G2C: A Generator-to-Classifier Framework Integrating Multi-Stained Visual Cues for Pathological Glomerulus Classification

Pathological glomerulus classification plays a key role in the diagnosis of nephropathy. As the difference between different subcategories is subtle, doctors often refer to slides from different staining methods to make decisions. However, creating correspondence across various stains is labor-intensive, bringing major difficulties in collecting data and training a vision-based algorithm to assist nephropathy diagnosis. This paper provides an alternative solution for integrating multi-stained visual cues for glomerulus classification. Our approach, named generator-to-classifier (G2C), is a two-stage framework. Given an input image from a specified stain, several generators are first applied to estimate its appearances in other staining methods, and a classifier follows to combine visual cues from different stains for prediction (whether it is pathological, or which type of pathology it has). We optimize these two stages in a joint manner. To provide a reasonable initialization, we pre-train the generators in an unlabeled reference set under an unpaired image-to-image translation task, and then fine-tune them together with the classifier. We conduct experiments on a glomerulus type classification dataset collected by ourselves (there are no publicly available datasets for this purpose). Although joint optimization slightly harms the authenticity of the generated patches, it boosts classification performance, suggesting more effective visual cues are extracted in an automatic way. We also transfer our model to a public dataset for breast cancer classification, and outperform the state-of-the-arts significantly.Comment: Accepted by AAAI 201

Application of Nanomaterials for Enhancing the Performance of Recycled Aggregate Concrete-A Short Review

Incorporation of recycled concrete aggregates (RA) produced from construction and demolition wastes in concrete contributes to the sustainability from two perspectives: reducing environmental pollution and reserving natural resources by reducing the consumption of natural aggregates (NA). However, comparing to NA, RA has lower mechanical properties and higher water absorptivity due to the old mortar attached on RA surface, resulting in weakened interfacial transition zones (ITZs) in the concrete and the consequent reduced durability of concrete when RA was used to replace NA for producing recycled aggregates concrete (RAC). Therefore, extensive research work had been devoted to the enhancement of RAC performance and nanomaterials have demonstrated great potential in this regard. This paper reviews recent progress on the application of various nanomaterials for improving the microstructure as well as nano/mechanical properties of ITZs in RAC, and special attentions were given to the dispersion strategies for nanomaterials which determines the amount of nanomaterials required to achieve reliable improvement in RAC performance and thus the cost of using nanomaterials in RAC

Efficacy of EGFR-TKI therapy in patients with brain metastases from non-small-cell lung cancer: A metaanalysis

Purpose: This meta-analysis aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR-TKIs) for patients with brain metastases (BM) from nonsmall- cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and to compare this treatment modality to chemotherapy or radiotherapy.Methods: PubMed, EMBASE (OvidSP), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science and ASCO Annual Meeting Abstracts were searched. Controlled clinical studies that compared the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs with chemotherapy or radiotherapy for NSCLC patients with BM were included in the analysis. Efficacy indicators included overall survival (OS), local progression-free survival (LPFS) and objective response rate (ORR).Results: The final sample consisted of 24,637 NSCLC patients with BM from 11 clinical studies. In primary efficacy analysis, it was found that EGFR-TKIs were significantly superior to chemotherapy or radiotherapy in terms of ORR (odds ratio (OR) = 2.10, p = 0.035), OS (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.78, p = 0.011) and LPFS (HR = 0.60, p < 0.001).Conclusion: Among the patients with BM from NSCLC, EGFR-TKIs exhibit a therapeutic advantage over chemotherapy or radiotherapy, which is reflected in the elevation of ORR and improvement in OS and LPFS.Keywords: Brain metastasis, Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), Protein kinase Inhibitors, Epidermal growth factor, Meta-analysi

Designing a Programming Contract Library for Java

Programmers are now developing large and complex software systems, so it’s important to have software that is consistent, efficient, and robust. Programming contracts allow developers to specify preconditions, postconditions, and invariants in order to more easily identify programming errors. The design by contract principle [1] was first used in the Eiffel programming language [2], and has since been extended to libraries in many other languages. The purpose of my project is to design a programming contract library for Java. The library supports a set of preconditions, postconditions, and invariants that are specified in Java annotations. It incorporates contract checking for objects of classes following the bean notation [3]. The library also supports checking for user-defined functions as contract conditions. This feature allows the user to check for complex contract conditions. In addition to these, the library supports contracts using lambdas in Java 8 [4], which to our knowledge has not been done in previous works on Java contracts. While the results show us that enabling contracts lowers the performance of the system, especially when lambda contracts are used, we also demonstrate how careful design can significantly reduce the overhead

The emerging role of honeysuckle flower in inflammatory bowel disease

Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), referred to as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), pose considerable challenges in treatment because they are chronic conditions that easily relapse. The occurrence of IBD continues to rise in developing countries. Nonetheless, the existing therapies for IBD have limitations and fail to address the needs of the patients thoroughly. There is an increasing need for new, safe, and highly effective alternative medications for IBD patients. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is employed in drug development and disease management due to its wide-range of biological activities, minimal toxicity, and limited side effects. Extensive research has shown that certain TCM exhibits significant therapeutic benefits for IBD treatments. Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) was used in TCM research and clinical settings for the treatment of IBD. Bioactive metabolites in L. japonica, such as luteolin, quercetin, cyanidin, chlorogenic acid (CGA), caffeic acid (CA), and saponin, exhibit significant therapeutic benefits for managing IBD. The honeysuckle flower is a potential candidate in the treatment of IBD due to its anti-inflammatory, immune system-regulating, and antioxidant qualities. This paper reviews the metabolites of the honeysuckle flower as a candidate for the treatment of IBD. It discusses the fundamental mechanism of L. japonica and the potential of its bioactive metabolites in the prevention and treatment of IBD

Epidemiological Characteristics and Trends in the Incidence of Newly Diagnosed Pulmonary Tuberculosis in China from 2016 to 2022

This study was aimed at exploring pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) epidemiological characteristics and trends in China from 2016 to 2022, to provide evidence for optimizing strategies and measures for tuberculosis prevention and control. Data on PTB in China reported from 2016 to 2022 were obtained from the Chinese Disease Prevention and Control Information System. Descriptive epidemiological methods were used to analyze the population distribution, and temporal and spatial distribution (also known as the three-dimensional distribution in epidemiology). The chi-square test was used for comparisons between groups. Joinpoint regression was used to analyze the temporal trends in PTB notification rates, and ArcGIS 10.3 software was used to visualize the results. In total, 5,141,468 cases of PTB were reported in China from 2016 to 2022, among which 39.89% were bacteriologically positive. Joinpoint regression analysis indicated that the PTB notification rate showed an overall downward trend from 2016 to 2022, with 2018 as the inflection point. The annual percentage change (APC) was −0.72% (95% CI: −4.78% to 2.96%, P central region > eastern region. Guangdong province had the highest number of reported PTB cases. From 2016 to 2022, the PTB notification rate showed an overall downward trend in China. Men, older people, and farmers were the majority groups. The western region and Guangdong province were hotspots that must be addressed. In the future, the Tuberculosis prevention and control strategies should be optimized according to epidemiological characteristics

Effects of different blood flow rates on filter and circuit life in non-anticoagulation CRRT: Protocol for a three-arm, single-blind randomized controlled trial (the Flow-CRRT Study)

Background: Non-anticoagulation is a commonly used strategy in continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) among patients with high-bleeding risk. However, the optimal blood flow rate (BFR) to maximize filter and circuit life remains uncertain. This study is designed to elucidate the impact of different BFRs on the durability of filters and circuits in CRRT without anticoagulation. Methods: This single-center, prospective, three-arm, single-blind, randomized controlled trial (RCT) will involve adult patients requiring non-anticoagulation continuous veno-venous hemodiafiltration (CVVHDF). A total of 486 filters and circuits will be enrolled and randomly assigned to one of three BFR groups: low (150 mL/min), medium (200 mL/min), or high (250 mL/min) BFR group. The outcomes will be analyzed by both intention-to-treat analysis and per-protocol analysis. The primary outcome is filter and circuit life, which is defined as the time from CRRT initiation to CRRT termination due to extracorporeal circuit clotting or other reasons, alongside the proportion of patent circuits at 24, 48, and 72 hours. Secondary outcomes encompass clinical outcomes and potential adverse events such as bleeding and hemodynamic alterations. Discussion: This study is aiming at comparing the filter and circuit life under different BFR levels during CVVHDF without anti-coagulation. The results may add knowledge to the optimal BFR to prevent extracorporeal circulation clotting and prolong filter and circuit life in non-anticoagulation CRRT. Trial registration: The study has been registered at https://www.chictr.org.cn (ChiCTR2400087819).</p

Accuracy of triage strategies for human papillomavirus DNA-positive women in low-resource settings: A cross-sectional study in China

CareHPV is a human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA test for low-resource settings (LRS). This study assesses optimum triage strategies for careHPV-positive women in LRS