Simple to Complex Cross-modal Learning to Rank

The heterogeneity-gap between different modalities brings a significant challenge to multimedia information retrieval. Some studies formalize the cross-modal retrieval tasks as a ranking problem and learn a shared multi-modal embedding space to measure the cross-modality similarity. However, previous methods often establish the shared embedding space based on linear mapping functions which might not be sophisticated enough to reveal more complicated inter-modal correspondences. Additionally, current studies assume that the rankings are of equal importance, and thus all rankings are used simultaneously, or a small number of rankings are selected randomly to train the embedding space at each iteration. Such strategies, however, always suffer from outliers as well as reduced generalization capability due to their lack of insightful understanding of procedure of human cognition. In this paper, we involve the self-paced learning theory with diversity into the cross-modal learning to rank and learn an optimal multi-modal embedding space based on non-linear mapping functions. This strategy enhances the model's robustness to outliers and achieves better generalization via training the model gradually from easy rankings by diverse queries to more complex ones. An efficient alternative algorithm is exploited to solve the proposed challenging problem with fast convergence in practice. Extensive experimental results on several benchmark datasets indicate that the proposed method achieves significant improvements over the state-of-the-arts in this literature.Comment: 14 pages; Accepted by Computer Vision and Image Understandin

Combination treatment with ethyl pyruvate and IGF-I exerts neuroprotective effects against brain injury in a rat model of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury causes severe brain damage in newborns. Following HI injury, rapidly accumulating oxidants injure neurons and interrupt ongoing developmental processes. The antioxidant, sodium pyruvate, has been shown to reduce neuronal injury in neonatal rats under conditions of oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) and HI injury. In this study, we evaluated the effects of ethyl pyruvate (EP) and insulin‑like growth factor‑I (IGF‑I) alone or in combination in a similar setting. For this purpose, we used an in vitro model involving primary neonatal rat cortical neurons subjected to OGD for 2.5 h and an in vivo model involving unilateral carotid ligation in rats on post-natal day 7 with exposure to 8% hypoxia for 2.5 h. The cultured neurons were examined by lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and cell viability assays. For the in vivo experiments, behavioral development was evaluated by the foot fault test at 4 weeks of recovery. 2,3,5‑Triphenyltetrazolium chloride monohydrate and cresyl violet staining were used to evaluate HI injury. The injured neurons were Fluoro‑Jade B-labeled, new neuroprecursors were double labeled with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and doublecortin, new mature neurons were BrdU-labeled and neuronal nuclei were labeled by immunofluorescence. Under conditions of OGD, the LDH levels increased and neuronal viability decreased. Treatment with 0.5 mM EP or 25 ng/ml IGF‑I protected the neurons (P<0.05), exerting additive effects. Similarly, either the early administration of EP or delayed treatment with IGF‑I protected the neonatal rat brains against HI injury and improved neurological performance and these effects were also additive. This effect may be the result of reduced neuronal injury, and enhanced neurogenesis and maturation. On the whole, our findings demonstrate that the combination of the early administration of EP with delayed treatment with IGF‑I exerts neuroprotective effects against HI injury in neonatal rat brains

Comprehensive analysis of the microbiome and metabolome in pus from pyogenic liver abscess patients with and without diabetes mellitus

IntroductionPyogenic liver abscess (PLA) patients combined with diabetes mellitus (DM) tend to have more severe clinical manifestations than without DM. The mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is not entirely clear. The current study therefore aimed to comprehensively analyze the microbiome composition and metabolome in pus from PLA patients with and without DM, to determine the potential reasons for these differences.MethodsClinical data from 290 PLA patients were collected retrospectively. We analyzed the pus microbiota using 16S rDNA sequencing in 62 PLA patients. In addition, the pus metabolomes of 38 pus samples were characterized by untargeted metabolomics analysis. Correlation analyses of microbiota, metabolites and laboratory findings were performed to identify significant associations.ResultsPLA patients with DM had more severe clinical manifestations than PLA patients without DM. There were 17 discriminating genera between the two groups at the genus level, among which Klebsiella was the most discriminating taxa. The ABC transporters was the most significant differential metabolic pathway predicted by PICRUSt2. Untargeted metabolomics analysis showed that concentrations of various metabolites were significantly different between the two groups and seven metabolites were enriched in the ABC transporters pathway. Phosphoric acid, taurine, and orthophosphate in the ABC transporters pathway were negatively correlated with the relative abundance of Klebsiella and the blood glucose level.DiscussionThe results showed that the relative abundance of Klebsiella in the pus cavity of PLA patients with DM was higher than those without DM, accompanied by changes of various metabolites and metabolic pathways, which may be associated with more severe clinical manifestations

Urban integrated meteorological observations: practice and experience in Shanghai, China

Observations of atmospheric conditions and processes in citiesare fundamental to understanding the interactions between the urban surface and weather/climate, improving the performance of urban weather, air quality and climate models, and providing key information for city end-users (e.g. decision-makers, stakeholders, public). In this paper, Shanghai's urban integrated meteorological observation network (SUIMON) and some examples of intended applications are introduced. Its characteristics include being: multi- purpose (e.g. forecast, research, service), multi-function (high impact weather, city climate, special end-users), multi-scale (e.g. macro/meso-, urban-, neighborhood, street canyon), multi-variable (e.g. thermal, dynamic, chemical, bio-meteorological, ecological), and multi- platform (e.g. radar, wind profiler, ground-based, satellite based, in-situ observation/ sampling). Underlying SUIMON is a data management system to facilitate exchange of data and information. The overall aim of the network is to improve coordination strategies and instruments; to identify data gaps based on science and user driven requirements; and to intelligently combine observations from a variety of platforms by using a data assimilation system that is tuned to produce the best estimate of the current state of the urban atmosphere

Comparative transcriptome profiling provides insights into plant salt tolerance in seashore paspalum (\u3ci\u3ePaspalum vaginatum\u3c/i\u3e)

Background Seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum), a halophytic warm-seasoned perennial grass, is tolerant of many environmental stresses, especially salt stress. To investigate molecular mechanisms underlying salinity tolerance in seashore paspalum, physiological characteristics and global transcription profiles of highly (Supreme) and moderately (Parish) salinity-tolerant cultivars under normal and salt stressed conditions were analyzed. Results Physiological characterization comparing highly (Supreme) and moderately (Parish) salinity-tolerant cultivars revealed that Supreme’s higher salinity tolerance is associated with higher Na+ and Ca2+ accumulation under normal conditions and further increase of Na+ under salt-treated conditions (400 mM NaCl), possibly by vacuolar sequestration. Moreover, K+ retention under salt treatment occurs in both cultivars, suggesting that it may be a conserved mechanism for prevention of Na+ toxicity. We sequenced the transcriptome of the two cultivars under both normal and salt-treated conditions (400 mM NaCl) using RNA-seq. De novo assembly of about 153 million high-quality reads and identification of Open Reading Frames (ORFs) uncovered a total of 82,608 non-redundant unigenes, of which 3250 genes were identified as transcription factors (TFs). Gene Ontology (GO) annotation revealed the presence of genes involved in diverse cellular processes in seashore paspalum’s transcriptome. Differential expression analysis identified a total of 828 and 2222 genes that are responsive to high salinity for Supreme and Parish, respectively. “Oxidation-reduction process” and “nucleic acid binding” are significantly enriched GOs among differentially expressed genes in both cultivars under salt treatment. Interestingly, compared to Parish, a number of salt stress induced transcription factors are enriched and show higher abundance in Supreme under normal conditions, possibly due to enhanced Ca2+ signaling transduction out of Na+ accumulation, which may be another contributor to Supreme’s higher salinity tolerance. Conclusion Physiological and transcriptome analyses of seashore paspalum reveal major molecular underpinnings contributing to plant response to salt stress in this halophytic warm-seasoned perennial grass. The data obtained provide valuable molecular resources for functional studies and developing strategies to engineer plant salinity tolerance

Potential benefits of vitamin D for sepsis prophylaxis in critical ill patients

BackgroundVitamin D deficiency is common in critically ill patients with suspected infection and is strongly associated with the predisposition of sepsis and a poor prognosis. The effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation for preventing sepsis remains unclear. This retrospective cohort study investigated the effect of vitamin D supplementation on sepsis prophylaxis in critically ill patients with suspected infection.MethodsThis retrospective cohort study included 19,816 adult patients with suspected infection in intensive care units (ICU) from 2008 to 2019 at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, USA. The included patients were divided into the vitamin D cohort or non-vitamin D cohort according to vitamin D administration status. The primary outcomes were the incidence of sepsis in ICU. The secondary outcomes included 28-day all-cause mortality, length of ICU and hospital stay and the requirements of vasopressors or mechanical ventilation. A propensity score matching cohort was used to test the differences in primary and secondary outcomes between groups.ResultsThe results showed that vitamin D supplementation demonstrated a lower risk of sepsis (odd ratio 0.46; 95% CI 0.35–0.60; P &lt; 0.001) and a lower risk of new mechanical ventilation requirement (odd ratio 0.70; 95% CI 0.53-0.92; P = 0.01), but no significant difference in the risk of 28-day mortality was observed (hazard ratio 1.02; 95% CI 0.77–1.35; P = 0.89). In the sensitive analysis, among the patients who suspected infection within 24 h before or after ICU admission, a lower risk of sepsis and a lower percentage of new mechanical ventilation also were detected in the vitamin D cohort.ConclusionVitamin D supplementation may have a positively prophylactic effect on sepsis in critically ill patients with suspected infection