UniTune: Text-Driven Image Editing by Fine Tuning a Diffusion Model on a Single Image

Text-driven image generation methods have shown impressive results recently, allowing casual users to generate high quality images by providing textual descriptions. However, similar capabilities for editing existing images are still out of reach. Text-driven image editing methods usually need edit masks, struggle with edits that require significant visual changes and cannot easily keep specific details of the edited portion. In this paper we make the observation that image-generation models can be converted to image-editing models simply by fine-tuning them on a single image. We also show that initializing the stochastic sampler with a noised version of the base image before the sampling and interpolating relevant details from the base image after sampling further increase the quality of the edit operation. Combining these observations, we propose UniTune, a novel image editing method. UniTune gets as input an arbitrary image and a textual edit description, and carries out the edit while maintaining high fidelity to the input image. UniTune does not require additional inputs, like masks or sketches, and can perform multiple edits on the same image without retraining. We test our method using the Imagen model in a range of different use cases. We demonstrate that it is broadly applicable and can perform a surprisingly wide range of expressive editing operations, including those requiring significant visual changes that were previously impossible.Comment: SIGGRAPH 202

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Principled Recaptioning Improves Image Generation

Text-to-image diffusion models achieved a remarkable leap in capabilities over the last few years, enabling high-quality and diverse synthesis of images from a textual prompt. However, even the most advanced models often struggle to precisely follow all of the directions in their prompts. The vast majority of these models are trained on datasets consisting of (image, caption) pairs where the images often come from the web, and the captions are their HTML alternate text. A notable example is the LAION dataset, used by Stable Diffusion and other models. In this work we observe that these captions are often of low quality, and argue that this significantly affects the model's capability to understand nuanced semantics in the textual prompts. We show that by relabeling the corpus with a specialized automatic captioning model and training a text-to-image model on the recaptioned dataset, the model benefits substantially across the board. First, in overall image quality: e.g. FID 14.84 vs. the baseline of 17.87, and 64.3% improvement in faithful image generation according to human evaluation. Second, in semantic alignment, e.g. semantic object accuracy 84.34 vs. 78.90, counting alignment errors 1.32 vs. 1.44 and positional alignment 62.42 vs. 57.60. We analyze various ways to relabel the corpus and provide evidence that this technique, which we call RECAP, both reduces the train-inference discrepancy and provides the model with more information per example, increasing sample efficiency and allowing the model to better understand the relations between captions and images

Alternating quarantine for sustainable epidemic mitigation

Absent a drug or vaccine, containing epidemic outbreaks is achieved by means of social distancing, specifically mobility restrictions and lock-downs. Such measures impose a hurtful toll on the economy, and are difficult to sustain for extended periods. As an alternative, we propose here an alternating quarantine strategy, in which at every instance, half of the population remains under lock-down while the other half continues to be active, maintaining a routine of weekly succession between activity and quarantine. This regime affords a dual partition:\ half of the population interacts for only half of the time, resulting in a dramatic reduction in transmission, comparable to that achieved by a population-wide lock-down. All the while, it enables socioeconomic continuity at $50\%$ capacity. The proposed weekly alternations also address an additional challenge, with specific relevance to COVID-19. Indeed, SARS-CoV-2 exhibits a relatively long incubation period, in which individuals experience no symptoms, but may already contribute to the spread. Unable to selectively isolate these invisible spreaders, we resort to population-wide restrictions. However, under the alternating quarantine routine, if an individual was exposed during their active week, by the time they complete their quarantine they will, in most cases, begin to exhibit symptoms. Hence this strategy isolates the majority of pre-symptomatic individuals during their infectious phase, leading to a rapid decline in the viral spread, thus addressing one of the main challenges in COVID-19 mitigation.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figure

SAFETY OF BRONCHOALVEOLAR LAVAGE IN HEMATOLOGICAL PATIENTS WITH THROMBOCYTOPENIA – A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY

Background Hospitalized hematological patients often require bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Paucity of evidence exists as to the potential risks in patients with very-severe thrombocytopenia (VST). Methods This retrospective-cohort study included adult hematological in-patients with VST, defined as platelets<20x103/μL, undergoing BAL during 2012-2021. Mechanically-ventilated patients or those with known active bleeding were excluded. Primary outcomes included major bleeding halting the BAL or deemed significant by the treating physician, need for any respiratory support other than low flow O2 or death within 24 hours. Any other bleeding were recorded as secondary outcomes.    Results Of the 507 patients included in the final analysis, the 281 patients with VST had lower hemoglobin (Md=0.3, p=0.003), longer prothrombin-time (Md=0.7s, p=0.025), higher chances of preprocedural platelet transfusion (RR 3.68, 95%CI[2.86,4.73]), and only one primary-outcome event (death of septic shock 21h postprocedurally) - compared with 3 (1.3%) events (two bleedings halting procedure and one need for non-invasive-ventilation) in patients with platelets ≥20x103/μL (p=0.219). Risk of minor, spontaneously resolved bleeding was higher (RR=3.217, 95%CI[0.919,11.262]) in patients with VST (4.3% vs 1.3%, p=0.051). No association was found between any of the complications recorded and preprocedural platelets, age, aPTT, PT, hematological status, or platelet transfusion.  Conclusions This data suggests BAL to be safe even when platelet counts are <20x103/μL

Psychological resources and strategies to cope with stress at work

Introduction: the choice of strategies to cope with stress has differential effects on individual and organizationaloutcomes (e.g. well-being and performance at work). This study examined to what extent individuals differing intheir positive psychological resources (optimism, hope, self-efficacy and resilience) implement different strategiesto cope with stress in terms of change, acceptance, or withdrawal from a source of stress in an organizationalsetting.Method: A questionnaire was filled out by 554 employees from different organizations representing a wide rangeof jobs and positions.Results: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM; c2(7) = 27:64, p < :01, GFI = :99, NFI = :91, CFI = :93,RMSEA = :07)Conclusion: the results indicated that psychological resources (optimism, hope, self-efficacy and resilience) werepositively related to coping by change and by acceptance and negatively related to withdrawal. The theoreticalimplications are discussed.Introducción: la elección de estrategias de afrontamiento al estrés, tiene efectos diferenciales en los resultados individuales y organizacionales (por ejemplo, el bienestar y el rendimiento en el trabajo). En este estudio se examino hasta qué punto las personas que difieren en sus recursos psicológicos positivos (optimismo, esperanza, autoeficacia y resiliencia) implementan diferentes estrategias para hacer frente al estrés en términos de cambio, aceptación o retirada de una fuente de estrés en un entorno organizacional. Método: 554 empleados de diferentes organizaciones que representan una amplia gama de puestos de trabajo y puestos respondieron un cuestionario. Resultados: modelado de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM; χ2(7) = 27.64, p < .01, GFI = .99, NFI = .91, CFI = .93, RMSEA = .07) Conclusión: Los resultados indicaron que los recursos psicológicos (optimismo, esperanza, autoeficacia y resiliencia) estaban relacionados positivamente con el afrontamiento por el cambio y por la aceptación, y negativamente relacionados con la retirada. Las implicaciones teóricas son discutidas

Recursos psicológicos y estrategias de afrontamiento con estrés en el trabajo

Introduction: the choice of strategies to cope with stress has differential effects on individual and organizational outcomes (e.g. well-being and performance at work). This study examined to what extent individuals differing in their positive psychological resources (optimism, hope, self-efficacy and resilience) implement different strategies to cope with stress in terms of change, acceptance, or withdrawal from a source of stress in an organizational setting. Method: A questionnaire was filled out by 554 employees from different organizations representing a wide range of jobs and positions. Results: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM; χ 2 (7) = 27.64, p < .01, GFI = .99, NFI = .91, CFI = .93, RMSEA = .07) Conclusion: the results indicated that psychological resources (optimism, hope, self-efficacy and resilience) were positively related to coping by change and by acceptance and negatively related to withdrawal. The theoretical implications are discussed.Introducción: la elección de estrategias de afrontamiento al estrés, tiene efectos diferenciales en los resultados individuales y organizacionales (por ejemplo, el bienestar y el rendimiento en el trabajo). En este estudio se examino hasta qué punto las personas que difieren en sus recursos psicológicos positivos (optimismo, ´ esperanza, autoeficacia y resiliencia) implementan diferentes estrategias para hacer frente al estrés en términos ´ de cambio, aceptación o retirada de una fuente de estrés en un entorno organizacional Método: 554 empleados de diferentes organizaciones que representan una amplia gama de puestos de trabajo ´ y puestos respondieron un cuestionario. Resultados: modelado de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM; χ 2 (7) = 27.64, p < .01, GFI = .99, NFI = .91, CFI = .93, RMSEA = .07) Conclusión: Los resultados indicaron que los recursos psicológicos (optimismo, esperanza, autoeficacia y ´ resiliencia) estaban relacionados positivamente con el afrontamiento por el cambio y por la aceptación, y ´ negativamente relacionados con la retirada. Las implicaciones teóricas son discutidas

The Role of Radiation Therapy in the Treatment of Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer

Non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) is the most common malignancy in the United States. While surgery is considered as the main treatment modality for both cutaneous basal cell carcinoma (cBCC) and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC), radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of NMSC, both in the adjuvant setting for cases considered high-risk for recurrence, and in the definitive setting, when surgery is not feasible or desired by the patient. The last years have seen the emergence of immunotherapy treatment for cases of advanced cSCC in the palliative, and possibly neoadjuvant settings, making the treatment paradigm more complex. In this review, we attempt to describe the different radiation modalities available for the treatment of NMSC, the indications for adjuvant post-operative treatment with radiotherapy for cSCC, the role of radiotherapy in elective neck treatment, and the efficacy, safety, and toxicity profile of this treatment in these different settings. Furthermore, we aim to describe the efficacy of radiotherapy combined with immunotherapy as a promising horizon for treating advanced cSCC. We also aim to describe the ongoing clinical studies that attempt to examine future directions for the role of radiation treatment in NMSC