CKD-TransBTS: Clinical Knowledge-Driven Hybrid Transformer with Modality-Correlated Cross-Attention for Brain Tumor Segmentation

Brain tumor segmentation (BTS) in magnetic resonance image (MRI) is crucial for brain tumor diagnosis, cancer management and research purposes. With the great success of the ten-year BraTS challenges as well as the advances of CNN and Transformer algorithms, a lot of outstanding BTS models have been proposed to tackle the difficulties of BTS in different technical aspects. However, existing studies hardly consider how to fuse the multi-modality images in a reasonable manner. In this paper, we leverage the clinical knowledge of how radiologists diagnose brain tumors from multiple MRI modalities and propose a clinical knowledge-driven brain tumor segmentation model, called CKD-TransBTS. Instead of directly concatenating all the modalities, we re-organize the input modalities by separating them into two groups according to the imaging principle of MRI. A dual-branch hybrid encoder with the proposed modality-correlated cross-attention block (MCCA) is designed to extract the multi-modality image features. The proposed model inherits the strengths from both Transformer and CNN with the local feature representation ability for precise lesion boundaries and long-range feature extraction for 3D volumetric images. To bridge the gap between Transformer and CNN features, we propose a Trans&CNN Feature Calibration block (TCFC) in the decoder. We compare the proposed model with five CNN-based models and six transformer-based models on the BraTS 2021 challenge dataset. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed model achieves state-of-the-art brain tumor segmentation performance compared with all the competitors

HoVer-Trans: Anatomy-aware HoVer-Transformer for ROI-free Breast Cancer Diagnosis in Ultrasound Images

Ultrasonography is an important routine examination for breast cancer diagnosis, due to its non-invasive, radiation-free and low-cost properties. However, the diagnostic accuracy of breast cancer is still limited due to its inherent limitations. It would be a tremendous success if we can precisely diagnose breast cancer by breast ultrasound images (BUS). Many learning-based computer-aided diagnostic methods have been proposed to achieve breast cancer diagnosis/lesion classification. However, most of them require a pre-define ROI and then classify the lesion inside the ROI. Conventional classification backbones, such as VGG16 and ResNet50, can achieve promising classification results with no ROI requirement. But these models lack interpretability, thus restricting their use in clinical practice. In this study, we propose a novel ROI-free model for breast cancer diagnosis in ultrasound images with interpretable feature representations. We leverage the anatomical prior knowledge that malignant and benign tumors have different spatial relationships between different tissue layers, and propose a HoVer-Transformer to formulate this prior knowledge. The proposed HoVer-Trans block extracts the inter- and intra-layer spatial information horizontally and vertically. We conduct and release an open dataset GDPH&SYSUCC for breast cancer diagnosis in BUS. The proposed model is evaluated in three datasets by comparing with four CNN-based models and two vision transformer models via five-fold cross validation. It achieves state-of-the-art classification performance with the best model interpretability. In the meanwhile, our proposed model outperforms two senior sonographers on the breast cancer diagnosis when only one BUS image is given

The neural correlates of apathy in the context of aging and brain disorders: a meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies

IntroductionApathy is a prevalent mood disturbance that occurs in a wide range of populations, including those with normal cognitive aging, mental disorders, neurodegenerative disorders and traumatic brain injuries. Recently, neuroimaging technologies have been employed to elucidate the neural substrates underlying brain disorders accompanying apathy. However, the consistent neural correlates of apathy across normal aging and brain disorders are still unclear.MethodsThis paper first provides a brief review of the neural mechanism of apathy in healthy elderly individuals, those with mental disorders, neurodegenerative disorders, and traumatic brain injuries. Further, following the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, the structural and functional neuroimaging meta-analysis using activation likelihood estimation method is performed on the apathy group with brain disorders and the healthy elderly, aiming at exploring the neural correlates of apathy.ResultsThe structural neuroimaging meta-analysis showed that gray matter atrophy is associated with apathy in the bilateral precentral gyrus (BA 13/6), bilateral insula (BA 47), bilateral medial frontal gyrus (BA 11), bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left caudate (putamen) and right anterior cingulate, while the functional neuroimaging meta-analysis suggested that the functional connectivity in putamen and lateral globus pallidus is correlated with apathy.DiscussionThrough the neuroimaging meta-analysis, this study has identified the potential neural locations of apathy in terms of brain structure and function, which may offer valuable pathophysiological insights for developing more effective therapeutic interventions for affected patients

Language Development for English-Medium Instruction: A Longitudinal Perspective on the Use of Cohesive Devices by Chinese English Majors in Argumentative Writing

In alignment with a strong increase of fully or partially English-taught programmes worldwide, intense research interest has been drawn to English as a medium of instruction (EMI) in higher education. In the meanwhile, much research has been done concerning cohesion and coherence in second language writing, which reveals that the appropriate use of cohesive devices will ultimately lead to text coherence. This study adopts a longitudinal perspective to examine the use of cohesive devices by Chinese English majors in argumentative writing in the EMI context. Thirty-one second-year Chinese English majors participated in this study. They were given three writing prompts at the initial, middle, and final time-points of one academic year, respectively. Altogether, 93 argumentative writings were collected, and 30 cohesion indices were selected and investigated at local, global and text levels via two automatic computational tools: Coh-Metrix and TAACO. The major findings of the study indicate (1) Chinese English majors were capable of a variety of cohesive devices in their writing. They tended to use local cohesive devices, especially connectives, more than global and text cohesive devices; (2) Most of the cohesion indices demonstrated growth. Of the 30 selected cohesion indices, 13 presented significant development over one academic year, and among them, 3 were at local level, 10 at global level and 3 at text level. Informed of the possible learning trajectories of cohesive devices, teachers may be guided to focus on their teaching in some specific areas of cohesion, and students may be more aware of what contributes to their writing performance and what to emphasize when writing in English

Marine fishing and climate change:A China's perspective on fisheries economic development and greenhouse gas emissions

Consistent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have induced irreversible impacts on ocean health, requiring urgent action to ensure the green development of the ocean. Marine fishing, a pillar ocean industry, is a major GHG emissions contributor to the ocean because of its heavy reliance on fuel combustion. However, the increasing GHG emissions from marine fishing is an easily overlooked but essential issue in China. This study offers a diverse perspective by integrating the concepts of total carbon emissions (TC), carbon intensity (CI), and per capita carbon emissions (PC) as indicators into calculation and discussion. To better understand the relationship between GHG emissions and economic development in marine fishing, a comprehensive framework is developed by combining the environmental Kuznets curve, the Tapio elasticity index, and the decomposition model. Results indicated that (1) GHG emissions increased from 16.479 million tons in 2001 to 18.601 million tons in 2020, in which trawlers and gillnetters are the main sources in fishing operations. (2) Compared with TC and PC, CI has been relatively affected by COVID-19 in 2020. (3) GHG emissions and gross marine fishing product (GFP) presented an inverted U-shaped relationship in China; a downward trend came in the 13th Five-year Plan period (2016–2020). (4) Most provinces strongly decoupled GFP and CI. Still, PC and TC need more effort to decouple. (5) GHG emissions promoted by an industry structure driven, though carbon intensity and industry scale aid in GHG emissions reduced

Effect of temperature-rising inhibitor on the hydration and performance of cemented paste-filling material

The addition of a temperature-rising inhibitor (TRI) to aeolian sand paste materials (ASPM) to produce paste-like filling mining materials can solve multiple problems. First, it may alleviate the environmental problems caused by solid waste treatment in mines to achieve sustainable use of solid waste. Second, It may solve the problem of rapid temperature rise in mines caused by the rapid heat release during filling body hydration. Therefore, this study explored the hydration of an ASPM with different TRI contents and its mechanical properties, setting time, and microstructure. The results show that at TRI contents of 0–1.0%, the peak heat-release rate of the ASPM is reduced by 16.0%, the early hydration heat release is reduced by 14.2%, and the delay of the heat-release peak is more prominent. TRI inhibits the hydration of ASPM primarily within 7 d, which reduces the early strength of the ASPM by a maximum of 43.4%. However, with the increase in age, the strength difference gradually decreases, and TRI even becomes beneficial for the development of strength in later stages. In addition, the high content of TRI has a significant retarding effect on ASPM hydration. The temperature rise test shows that TRI can reduce the temperature increase rate and delay the peak temperature increase rate, which can effectively solve the problem of concentrated heat release by backfill. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the application of TRIs in cemented paste backfill

Experimental Study on the Mechanical Properties and Failure Characteristics of Layered Aeolian Sand Paste-Like Backfill—A Case Study from Shanghe Coal Mine

Filling mining is an important direction in green coal mining. In the filling site, a layered filling body can be formed due to technological problems. In this paper, we take Shanghe Coal Mine (Shaanxi Province, China) as the background. In order to explore the mechanical properties and failure modes of layered backfill, specimens with different layered proportions (1:1, 1:3, 3:1) were made and studied concerning the aspects of wave velocity, porosity, strength and failure modes. The experimental result demonstrates that with the increase of curing time and fly ash (FA) content, the porosity of ASPLB decreases, the wave velocity and the strength increases. In addition, the layered structure has a significant effect on the strength and failure mode of the specimen. Uniaxial compression experiments showed that after 28 days of curing with Ratio III, the strength of layered backfill (LB) was reduced by 14% and the strength of 3:1 LB was increased by 16.7% and 40% compared with 1:1 LB and 1:3 LB, respectively. A digital speckle experiment showed that the failure mode of ASPLB is a vertical fracture without penetration, and the fracture propagation of layered ASPLB is hindered by the stratification. Based on the above research, the scheme that meets the requirements of the Shanghe Coal Mine is determined, and its reliability is verified, providing guidance for scientific stratification and the filling of gob

Yeast β‑Glucan Suppresses the Chronic Inflammation and Improves the Microenvironment in Adipose Tissues of ob/ob Mice

Inflammation in visceral adipose tissues (VATs) contributes to the pathology of diabetes. This study focused on the inflammatory regulation in VATs by a yeast β-1,3-glucan (BYG) orally administered to ob/ob mice. BYG decreased pro-inflammatory modulators of TNF-α, IL-6, IL-1β, CCL2, and <i>SAA3</i>, and increased anti-inflammatory factors of <i>Azgp1</i> (2.53 ± 0.02-fold change) at protein and/or mRNA levels (<i>p</i> < 0.05). Remarkably, BYG decreased the degree of adipose tissue macrophages (ATMs) infiltration to 82.5 ± 8.3%, especially the newly recruited ATMs. Interestingly, BYG increased the protective Th2 cell regulator <i>GATA3</i> (7.72 ± 0.04-fold change) and decreased immunosuppressors <i>IL-10</i> and IL-1ra, suggesting that BYG elicited inflammation inhibition via stimulating immune responses. Additionally, BYG increased the gut microbiota proportion of <i>Akkermansia</i> from 0.07% to 4.85% and improved the microenvironment of VATs through decreasing fibrosis and angiogenesis. These findings suggest that BYG has anti-inflammatory effect in diabetic mice, which can be used as a food component and/or therapeutic agent for diabetes

Midterm Blood Pressure Variability Is Associated with Poststroke Cognitive Impairment: A Prospective Cohort Study

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between blood pressure variability (BPV) and poststroke cognitive impairment (PSCI).MethodsSeven-hundred ninety-six patients with acute ischemic stroke were included in this study. Midterm BPV was evaluated by calculating the SD and coefficient of variation (CV, 100 × SD/mean) of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure during the 7 days after stroke onset. Cognitive function was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) at admission and at all follow-up visits. Patients with MoCA scores &lt;26 were considered to have PSCI.ResultsThe incidence of PSCI reached its peak (72%) 3 months after stroke onset and decreased to 30.3% at 12 months poststroke. After adjusting for covariables, the increase in the prevalence of PSCI at 3 months was independently associated with increases in the CV of blood pressure during the 7 days after stroke [odds ratios and 95% CI for patients in the second to fifth quintiles of SBP CV were 2.28 (1.18, 4.39), 2.33 (1.18, 4.62), 2.69 (1.31, 5.53), and 4.76 (1.95, 11.67), respectively]. Sub-analysis of the MoCA scores revealed that the patients had impairments in visuoperceptual abilities and executive functions, as well as in naming and delayed recall (p &lt; 0.05).ConclusionMidterm BPV during the early phase of acute ischemic stroke is independently associated with PSCI, especially in the visuoperceptual, executive, and delayed recall domains.Clinical Trial Registrationhttp://www.chictr.org.cn, identifier ChiCTR-TRC-14004804

Ablation of Shank3 alleviates cardiac dysfunction in aging mice by promoting CaMKII activation and Parkin-mediated mitophagy

Compromised mitophagy and mitochondrial homeostasis are major contributors for the etiology of cardiac aging, although the precise underlying mechanisms remains elusive. Shank3, a heart-enriched protein, has recently been reported to regulate aging-related neurodegenerative diseases. This study aimed to examine the role of Shank3 in the pathogenesis of cardiac senescence and the possible mechanisms involved. Cardiac-specific conditional Shank3 knockout (Shank3CKO) mice were subjected to natural aging. Mitochondrial function and mitophagy activity were determined in vivo, in mouse hearts and in vitro, in cardiomyocytes. Here, we showed that cardiac Shank3 expression exhibited a gradual increase during the natural progression of the aging, accompanied by overtly decreased mitophagy activity and a decline in cardiac function. Ablation of Shank3 promoted mitophagy, reduced mitochondria-derived superoxide (H2O2 and O2•−) production and apoptosis, and protected against cardiac dysfunction in the aged heart. In an in vitro study, senescent cardiomyocytes treated with D-gal exhibited reduced mitophagy and significantly elevated Shank3 expression. Shank3 knock-down restored mitophagy, leading to increased mitochondrial membrane potential, decreased mitochondrial oxidative stress, and reduced apoptosis in senescent cardiomyocytes, whereas Shank3 overexpression mimicked D-gal-induced mitophagy inhibition and mitochondrial dysfunction in normally cultured cardiomyocytes. Mechanistically, the IP assay revealed that Shank3 directly binds to CaMKII, and this interaction was further increased in the aged heart. Enhanced Shank3/CaMKII binding impedes mitochondrial translocation of CaMKII, resulting in the inhibition of parkin-mediated mitophagy, which ultimately leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and cardiac damage in the aged heart. Our study identified Shank3 as a novel contributor to aging-related cardiac damage. Manipulating Shank3/CaMKII-induced mitophagy inhibition could thus be an optional strategy for therapeutic intervention in clinical aging-related cardiac dysfunctions