Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Statistical CT reconstruction using region-aware texture preserving regularization learning from prior normal-dose CT image

In some clinical applications, prior normal-dose CT (NdCT) images are available, and the valuable textures and structure features in them may be used to promote follow-up low-dose CT (LdCT) reconstruction. This study aims to learn texture information from the NdCT images and leverage it for follow-up LdCT image reconstruction to preserve textures and structure features. Specifically, the proposed reconstruction method first learns the texture information from those patches with similar structures in NdCT image, and the similar patches can be clustered by searching context features efficiently from the surroundings of the current patch. Then it utilizes redundant texture information from the similar patches as a priori knowledge to describe specific regions in the LdCT image. The advanced region-aware texture preserving prior is termed as ‘RATP’. The main advantage of the PATP prior is that it can properly learn the texture features from available NdCT images and adaptively characterize the region-specific structures in the LdCT image. The experiments using patient data were performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The proposed RATP method demonstrated superior performance in LdCT imaging compared to the filtered back projection (FBP) and statistical iterative reconstruction (SIR) methods using Gaussian regularization, Huber regularization and the original texture preserving regularization.
Show Me a Story: Towards Coherent Neural Story Illustration

We propose an end-to-end network for visual illustration of a sequence of sentences forming a story. At the core of our model is the ability to model the inter-related nature of the sentences within a story, as well as the ability to learn coherence to support reference resolution. The framework takes the form of an encoder-decoder architecture, where sentences are encoded using a hierarchical two-level sentence-story GRU, combined with an encoding of coherence, and sequentially decoded using a predicted feature representation into a consistent illustrative image sequence. We optimize all parameters of our network in an end-to-end fashion with respect to order embedding loss, encoding entailment between images and sentences. Experiments on the VIST storytelling dataset [9] highlight the importance of our algorithmic choices and efficacy of our overall model.
Patient Acceptance of e-Health Services in Saudi Arabia: An Integrative Perspective.

BACKGROUND e-Health has been expansively considered as a technological intervention for fundamental enhancement in the healthcare sector to mitigate the enormous demand and supply of healthcare in both developed and developing nations. In 2000, the Saudi government established a committee for health reform to develop an information technology strategic plan for healthcare and for deploying e-health applications within the country. The objective of e-health systems was to provide better healthcare to patients and to increase the efficiency of healthcare organizations. Despite numerous e-health interventions to provide healthcare services, very little is studied about the adoption process of e-health from users' viewpoints in Saudi Arabia. This study minimizes this knowledge gap by studying the factors affecting the adoption and acceptance of e-health in the context of Saudi Arabia. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study has combined the Technology Acceptance Model and Theory of Planned Behavior frameworks to evaluate the factors influencing the patient acceptance of e-health services in Saudi Arabia. Data were collected from patients at various private and public hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The partial least square technique based on structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the survey data. RESULTS The study shows the significant influence of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on the attitude. Furthermore, attitude and subjective norm (p < 0.05) significantly influence patient behavioral intention (BI) to use e-health services. However, perceived behavioral control (p > 0.05) had no significant influence on patient BI to use e-health services. CONCLUSIONS The findings of this study might be useful to policymakers, the government, and healthcare service providers in Saudi Arabia and other developing countries.
Music Generation and Transformation with Moment Matching-Scattering Inverse Networks

We introduce a Moment Matching-Scattering Inverse Network (MM-SIN) to generate and transform musical sounds. The MM-SIN generator is similar to a variational autoencoder or an adversarial network. However, the encoder or the discriminator are not learned, but computed with a scattering transform deﬁned from prior information on sparse time-frequency audio properties. The generator is trained by jointly minimizing the reconstruction loss of an inverse problem, and a generation loss which computes a distance over scattering moments. It has a similar causal architecture as a WaveNet and provides a simpler mathematical model related to time-frequency decompositions. Numerical experiments demonstrate that this MM-SIN generates new realistic musical signals. It can transform low-level musical attributes such as pitch with a linear transformation in the embedding space of scattering co-efﬁcients.
Visualization of Audio Data Using Stacked Graphs

In this paper, we study the benefit of considering stacked graphs to display audio data. Thanks to a careful use of layering of the spectral information, the resulting display is both concise and intuitive. Compared to the spectrogram display, it allows the reader to focus more on the temporal aspect of the time/frequency decomposition while keeping an abstract view of the spectral information. The use of such a display is validated using two perceptual experiments that demonstrate the potential of the approach. The first considers the proposed display to perform an identification task of the musical instrument and the second considers the proposed display to evaluate the technical level of a musical performer. Both experiments show the potential of the display and potential applications scenarios in musical training are discussed.
reduces body weight and improves glycemic control in juvenile obese / hyperglycemic male and female rats

Running Title: Effects of liraglutide in juvenile rats ABSTRACT Aims: Maternal and early-postnatal consumption of high-fat/high-sucrose diet (HFSD) dramatically alters the offspring phenotype, predisposing the progeny to have reduced sensitivity to satiation signals, increased body weight, and blood glucose impairments. Recent therapeutics for treating adult obesity have focused on targeting the glucagon-like-peptide-1 (GLP-1) system. Here, we examine whether the GLP-1 receptor agonist liraglutide could be used in juvenile male
Use of Dental Practices for the Identification of Adults With Undiagnosed Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus or Nondiabetic Hyperglycemia: Protocol for a Systematic Review

Background Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a growing global health burden and is expected to affect more than 590 million people by the year 2035. Evidence exists to demonstrate that dental settings have been used for risk assessment and identification of individuals who may be at high risk for T2DM or who may already unknowingly have the condition. Objective This protocol aims to outline the methodology that will be undertaken to synthesize the literature relating to the use of primary care (nonhospital-based) dental services for the identification of undiagnosed T2DM or prediabetes—often termed nondiabetic hyperglycemia—in adult patients. Methods This paper outlines the protocol that will be followed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the available literature. The protocol outlines the aims, objectives, search strategy, data extraction and data management methods, as well as the statistical analysis plan. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols guidelines were followed in developing the protocol as were elements of the Cochrane handbook. Results We expect the systematic review to be completed within 18 months of publication of this protocol and expect to see a high degree of heterogeneity in the existing literature. Conclusions This review is of importance as it will synthesize the existing evidence base and inform future studies in the field. Following the publication of the protocol, the review will be registered on Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews. Following the completion of the review, results will be published in a suitable peer-reviewed journal. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) PRR1-10.2196/11843
Player Vs Transcriber: A Game Approach To Data Manipulation For Automatic Drum Transcription

State-of-the-art automatic drum transcription (ADT) approaches utilise deep learning methods reliant on time-consuming manual annotations and require congruence be-tween training and testing data. When these conditions are not held, they often fail to generalise. We propose a game approach to ADT, termed player vs transcriber (PvT), in which a player model aims to reduce transcription accuracy of a transcriber model by manipulating training data in two ways. First, existing data may be augmented, allowing the transcriber to be trained using recordings with modiﬁed timbres. Second, additional individual recordings from sample libraries are included to generate rare combinations. We present three versions of the PvT model: AugExist , which augments pre-existing recordings; AugAddExist , which adds additional samples of drum hits to the AugExist system; and Generate , which generates training examples exclusively from individual drum hits from sample libraries. The three versions are evaluated alongside a state-of-the-art deep learning ADT system using two evaluation strategies. The results demonstrate that including the player network improves the ADT performance and suggests that this is due to improved gen-eralisability. The results also indicate that although the Generate model achieves relatively low results, it is a viable choice when annotations are not accessible.
Developing mobile health applications for neglected tropical disease research

Mobile applications (apps) can bring health research and its potential downstream benefits closer to underserved populations. Drawing on experience developing an app for detecting and referring cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Colombia, called Guaral/app, we review key steps in creating such mobile health (mHealth) tools. These require consideration of the sociotechnical context using methods such as systems analysis and human-centered design (HCD), predicated on engagement and iteration with all stakeholders. We emphasize usability and technical concerns and describe the interdependency of technical and human considerations for mHealth systems in rural communities.
MinC N- and C-Domain Interactions Modulate FtsZ Assembly, Division Site Selection, and MinD-Dependent Oscillation in Escherichia coli

Bacterial cell division proceeds through the coordinated assembly of the FtsZ-ring, or Z-ring, at the site of division. Assembly of the Z-ring requires polymerization of FtsZ, which is regulated by several proteins in the cell. In Escherichia coli, the Min system, which contains MinC, MinD, and MinE proteins, exhibits polar oscillation and inhibits the assembly of FtsZ at nonseptal locations. Here, we identify regions on the surface of MinC that are important for contacting FtsZ and destabilizing FtsZ polymers. ABSTRACT The Min system in Escherichia coli, consisting of MinC, MinD, and MinE proteins, regulates division site selection by preventing assembly of the FtsZ-ring (Z-ring) and exhibits polar oscillation in vivo. MinC antagonizes FtsZ polymerization, and in vivo, the cellular location of MinC is controlled by a direct association with MinD at the membrane. To further understand the interactions of MinC with FtsZ and MinD, we performed a mutagenesis screen to identify substitutions in minC that are associated with defects in cell division. We identified amino acids in both the N- and C-domains of MinC that are important for direct interactions with FtsZ and MinD in vitro, as well as mutations that modify the observed in vivo oscillation of green fluorescent protein (GFP)-MinC. Our results indicate that there are two distinct surface-exposed sites on MinC that are important for direct interactions with FtsZ, one at a cleft on the surface of the N-domain and a second on the C-domain that is adjacent to the MinD interaction site. Mutation of either of these sites leads to slower oscillation of GFP-MinC in vivo, although the MinC mutant proteins are still capable of a direct interaction with MinD in phospholipid recruitment assays. Furthermore, we demonstrate that interactions between FtsZ and both sites of MinC identified here are important for assembly of FtsZ-MinC-MinD complexes and that the conserved C-terminal end of FtsZ is not required for MinC-MinD complex formation with GTP-dependent FtsZ polymers. IMPORTANCE Bacterial cell division proceeds through the coordinated assembly of the FtsZ-ring, or Z-ring, at the site of division. Assembly of the Z-ring requires polymerization of FtsZ, which is regulated by several proteins in the cell. In Escherichia coli, the Min system, which contains MinC, MinD, and MinE proteins, exhibits polar oscillation and inhibits the assembly of FtsZ at nonseptal locations. Here, we identify regions on the surface of MinC that are important for contacting FtsZ and destabilizing FtsZ polymers.
VenueRank: Identifying Venues that Contribute to Artist Popularity

An important problem in the live music industry is ﬁnding venues that help expose artists to wider audiences. However, it is often difﬁcult to obtain live music audience data to tackle this task. In this work, we investigate whether important venues can instead be inferred through social media data. Our approach consists of employing bipartite graph ranking algorithms to help discover important venues in artist-venue graphs mined from Facebook. We use both well-established algorithms, such as BiRank, and a modiﬁcation of their common iterative scheme that avoids the impact of possibly erroneous heuristics to the ranking, which we call VenueRank. Resulting venue ranks are compared to those obtained from feature extraction for predicting the most listened artists and large listener increments in Spotify. This comparison yields high correlation between venue importance for listener prediction and bi-partite graph ranking algorithms, with VenueRank found more robust against overﬁtting.
Chemometric Methods for Spectroscopy-Based Pharmaceutical Analysis

Spectroscopy is widely used to characterize pharmaceutical products or processes, especially due to its desirable characteristics of being rapid, cheap, non-invasive/non-destructive and applicable both off-line and in-/at-/on-line. Spectroscopic techniques produce profiles containing a high amount of information, which can profitably be exploited through the use of multivariate mathematic and statistic (chemometric) techniques. The present paper aims at providing a brief overview of the different chemometric approaches applicable in the context of spectroscopy-based pharmaceutical analysis, discussing both the unsupervised exploration of the collected data and the possibility of building predictive models for both quantitative (calibration) and qualitative (classification) responses.
Responses of Morphology, Gas Exchange, Photochemical Activity of Photosystem II, and Antioxidant Balance in Cyclocarya paliurus to Light Spectra

Light quality is a critical factor regulating photosynthetic capacity which directly affects the final yield of plants. Cyclocarya paliurus is a multiple function tree species and its leaves are widely used as tea production and ingredient in functional foods in China. However, the effects of varying light quality on photosynthetic process and the photoprotective mechanisms remains unexplored in-depth. In this study, the biomass accumulation, morphology changes, photosynthetic capacity, stomata ultrastructure, pigments content, PSII activity, reactive oxygen species production, antioxidant enzymes, and phenolic content of C. paliurus plants under different light-emitting diodes (LED) light treatments were investigated to test a hypothesis that the difference in photosynthetic efficiency of C. paliurus plants under differential light quality is related to the degree of photoinhibition and the activation of photoprotection. We found that C. paliurus plants performed better under the treatments of WL (white light, 445 and 560 nm) and BL (blue light, 456 nm) than the treatment of GL (green light, 514 nm) and RL (red light, 653 nm). The better performances were characterized by higher values of photosynthetic capacity, total biomass, pigments content, specific leaf mass per area, seeding height increment, leaf thickness and palisade length. In contrast, plants under the treatments of GL and RL suffered significant photoinhibition but effectively developed photoprotective mechanisms. Results of this study provide not only some insights of the response mechanisms of plant photosynthesis to light quality but also a scientific basis for improving the cultivation of C. paliurus plantations.
Peculiarities of Synthesis and Properties of Lignin–Silica Nanocomposites Prepared by Sol-Gel Method

The development of advanced hybrid materials based on polymers from biorenewable sources and mineral nanoparticles is currently of high importance. In this paper, we applied softwood kraft lignins for the synthesis of lignin/SiO2 nanostructured composites. We described the peculiarities of composites formation in the sol-gel process through the incorporation of the lignin into a silica network during the hydrolysis of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). The initial activation of lignins was achieved by means of a Mannich reaction with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). In the study, we present a detailed investigation of the physicochemical characteristics of initial kraft lignins and modified lignins on each step of the synthesis. Thus, 2D-NMR, 31P-NMR, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) were applied to analyze the characteristics of pristine lignins and lignins in dioxan:water solutions. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) were used to confirm the formation of the lignin–silica network and characterize the surface and bulk structures of the obtained hybrids. Termogravimetric analysis (TGA) in nitrogen and air atmosphere were applied to a detailed investigation of the thermal properties of pristine lignins and lignins on each step of modification. SEM confirmed the nanostructure of the obtained composites. As was demonstrated, the activation of lignin is crucial for the sol-gel formation of a silica network in order to create novel hybrid materials from lignins and alkoxysilanes (e.g., TEOS). It was concluded that the structure of the lignin had an impact on its reactivity during the activation reaction, and consequently affected the properties of the final hybrid materials.
CTX-M-65 Extended-Spectrum β-Lactamase–Producing Salmonella enterica Serotype Infantis, United States

Extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) confer resistance to clinically important third-generation cephalosporins, which are often used to treat invasive salmonellosis. In the United States, ESBLs are rarely found in Salmonella. However, in 2014, the US Food and Drug Administration found blaCTX-M-65 ESBL-producing Salmonella enterica serotype Infantis in retail chicken meat. The isolate had a rare pulsed-field gel electrophoresis pattern. To clarify the sources and potential effects on human health, we examined isolates with this pattern obtained from human surveillance and associated metadata. Using broth microdilution for antimicrobial susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing, we characterized the isolates. Of 34 isolates, 29 carried the blaCTX-M-65 gene with <9 additional resistance genes on 1 plasmid. Of 19 patients with travel information available, 12 (63%) reported recent travel to South America. Genetically, isolates from travelers, nontravelers, and retail chicken meat were similar. Expanded surveillance is needed to determine domestic sources and potentially prevent spread of this ESBL-containing plasmid.
Disentangling isolated dental remains of Asian Pleistocene hominins and pongines

Scholars have debated the taxonomic identity of isolated primate teeth from the Asian Pleistocene for over a century, which is complicated by morphological and metric convergence between orangutan (Pongo) and hominin (Homo) molariform teeth. Like Homo erectus, Pongo once showed considerable dental variation and a wide distribution throughout mainland and insular Asia. In order to clarify the utility of isolated dental remains to document the presence of hominins during Asian prehistory, we examined enamel thickness, enamel-dentine junction shape, and crown development in 33 molars from G. H. R. von Koenigswald's Chinese Apothecary collection (11 Sinanthropus officinalis [= Homo erectus], 21 “Hemanthropus peii,” and 1 “Hemanthropus peii” or Pongo) and 7 molars from Sangiran dome (either Homo erectus or Pongo). All fossil teeth were imaged with non-destructive conventional and/or synchrotron micro-computed tomography. These were compared to H. erectus teeth from Zhoukoudian, Sangiran and Trinil, and a large comparative sample of fossil Pongo, recent Pongo, and recent human teeth. We find that Homo and Pongo molars overlap substantially in relative enamel thickness; molar enamel-dentine junction shape is more distinctive, with Pongo showing relatively shorter dentine horns and wider crowns than Homo. Long-period line periodicity values are significantly greater in Pongo than in H. erectus, leading to longer crown formation times in the former. Most of the sample originally assigned to S. officinalis and H. erectus shows greater affinity to Pongo than to the hominin comparative sample. Moreover, enamel thickness, enamel-dentine junction shape, and a long-period line periodicity value in the “Hemanthropus peii” sample are indistinguishable from fossil Pongo. These results underscore the need for additional recovery and study of associated dentitions prior to erecting new taxa from isolated teeth.
An invisible patient: Healthcare professionals’ perspectives on caring for adolescents and young adults who have a sibling with cancer

The impact of a young person's cancer diagnosis extends to siblings, yet support services to address siblings' needs are limited. This study explores healthcare professionals' (HCPs') perspectives on engaging and supporting adolescent and young adult (AYA, 12-25 years) siblings of young cancer patients in hospital settings. Semi-structured interviews with nine HCPs explored participants' views on models of care, engagement and assessment of siblings, available services, barriers to care, and future directions. Participants understood the impact of cancer and need to support AYA siblings, but were unclear how these responsibilities fit in with existing models of care and clinical roles. Siblings' absence from hospitals complicated processes of engagement, assessment and provision of care, challenging some participants to engage siblings outside the clinical context. In the absence of direct contact, HCPs largely relied on patients and parents to report or refer siblings for care. Service and resource limitations further restricted the provision of support to siblings. Despite HCPs' recognition of the need to support siblings, their "invisibility," lack of standardised assessment and service constraints complicate the provision of care in hospital settings. Integrating hospital-based care with community services may better facilitate the engagement and support of AYA siblings.