USIM-DAL: Uncertainty-aware Statistical Image Modeling-based Dense Active Learning for Super-resolution

Dense regression is a widely used approach in computer vision for tasks such as image super-resolution, enhancement, depth estimation, etc. However, the high cost of annotation and labeling makes it challenging to achieve accurate results. We propose incorporating active learning into dense regression models to address this problem. Active learning allows models to select the most informative samples for labeling, reducing the overall annotation cost while improving performance. Despite its potential, active learning has not been widely explored in high-dimensional computer vision regression tasks like super-resolution. We address this research gap and propose a new framework called USIM-DAL that leverages the statistical properties of colour images to learn informative priors using probabilistic deep neural networks that model the heteroscedastic predictive distribution allowing uncertainty quantification. Moreover, the aleatoric uncertainty from the network serves as a proxy for error that is used for active learning. Our experiments on a wide variety of datasets spanning applications in natural images (visual genome, BSD100), medical imaging (histopathology slides), and remote sensing (satellite images) demonstrate the efficacy of the newly proposed USIM-DAL and superiority over several dense regression active learning methods.Comment: Accepted at UAI 202

Exploring the Potential Role of Herbal Ayurveda Formulation Vasadi Kashaya in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease - A Review

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease of respiratory system having chronic nature which is characterised by airway inflammation and airflow obstruction that is not fully reversible. It includes two clinical conditions, chronic bronchitis and emphysema which generally overlap in patients. It is a preventable and treatable disease that is caused by significant exposure to harmful gases or organic matter. The common clinical symptoms include dyspnoea, cough, sputum production, chest tightness. According to the global burden of disease study reports published in 2018, COPD is the second leading cause of death due to non-communicable diseases in India. COPD in Ayurveda is can be dealt in Ayurvedic clinical practice using treatment principles of Shwasa and Kasa. Vasadi Kashaya, a herbal Ayurveda medicine is commonly used in the treatment of respiratory disorders by Ayurveda practitioners. Aim: In this article, possible mode of action of Vasadi Kashaya in the treatment of COPD have been explored based on available Ayurvedic and scientific literature. Methodology: Information from Ayurveda text books and available full text articles on different medical online sources was collected using relevant keywords and are summarised in this article. Conclusion: Available scientific evidence supports the anti-inflammatory, bronchodilator, anti-allergic, anti-oxidant and immune-modulator properties of Vasadi Kashaya making it a potential herbal formulation for Ayurvedic management of COPD

Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals candidate genes for the biosynthesis of natural insecticide in Tanacetum cinerariifolium

BACKGROUND: Pyrethrins are monoterpenoids and consist of either a chrysanthemic acid or pyrethric acid with a rethrolone moiety. Natural pyrethrins are safe and eco-friendly while possessing strong insecticidal properties. Despite such advantages of commercial value coming with the eco-friendly tag, most enzymes/genes involved in the pyrethrin biosynthesis pathway remain unidentified and uncharacterized. Since the flowers of Tanacetum cinerariifolium are rich in major pyrethrins, next generation transcriptome sequencing was undertaken to compare the flowers and the leaves of the plant de novo to identify differentially expressed transcripts and ascertain which among them might be involved in and responsible for the differential accumulation of pyrethrins in T. cinerariifolium flowers. RESULTS: In this first tissue specific transcriptome analysis of the non-model plant T. cinerariifolium, a total of 23,200,000 and 28,500,110 high quality Illumina next generation sequence reads, with a length of 101 bp, were generated for the flower and leaf tissue respectively. After functional enrichment analysis and GO based annotation using public protein databases such as UniRef, PFAM, SMART, KEGG and NR, 4443 and 8901 unigenes were identified in the flower and leaf tissue respectively. These could be assigned to 13344 KEGG pathways and the pyrethrin biosynthesis contextualized. The 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway was involved in the biosynthesis of acid moiety of pyrethrin and this pathway predominated in the flowers as compared to the leaves. However, enzymes related to oxylipin biosynthesis were found predominantly in the leaf tissue, which suggested that major steps of pyrethrin biosynthesis occurred in the flowers. CONCLUSIONS: Transcriptome comparison between the flower and leaf tissue of T. cinerariifolium provided an elaborate list of tissue specific transcripts that was useful in elucidating the differences in the expression of the biosynthetic pathways leading to differential presence of pyrethrin in the flowers. The information generated on genes, pathways and markers related to pyrethrin biosynthesis in this study will be helpful in enhancing the production of these useful compounds for value added breeding programs. Related proteome comparison to overlay our transcriptome comparison can generate more relevant information to better understand flower specific accumulation of secondary metabolites in general and pyrethrin accumulation in particular. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12864-016-3409-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Incidence And Predictors of Relapse After Stopping Antiviral Therapy In Pediatric Chronic Hepatitis B

Abstract Objective: The objective was to evaluate the incidence of relapse after stopping antiviral therapy and to identify the predictors of relapse. Methods: All HBsAg positive children with who had been on antivirals for at least 2 years with undetectable HBV-DNA and normal alanine-aminotransferase (ALT) on three consecutive occasions over last 12 months were included. Antivirals were stopped if liver biopsy showed histological activity index &lt;5 and fibrosis (metavir) &lt;3. Children were monitored for virological relapse (elevation of HBV-DNA &gt;2000 IU/mL) and biochemical relapse (ALT levels &gt;2 × upper limit of normal (ULN)). Those having biochemical relapse were started on pegylated interferon alpha-2b based sequential therapy. Results: Antivirals were stopped in 31 HBsAg positive children. Virological and biochemical relapse was seen in 12 (38.7%) and 5 (16.1%) children within 12 months of stopping antiviral treatment. Majority of virological relapse occurred within a month and biochemical relapses within 6 months of stopping therapy. HBeAg positive status at the time of stopping antiviral therapy (HR: 7.206, p =0.005) and longer time taken for HBV-DNA to become undetectable while on antivirals (HR: 1.030, p=0.037) were found to be the 2 independent predictors of relapse after stopping antiviral treatment. Conclusion: Discontinuation of antiviral treatment in children with CHB resulted in relapse in one third of the patients. Relapse was more common in those with HBeAg positivity at the time of stopping therapy and in those with longer time taken for HBV-DNA to become undetectable on antivirals.</jats:p

Molecular characterization of methanogenic N(5)-methyl-tetrahydromethanopterin : coenzyme M methyltransferase

Methanogenic archaea share one ion gradient forming reaction in their energy metabolism catalyzed by the membrane-spanning multisubunit complex N5-methyl-tetrahydromethanopterin: coenzyme M methyltransferase (MtrABCDEFGH or simply Mtr). In this reaction the methyl group transfer from methyl-tetrahydromethanopterin to coenzyme M mediated by cobalamin is coupled with the vectorial translocation of Na+ across the cytoplasmic membrane. No detailed structural and mechanistic data are reported about this process. In the present work we describe a procedure to provide a highly pure and homogenous Mtr complex on the basis of a selective removal of the only soluble subunit MtrH with the membrane perturbing agent dimethyl maleic anhydride and a subsequent two-step chromatographic purification. A molecular mass determination of the Mtr complex by laser induced liquid bead ion desorption mass spectrometry (LILBID-MS) and size exclusion chromatography coupled with multi-angle light scattering (SEC-MALS) resulted in a (MtrABCDEFG)3 heterotrimeric complex of ca. 430 kDa with both techniques. Taking into account that the membrane protein complex contains various firmly bound small molecules, predominantly detergent molecules, the stoichiometry of the subunits is most likely 1:1. A schematic model for the subunit arrangement within the MtrABCDEFG protomer was deduced from the mass of Mtr subcomplexes obtained by harsh IR-laser LILBID-MS