Deep Hashing Based Fusing Index Method for Large-Scale Image Retrieval

Hashing has been widely deployed to perform the Approximate Nearest Neighbor (ANN) search for the large-scale image retrieval to solve the problem of storage and retrieval efficiency. Recently, deep hashing methods have been proposed to perform the simultaneous feature learning and the hash code learning with deep neural networks. Even though deep hashing has shown the better performance than traditional hashing methods with handcrafted features, the learned compact hash code from one deep hashing network may not provide the full representation of an image. In this paper, we propose a novel hashing indexing method, called the Deep Hashing based Fusing Index (DHFI), to generate a more compact hash code which has stronger expression ability and distinction capability. In our method, we train two different architecture’s deep hashing subnetworks and fuse the hash codes generated by the two subnetworks together to unify images. Experiments on two real datasets show that our method can outperform state-of-the-art image retrieval applications

Association between prophylactic hydration volume and risk of contrast-induced nephropathy after emergent percutaneous coronary intervention

Background: Intravenous hydration during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) significantly reduces the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN), but there are no well-defined protocols regard¬ing the optimal hydration volume (HV) required to prevent CIN following emergent PCI. Therefore, this study investigates the association between the intravenous HV and CIN after emergent PCI. Methods: 711 patients were prospectively recruited who had underwent emergent PCI with hydration at routine speed and the relationship was investigated between HV or HV to weight ratio (HV/W) and the CIN risk, which was defined as a ≥ 25% or ≥ 0.5 mg/dL increase in serum creatinine levels from baseline within 48–72 h of exposure to the contrast. Results: The overall CIN incidence was 24.7%. Patients in the higher HV quartiles had elevated CIN rates. Multivariate analysis showed that higher HV/W ratios were not associated with a decreased risk (using the HV) of CIN, but they were associated with an increased risk (using the HV/W) of CIN (Q4 vs. Q1: adjusted odds ratio 1.99; 95% confidence interval 1.05–3.74; p = 0.034). A higher HV/W ratio was not significantly associated with a reduced risk of long-term death (all p > 0.05). Conclusions: The data suggests that a higher total HV is not associated with a decreased CIN risk or beneficial long-term prognoses, and that excessive HV may increase the risk of CIN after emergent PCI

Honokiol Crosses BBB and BCSFB, and Inhibits Brain Tumor Growth in Rat 9L Intracerebral Gliosarcoma Model and Human U251 Xenograft Glioma Model

BACKGROUND: Gliosarcoma is one of the most common malignant brain tumors, and anti-angiogenesis is a promising approach for the treatment of gliosarcoma. However, chemotherapy is obstructed by the physical obstacle formed by the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCSFB). Honokiol has been known to possess potent activities in the central nervous system diseases, and anti-angiogenic and anti-tumor properties. Here, we hypothesized that honokiol could cross the BBB and BCSFB for the treatment of gliosarcoma. METHODOLOGIES: We first evaluated the abilities of honokiol to cross the BBB and BCSFB by measuring the penetration of honokiol into brain and blood-cerebrospinal fluid, and compared the honokiol amount taken up by brain with that by other tissues. Then we investigated the effect of honokiol on the growth inhibition of rat 9L gliosarcoma cells and human U251 glioma cells in vitro. Finally we established rat 9L intracerebral gliosarcoma model in Fisher 344 rats and human U251 xenograft glioma model in nude mice to investigate the anti-tumor activity. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We showed for the first time that honokiol could effectively cross BBB and BCSFB. The ratios of brain/plasma concentration were respectively 1.29, 2.54, 2.56 and 2.72 at 5, 30, 60 and 120 min. And about 10% of honokiol in plasma crossed BCSFB into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In vitro, honokiol produced dose-dependent inhibition of the growth of rat 9L gliosarcoma cells and human U251 glioma cells with IC(50) of 15.61 µg/mL and 16.38 µg/mL, respectively. In vivo, treatment with 20 mg/kg body weight of honokiol (honokiol was given twice per week for 3 weeks by intravenous injection) resulted in significant reduction of tumor volume (112.70±10.16 mm(3)) compared with vehicle group (238.63±19.69 mm(3), P = 0.000), with 52.77% inhibiting rate in rat 9L intracerebral gliosarcoma model, and (1450.83±348.36 mm(3)) compared with vehicle group (2914.17±780.52 mm(3), P = 0.002), with 50.21% inhibiting rate in human U251 xenograft glioma model. Honokiol also significantly improved the survival over vehicle group in the two models (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study provided the first evidence that honokiol could effectively cross BBB and BCSFB and inhibit brain tumor growth in rat 9L intracerebral gliosarcoma model and human U251 xenograft glioma model. It suggested a significant strategy for offering a potential new therapy for the treatment of gliosarcoma

Association between admission-blood-glucose-to-albumin ratio and clinical outcomes in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention

IntroductionIt is unclear whether admission-blood-glucose-to-albumin ratio (AAR) predicts adverse clinical outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who are treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Here, we performed a observational study to explore the predictive value of AAR on clinical outcomes.MethodsPatients diagnosed with STEMI who underwent PCI between January 2010 and February 2020 were enrolled in the study. The patients were classified into three groups according to AAR tertile. The primary outcome was in-hospital all-cause mortality, and the secondary outcomes were in-hospital major adverse cardiac events (MACEs), as well as all-cause mortality and MACEs during follow-up. Logistic regression, Kaplan–Meier analysis, and Cox proportional hazard regression were the primary analyses used to estimate outcomes.ResultsAmong the 3,224 enrolled patients, there were 130 cases of in-hospital all-cause mortality (3.9%) and 181 patients (5.4%) experienced MACEs. After adjustment for covariates, multivariate analysis demonstrated that an increase in AAR was associated with an increased risk of in-hospital all-cause mortality [adjusted odds ratio (OR): 2.72, 95% CI: 1.47–5.03, P = 0.001] and MACEs (adjusted OR: 1.91, 95% CI: 1.18–3.10, P = 0.009), as well as long-term all-cause mortality [adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 1.64, 95% CI: 1.19–2.28, P = 0.003] and MACEs (adjusted HR: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.16–2.14, P = 0.003). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis indicated that AAR was an accurate predictor of in-hospital all-cause mortality (AUC = 0.718, 95% CI: 0.675–0.761) and MACEs (AUC = 0.672, 95% CI: 0.631–0.712).DiscussionAAR is a novel and convenient independent predictor of all-cause mortality and MACEs, both in-hospital and long-term, for STEMI patients receiving PCI

Review of broadband metamaterial absorbers: from principles, design strategies, and tunable properties to functional applications

Metamaterial absorbers have been widely studied and continuously concerned owing to their excellent resonance features of ultra-thin thickness, light-weight, and high absorbance. Their applications, however, are typically restricted by the intrinsic dispersion of materials and strong resonant features of patterned arrays (mainly referring to narrow absorption bandwidth). It is, therefore essential to reassert the principles of building broadband metamaterial absorbers (BMAs). Herein, the research progress of BMAs from principles, design strategies, tunable properties to functional applications are comprehensively and deeply summarized. Physical principles behind broadband absorption are briefly discussed, typical design strategies in realizing broadband absorption are further emphasized, such as top-down lithography, bottom-up self-assembly, and emerging 3D printing technology. Diversified active components choices, including optical response, temperature response, electrical response, magnetic response, mechanical response, and multi-parameter responses, are reviewed in achieving dynamically tuned broadband absorption. Following this, the achievements of various interdisciplinary applications for BMAs in energy-harvesting, photodetectors, radar-IR dual stealth, bolometers, noise absorbing, imaging, and fabric wearable are summarized. Finally, the challenges and perspectives for future development of BMAs are discussed.This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (62105128), the China Scholarship Council (202106795002), and the Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University

Associations between cooking fuels and hypertension prevalence in Chinese adults: A prospective cohort analysis focusing on fuel transitioning

Background: Using polluting cooking fuels is a suggested risk factor for hypertension. Transitioning to clean cooking fuels has occurred widely in China in the past 30 years. This provides an opportunity to examine whether the transition could reduce hypertension risk and to ascertain the inconsistent literature on the relationship between cooking fuels and hypertension prevalence. Methods: Initiated in 1989, the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) enrolled participants from 12 provinces in China. By 2015, nine waves of follow-up have been conducted. Based on self-reported cooking fuels, participants were classified into persistent clean fuel users, persistent polluting fuel users and those who transitioned from polluting fuels to clean fuels. Hypertension was defined as having systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥ 140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥ 90 mmHg, or self-reported current use of antihypertension medication. Findings: Among 12,668 participants, 3963 (31.28%) were persistent polluting fuel users; 4299 (33.94%) transitioned to clean fuels; and 4406 (34.78%) were persistent clean fuel users. During the period of follow-up (7.8 ± 6.1 years), hypertension was diagnosed in 4428 participants. Compared to persistent clean fuel users, persistent polluting fuel users had a higher risk for hypertension (hazard ratio [HR] 1.69, 95%CI 1.55–1.85), while those transitioned to clean fuels did not. The effects were consistent by gender and urbanicity, respectively. The HRs for hypertension were 1.99 (95%CI 1.75–2.25), 1.55 (95%CI 1.32–1.81) and 1.36 (95%CI 1.13–1.65) among those persistent polluting fuel users aged 18–44, 45–59 and ≥60 years old, respectively. Interpretation: Transitioning from using polluting fuels to clean fuels prevented an increase in hypertension risk. The finding highlights the importance of promoting the fuel transition as a risk-reduction strategy for reducing the disease burden from hypertension

Effects of Smoothed BRDF on Multi-angle Albedo Retrievals

BRDF as the intrinsic feature of surface targets, is an important parameter required by albedo inversion from multi-angle observations, especially for satellite data suit with less directional measurements. Several studies have shown up to introduce BRDF priori knowledge into albedo retrievals at different scale by spatial or temporal smoothing. Thus, it is necessary to further understand what’s the influence induced by BRDF smoothing on albedo retrieval. This work investigated effects of smoothed BRDF on albedo magnitude through case studies over North America region using operational MCD43A&C BRDF products respectively smoothed in spatial and temporal scales. Our results show that BRDF of seasonal DBF samples smoothed from daily to monthly can lead to apparent relative difference to smoothed values of 10.97%, 9.42%, 8.24% and detectable absolute differences of 0.0172, 0.0095 and 0.0035 on related albedo respectively at Near Infrared, Short Wave and Visible broadband. The spatial smoothing of BRDF from 500m to 5600m results in relative differences to smoothed values of 17.38%, 14.38%, 27.23% and absolute differences of 0.0250, 0.0139, 0.0052 for the inversed albedo at above three broadbands