of the output voltage for Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) was performed. The currently used and commonly known methods for calculating the different quality factors mainly focus on averaging the values of the waveform e.g. Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), Total Distortion Factor (TDF), Weighted Total Harmonic Distortion (WTHD). The main goal of the paper is to propose a complete and supplementary methodology for assessing the quality and parameters that are the complements of the algorithms that are currently used. Streszczenie. W artykule przedstawiono analizę jakości napięcia wyjściowego falowników w systemach bezprzerwowego zasilania UPS. Obecnie znane i stosowane metody wyliczania różnych współczynników skupiają się głównie na wartościach uśrednionych przebiegu wyjściowego. Na przykład są to współczynnik zniekształceń harmonicznych THD, TDF oraz ważony WTHD. Głównym celem artykułu jest przedstawienie kompletnej i dodatkowej procedury pozwalającej na obiektywną ocenę sygnału wyjściowego będącą wsparciem dla stosowanych już metod. (Metody oparte na transformacji falkowej wspomagające ocenę sygnału wyjściowego przeznaczone do modułów bezprzerwowego zasalania UPS.)
Work and Non-Work Sickness Presenteeism

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Objective: To test the role of workplace coronavirus disease (COVID-19) climate in shaping employee attitudes toward the CDC prevention guidelines and subsequent levels of work and non-work sickness presenteeism. Methods: Three waves of anonymous survey data were collected in October and December 2020 and February 2021. Participants were 304 employed adults in the U.S., of whom half were working onsite. Results: Time 1 workplace COVID-19 climate was positively associated with Time 2 employee attitudes toward the CDC prevention guidelines, which in turn predicted Time 3 levels of non-work and work sickness presenteeism. Conclusions: The workplace can shape employee attitudes toward the CDC COVID-19 prevention guidelines and their work and non-work sickness presenteeism, thus highlighting the important role companies have in reducing community spread of the novel coronavirus in work and non-work settings.
Physiological and motion signatures in static and time-varying functional connectivity and their subject identifiability

Human brain connectivity yields significant potential as a noninvasive biomarker. Several studies have used fMRI-based connectivity fingerprinting to characterize individual patterns of brain activity. However, it is not clear whether these patterns mainly reflect neural activity or the effect of physiological and motion processes. To answer this question, we capitalize on a large data sample from the Human Connectome Project and rigorously investigate the contribution of the aforementioned processes on functional connectivity (FC) and time-varying FC, as well as their contribution to subject identifiability. We find that head motion, as well as heart rate and breathing fluctuations, induce artifactual connectivity within distinct resting-state networks and that they correlate with recurrent patterns in time-varying FC. Even though the spatiotemporal signatures of these processes yield above-chance levels in subject identifiability, removing their effects at the preprocessing stage improves identifiability, suggesting a neural component underpinning the inter-individual differences in connectivity.
Quality of life of GIST patients with and without current tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment: Cross-sectional results of a German multicentre observational study (PROSa).

OBJECTIVE We investigated the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST). METHODS In the multicentre PROSa study, the HRQoL of adult GIST patients was assessed between 2017 and 2019 using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer HRQoL questionnaire (EORTC QLQ-C30). We performed group comparisons and multivariate linear regressions. RESULTS Among 130 patients from 13 centres, the mean global HRQoL was 63.3 out of 100 points. Higher sores indicate better HRQoL. The highest restrictions were in emotional, social, role functioning, insomnia, fatigue, and pain. In multivariate linear regression, we found no significant differences between patients receiving tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment and those without TKI treatment as well as between patients treated with curative or with palliative intent. Patients who received multiple lines of TKI treatment had the most restrictions, notably in physical (unstandardized regression coefficient [B] = -15.7), role (B = -25.7), social (B = -18.4), and cognitive functioning (B = -19.7); fatigue (B = 15.93); general health (B = -14.23); and EORTC-sum score (B = -13.82) compared to all other patients. CONCLUSION The highest HRQoL restrictions were in GIST patients receiving multiple lines of TKI therapy. Underlying causes need further investigation.
Detection of expanded‐spectrum cephalosporin hydrolysis by lateral flow immunoassay

Early detection of expanded‐spectrum cephalosporin (ESC) resistance is essential not only for an effective therapy but also for the prompt implementation of infection control measures to prevent dissemination in the hospital. We have developed and validated a lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), called LFIA‐CTX test, for the detection of ESC (cefotaxime) hydrolytic activity based on structural discrimination between the intact antibiotic and its hydrolysed product. A single bacterial colony was suspended in an extraction buffer containing cefotaxime. After a 30‐min incubation, the solution is loaded on the LFIA for reading within 10 min. A total of 348 well‐characterized Gram‐negative isolates were tested. Among them, the 38 isolates that did not express any cefotaxime‐hydrolysing β‐lactamase gave negative results. Of the 310 isolates expressing at least one cefotaxime‐hydrolysing β‐lactamase, all were tested positive, except three OXA‐48‐like producers, which were repeatedly detected negative. Therefore, the sensitivity was 99.1% and the specificity was 100%. The LFIA‐CTX test is efficient, fast, low‐cost and easy to implement in the workflow of a routine microbiology laboratory.
Medicolegal Aspects of Huntington Disease

Unlawful behaviors have been reported in association with Huntington's disease (HD), although their overall prevalence and clinical significance remain unknown. Recognition of problematic behavior is limited by stigma and lack of routine clinical assessment, as well as the absence of validated screening measures. We performed a retrospective chart review of 289 patients treated for HD at Vanderbilt University Medical Center from 2006 to 2020 to assess the frequency of illegal activity in our HD population. We identified 31 patients with HD who have a documented history of unlawful behavior, comprising 11 percent of the charts reviewed. Physical violence was the most common behavior reported, followed by reckless driving, substance abuse, illegal financial activity, and inappropriate sexual behavior. Mean age at the time of the first offense was 37 years. Patients with criminal offenses were more likely to be male and in the early stages of disease with associated psychiatric symptoms. Our results emphasize that illegal activities are a significant clinical problem in individuals with HD, particularly young adult males with comorbid psychiatric symptoms. These findings highlight the need for improved screening measures to detect high-risk behaviors in individuals with HD, as well as evidence-based protocols to guide triage and management of patients engaging in potentially detrimental activities.
Lower-Resolution Retrieval of Scenes in Older Adults With Subjective Cognitive Decline

Abstract Objective Scenes with more perceptual detail can help detect subtle memory deficits more than scenes with less detail. Here, we investigated whether older adults with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) show less brain activation and more memory deficits to scenes with more (vs. scenes with less) perceptual detail compared to controls (CON). Method In 37 healthy older adults (SCD: 16), we measured blood oxygenation level-dependent-functional magnetic resonance imaging during encoding and behavioral performance during retrieval. Results During encoding, higher activation to scenes with more (vs. less) perceptual detail in the parahippocampal place area predicted better memory performance in SCD and CON. During retrieval, superior performance for new scenes with more (vs. less) perceptual detail was significantly more pronounced in CON than inSCD. Conclusions Together, these results suggest a present, but attenuated benefit from perceptual detail for memory retrieval in SCD. Memory complaints in SCD might, thus, refer to a decreased availability of perceptual detail of previously encoded stimuli.
Association between higher serum uric acid levels within the normal physiological range and changes of lumbar spine bone mineral density in healthy Chinese postmenopausal women: a longitudinal follow-up study

Abstract Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate whether higher serum uric acid (SUA) levels within the physiological range were associated with changes in lumbar spine bone mineral density (LBMD) in postmenopausal women without existing lumbar spine osteoporosis after a longitudinal follow-up of 3.09 years, and to further confirm the relationship between SUA and bone mineral density (BMD) in other sites such as femoral neck, total hip, and trochanter at follow-up. Methods: A longitudinal study of 175 healthy postmenopausal women without osteoporosis was conducted in Shenyang, China. BMD of the lumbar spine, femoral neck, total hip, and trochanter were measured using dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at each visit. Pearson's correlation analysis and regression analyses were performed to determine any associations. Results: There were positive correlations between baseline SUA and BMD of the lumbar spine (P = 0.03), total hip (P = 0.04), and trochanter (P = 0.04). Moreover, higher baseline SUA levels were independently associated with LBMD decline and the odds ratio of the baseline SUA of the third quartile group was 0.12 (95% confidence interval, 0.02-0.70, P < 0.05), with P = 0.23 for the trend in baseline SUA when compared with participants in the lowest, first quartile group after adjustment for many potential confounding variables. Conclusions: Higher SUA levels within the normal physiological range were independently associated with decreased LBMD, and SUA levels were positively related to the BMD of the lumbar spine, total hip, and trochanter in healthy Chinese postmenopausal women.
Associations between respiratory and vascular function in early childhood

The link between respiratory and vascular health is well documented in adult populations. Impaired lung function is consistently associated with thicker arteries and higher incidence of cardiovascular disease. However, there are limited data on this relationship in young children and the studies that exist have focussed on populations at high risk of cardiorespiratory morbidity. We determined if an association exists between respiratory and cardiovascular function in young children and, if so, whether it is confounded by known cardiorespiratory risk factors.
What's in the BAGs? Intrinsic disorder angle of the multifunctionality of the members of a family of chaperone regulators

In humans, the family of Bcl‐2 associated athanogene (BAG) proteins includes six members characterized by exceptional multifunctionality and engagement in the pathogenesis of various diseases. All of them are capable of interacting with a multitude of often unrelated binding partners. Such binding promiscuity and related functional and pathological multifacetedness cannot be explained or understood within the frames of the classical “one protein–one structure–one function” model, which also fails to explain the presence of multiple isoforms generated for BAG proteins by alternative splicing or alternative translation initiation and their extensive posttranslational modifications. However, all these mysteries can be solved by taking into account the intrinsic disorder phenomenon. In fact, high binding promiscuity and potential to participate in a broad spectrum of interactions with multiple binding partners, as well as a capability to be multifunctional and multipathogenic, are some of the characteristic features of intrinsically disordered proteins and intrinsically disordered protein regions. Such functional proteins or protein regions lacking unique tertiary structures constitute a cornerstone of the protein structure‐function continuum concept. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the functional roles of human BAG proteins from the perspective of protein intrinsic disorder which will provide a means for understanding their binding promiscuity, multifunctionality, and relation to the pathogenesis of various diseases.
Growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis at acidic pH depends on lipid assimilation and is accompanied by reduced GAPDH activity

Significance Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health concern despite the availability of antibiotics to treat this disease. Understanding the metabolic state of the bacteria during infection is crucial to identifying novel drug targets that are vital to Mycobacterium tuberculosis survival. Here, we demonstrate that M. tuberculosis central carbon metabolism is altered in response to acidic pH, a host-imposed stress, causing the pathogen to depend on lipids for growth. Continuous fatty acid supplementation at acidic pH is a simple and effective approach to investigate M. tuberculosis in a metabolic state that more closely reflects that of bacteria during infection and might facilitate the identification of anti-TB drugs with a greater likelihood to be active in vivo. Acidic pH arrests the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in vitro (pH < 5.8) and is thought to significantly contribute to the ability of macrophages to control M. tuberculosis replication. However, this pathogen has been shown to survive and even slowly replicate within macrophage phagolysosomes (pH 4.5 to 5) [M. S. Gomes et al., Infect. Immun. 67, 3199–3206 (1999)] [S. Levitte et al., Cell Host Microbe 20, 250–258 (2016)]. Here, we demonstrate that M. tuberculosis can grow at acidic pH, as low as pH 4.5, in the presence of host-relevant lipids. We show that lack of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and isocitrate lyase, two enzymes necessary for lipid assimilation, is cidal to M. tuberculosis in the presence of oleic acid at acidic pH. Metabolomic analysis revealed that M. tuberculosis responds to acidic pH by altering its metabolism to preferentially assimilate lipids such as oleic acid over carbohydrates such as glycerol. We show that the activity of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is impaired in acid-exposed M. tuberculosis likely contributing to a reduction in glycolytic flux. The generation of endogenous reactive oxygen species at acidic pH is consistent with the inhibition of GAPDH, an enzyme well-known to be sensitive to oxidation. This work shows that M. tuberculosis alters its carbon diet in response to pH and provides a greater understanding of the physiology of this pathogen during acid stress.
3D-printed bioceramic scaffolds with Fe3S4 microflowers for magnetothermal and chemodynamic therapy of bone tumor and regeneration of bone defects

Elimination of residual osteosarcoma cells and repair of bone defects remain major challenges for osteosarcoma in clinic. To address this problem, it is required that multifunctional therapeutic platform possess high tumor-killing efficiency and simultaneous bone regeneration capabilities. In this work, an intelligent therapeutic platform was developed to achieve highly-efficient tumor therapy and simultaneous significantly improved bone defect repairing ability, which was realized by in situ growing ferromagnetic Fe3S4 layers with tuned microstructures on the surface of 3D-printed akermanite bioceramic scaffolds via hydrothermal method. The Fe3S4 layers exploited magnetic thermal energy to enhance chemodynamic treatment, thus achieving a synergistic effect between magnetothermal and chemodynamic therapy on the elimination of residual tumor cells. Moreover, the micro-structured surface of the 3D-printed bioceramic scaffolds further enhanced the osteogenic activity in vitro and accelerated the bone regeneration in vivo. The scaffolds with multi-mode tumor-killing and bone repairing capabilities indicated that such a therapeutic platform is applicable for a stepwise treatment strategy of osteosarcoma and provides inspiration for the design of multifunctional biomaterials.
Body composition as an independent predictive and prognostic biomarker in advanced urothelial carcinoma patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

BACKGROUND Several immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are approved for the treatment of advanced urothelial carcinoma (UC). There are limited biomarkers for ICI-treated UC patients. We investigated the association between body composition and clinical outcomes in ICI-treated UC patients. METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of 70 ICI-treated advanced UC patients at Winship Cancer Institute from 2015-2020. Baseline CT images within 2 months of ICI-initiation were collected at mid-L3 and muscle and fat compartments (subcutaneous, inter-muscular, and visceral) were segmented using SliceOMatic v5.0 (TomoVision). A prognostic body composition risk score (high:0-1, intermediate:2-3, or low-risk:4) was created based on the beta coefficient from the multivariate Cox model (MVA) following best-subset variable selection. Our body composition risk score was: skeletal muscle index (SMI) + 2*attenuated SM mean + visceral fat index (VFI). Concordance statistics (C-statistics) were used to quantify the discriminatory magnitude of the predictive model. RESULTS Most patients (70%) were males and the majority received ICI in the second (46%) or third-line (21%) setting. High risk patients had significantly shorter overall survival (OS; HR: 6.72, p<0.001), progression-free survival (PFS; HR: 5.82, p<0.001), and lower chance of clinical benefit (CB; OR: 0.02, p=0.003) compared to the low-risk group in MVA. The C-statistics for our body composition risk group and myosteatosis analyses were higher than BMI for all clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS Body composition variables such as SMI, SM mean, VFI may be predictive of clinical outcomes in ICI-treated UC patients. Larger, prospective studies are warranted to validate this hypothesis-generating data. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE We developed a prognostic body composition risk scoring system using radiographic biomarkers for bladder cancer patients treated with immunotherapy. We found that the high risk patients had significantly worse clinical outcomes. Notably, our model was better at predicting outcomes than body mass index. Importantly, these results suggest that radiographic measures of body composition should be considered for inclusion in updated prognostic models for UC patients treated with immunotherapy. These findings are useful for practicing oncologists in the academic or community setting, particularly given that baseline imaging is routine for patients starting on treatment with immunotherapy.