Deep learning data augmentation for Raman spectroscopy cancer tissue classification.

Recently, Raman Spectroscopy (RS) was demonstrated to be a non-destructive way of cancer diagnosis, due to the uniqueness of RS measurements in revealing molecular biochemical changes between cancerous vs. normal tissues and cells. In order to design computational approaches for cancer detection, the quality and quantity of tissue samples for RS are important for accurate prediction. In reality, however, obtaining skin cancer samples is difficult and expensive due to privacy and other constraints. With a small number of samples, the training of the classifier is difficult, and often results in overfitting. Therefore, it is important to have more samples to better train classifiers for accurate cancer tissue classification. To overcome these limitations, this paper presents a novel generative adversarial network based skin cancer tissue classification framework. Specifically, we design a data augmentation module that employs a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to generate synthetic RS data resembling the training data classes. The original tissue samples and the generated data are concatenated to train classification modules. Experiments on real-world RS data demonstrate that (1) data augmentation can help improve skin cancer tissue classification accuracy, and (2) generative adversarial network can be used to generate reliable synthetic Raman spectroscopic data

Singlet molecular oxygen regulates vascular tone and blood pressure in inflammation

Singlet molecular oxygen (O-1(2)) has well-established roles in photosynthetic plants, bacteria and fungi(1-3), but not in mammals. Chemically generated O-1(2) oxidizes the amino acid tryptophan to precursors of a key metabolite called N-formylkynurenine(4), whereas enzymatic oxidation of tryptophan to N-formylkynurenine is catalysed by a family of dioxygenases, including indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1(5). Under inflammatory conditions, this haem-containing enzyme is expressed in arterial endothelial cells, where it contributes to the regulation of blood pressure(6). However, whether indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 forms O-1(2) and whether this contributes to blood pressure control have remained unknown. Here we show that arterial indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase 1 regulates blood pressure via formation of O-1(2). We observed that in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, the enzyme generates O-1(2) and that this is associated with the stereoselective oxidation of L-tryptophan to a tricyclic hydroperoxide via a previously unrecognized oxidative activation of the dioxygenase activity. The tryptophan-derived hydroperoxide acts in vivo as a signalling molecule, inducing arterial relaxation and decreasing blood pressure; this activity is dependent on Cys42 of protein kinase G1 alpha. Our findings demonstrate a pathophysiological role for O-1(2) in mammals through formation of an amino acid-derived hydroperoxide that regulates vascular tone and blood pressure under inflammatory conditions