STAR: Sparse Trained Articulated Human Body Regressor

The SMPL body model is widely used for the estimation, synthesis, and analysis of 3D human pose and shape. While popular, we show that SMPL has several limitations and introduce STAR, which is quantitatively and qualitatively superior to SMPL. First, SMPL has a huge number of parameters resulting from its use of global blend shapes. These dense pose-corrective offsets relate every vertex on the mesh to all the joints in the kinematic tree, capturing spurious long-range correlations. To address this, we define per-joint pose correctives and learn the subset of mesh vertices that are influenced by each joint movement. This sparse formulation results in more realistic deformations and significantly reduces the number of model parameters to 20% of SMPL. When trained on the same data as SMPL, STAR generalizes better despite having many fewer parameters. Second, SMPL factors pose-dependent deformations from body shape while, in reality, people with different shapes deform differently. Consequently, we learn shape-dependent pose-corrective blend shapes that depend on both body pose and BMI. Third, we show that the shape space of SMPL is not rich enough to capture the variation in the human population. We address this by training STAR with an additional 10,000 scans of male and female subjects, and show that this results in better model generalization. STAR is compact, generalizes better to new bodies and is a drop-in replacement for SMPL. STAR is publicly available for research purposes at http://star.is.tue.mpg.de.Comment: ECCV 202

Spotting the diffusion of New Psychoactive Substances over the Internet

Online availability and diffusion of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) represent an emerging threat to healthcare systems. In this work, we analyse drugs forums, online shops, and Twitter. By mining the data from these sources, it is possible to understand the dynamics of drugs diffusion and their endorsement, as well as timely detecting new substances. We propose a set of visual analytics tools to support analysts in tackling NPS spreading and provide a better insight about drugs market and analysis

Treatment and outcomes of invasive fusariosis: review of 65 cases from the PATH Alliance ® registry

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109347/1/myc12212.pd

Costs associated with febrile neutropenia in solid tumor and lymphoma patients - an observational study in Singapore.

BackgroundThe primary objective was to describe the total direct inpatient costs among solid tumor and lymphoma patients with chemotherapy-induced febrile neutropenia (FN) and the factors that were associated with higher direct cost. The secondary objective was to describe the out-of-pocket patient payments and the factors that were associated with higher out-of-pocket patient payments.MethodsThis was a single-center observational study conducted at the largest cancer center in Singapore. All of the adult cancer patients hospitalized due to FN from 2009 to 2012 were studied. The primary outcomes were the total hospital cost and the out-of-pocket patient payments (adjusted by government subsidy) per FN episode. Univariate analysis and multiple linear regression were conducted to identify the factors associated with higher FN costs.ResultsThree hundred and sixty seven adult cancer patients were documented with FN-related hospitalizations. The mean total hospital cost was US$4,193 (95$3,779-4,607) and the mean out-of-pocket patient payment was US$2,230 (95$1,976-2,484), per FN episode. The factors associated with a higher total hospital cost were longer length of stay, severe sepsis, and lymphoma as underlying cancer. The out-of-pocket patient payment was positively associated with longer length of stay, severe sepsis, lymphoma diagnosed as underlying cancer, the therapeutic use of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF), the private ward class, and younger patients.ConclusionsThe total hospital cost and out-of-pocket patient payments of FN management in lymphoma cases were substantial compared with other solid tumors. Factors associated with a higher FN management cost may be useful for developing appropriate strategies to reduce the cost of FN for cancer patients

Vadose zone monitoring system installation report for McClellan AFB

Two vadose zone monitoring systems (VZMS) have been installed at Site S-7, in Investigation Cluster 34 (IC 34), in Operable Unit A (OU A) of McClellan AFB. The two boreholes, VZMS-A and VZMS-B were instrumented at depths ranging from approximately 6 ft to 113 ft. Instruments were installed in clusters using a custom-made stainless steel cage with a spring-loaded mechanism allowing instruments to be in contact with the well bore wall once in place. Each cluster contains a tensiometer, suction lysimeter, soil gas probe and thermistor for measuring hydraulic potential, liquid- and gas-phase pressure, temperature of the formation and for collecting samples for chemical analyses in both the liquid and gas phases. Neutron probe logging is performed in two separate, smaller borings, VZMS-NP-1 and VZMS-NP-2, to obtain soil moisture content data. Preliminary details of soil gas analyses, laboratory field testing of soil samples, particle size analyses and neutron probe data are presented

Characteristics of US public schools with reported cases of novel influenza A (H1N1)

Objective The 2009 pandemic of influenza A (H1N1) has disproportionately affected children and young adults, resulting in attention by public health officials and the news media on schools as important settings for disease transmission and spread. We aimed to characterize US schools affected by novel influenza A (H1N1) relative to other schools in the same communities. Methods A database of US school-related cases was obtained by electronic news media monitoring for early reports of novel H1N1 influenza between April 23 and June 8, 2009. We performed a matched case–control study of 32 public primary and secondary schools that had one or more confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza and 6815 control schools located in the same 23 counties as case schools. Results Compared with controls from the same county, schools with reports of confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza were less likely to have a high proportion of economically disadvantaged students (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.385; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.166–0.894) and less likely to have older students (aOR 0.792; 95% CI 0.670–0.938). Conclusions We conclude that public schools with younger, more affluent students may be considered sentinels of the epidemic and may have played a role in its initial spread.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (U.S.) (R21AI073591-01)National Institutes of Health (U.S.)Canadian Institutes of Health Research (PAN-83152)Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CAT-86857)Google (Firm) (Research Grant

Investigation of risk factors for introduction of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 infection among commercial turkey operations in the United States, 2022: a case-control study

Introduction: The 2022–2023 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 outbreak in the United States (U.S.) is the largest and most costly animal health event in U.S. history. Approximately 70% of commercial farms affected during this outbreak have been turkey farms. Methods: We conducted a case-control study to identify potential risk factors for introduction of HPAI virus onto commercial meat turkey operations. Data were collected from 66 case farms and 59 control farms in 12 states. Univariate and multivariable analyses were conducted to compare management and biosecurity factors on case and control farms. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of infection included being in an existing control zone, having both brooders and growers, having toms, seeing wild waterfowl or shorebirds in the closest field, and using rendering for dead bird disposal. Protective factors included having a restroom facility, including portable, available to crews that visit the farm and workers having access and using a shower at least some of the time when entering a specified barn. Discussion: Study results provide a better understanding of risk factors for HPAI infection and can be used to inform prevention and control measures for HPAI on U.S. turkey farms

3D vertical seismic profile acquired with distributed acoustic sensing on tubing installation: A case study from the CO2CRC Otway Project

Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) can revolutionize the seismic industry by using fiber-optic cables installed permanently to acquire on-demand vertical seismic profile (VSP) data at fine spatial sampling. With this, DAS can solve some of the issues associated with conventional seismic sensors. Studies have successfully demonstrated the use of DAS on cemented fibers for monitoring applications; however, such applications on tubing-deployed fibers are relatively uncommon. Application of tubing-deployed fibers is especially useful for preexisting wells, where there is no opportunity to install a fiber behind the casing. In the CO2CRC Otway Project, we acquired a 3D DAS VSP using a standard fiber-optic cable installed on the production tubing of the injector well. We aim to analyze the quality of the 3D DAS VSP on tubing, as well as discuss lessons learned from the current DAS deployment. We find the limitations associated with the DAS on tubing, as well as ways to improve the quality of the data sets for future surveys at Otway. Due to the reduced coupling and the long fiber length (approximately 20 km), the raw DAS records indicate a high level of noise relative to the signal. Despite the limitations, the migrated 3D DAS VSP data recorded by cable installed on tubing are able to image interfaces beyond the injection depth. Furthermore, we determine that the signal-To-noise ratio might be improved by reducing the fiber length