GLFF: Global and Local Feature Fusion for AI-synthesized Image Detection

With the rapid development of deep generative models (such as Generative Adversarial Networks and Diffusion models), AI-synthesized images are now of such high quality that humans can hardly distinguish them from pristine ones. Although existing detection methods have shown high performance in specific evaluation settings, e.g., on images from seen models or on images without real-world post-processing, they tend to suffer serious performance degradation in real-world scenarios where testing images can be generated by more powerful generation models or combined with various post-processing operations. To address this issue, we propose a Global and Local Feature Fusion (GLFF) framework to learn rich and discriminative representations by combining multi-scale global features from the whole image with refined local features from informative patches for AI synthesized image detection. GLFF fuses information from two branches: the global branch to extract multi-scale semantic features and the local branch to select informative patches for detailed local artifacts extraction. Due to the lack of a synthesized image dataset simulating real-world applications for evaluation, we further create a challenging fake image dataset, named DeepFakeFaceForensics (DF 3 ), which contains 6 state-of-the-art generation models and a variety of post-processing techniques to approach the real-world scenarios. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our method to the state-of-the-art methods on the proposed DF 3 dataset and three other open-source datasets.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, 8 table

Sequence Analysis of Alginate-Derived Oligosaccharides by Negative-Ion Electrospray Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Negative-ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (ES-MS/MS) with collision-induced dissociation (CID) is attempted for sequence determination of alginate oligosaccharides, derived from polyanionic alginic acid, polymannuronate, and polyguluronate by partial depolymerization using either alginate lyase or mild acid hydrolysis. Sixteen homo- and hetero-oligomeric fragments were obtained after fractionation by gel-filtration and strong anion exchange high performance liquid chromatography. The product-ion spectra of these alginate oligosaccharides were dominated by intense B-, C-, Y-, and Z-type ions together with 0,2A- and 2,5A-ions of lower intensities. Internal mannuronate residues (M) produce weak but specific decarboxylated Zint-ions (Zint − 44 Da; int: denotes internal), which can be used for distinction of M and a guluronate residue (G) at an internal position. A reducing terminal M or G, although neither gives rise to a specific ion, can be identified by differences in the intensity ratio of fragment ions of the reducing terminal residue [2,5Ared]/[0,4Ared] (red: denotes reducing terminal)

Defining the threshold: triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio’s non-linear impact on tubular atrophy in primary membranous nephropathy

BackgroundHyperlipidemia is common in primary membranous nephropathy (PMN) patients, and tubular atrophy (TA) is an unfavorable prognostic factor. However, the correlation between the triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) ratio and TA is controversial. Therefore, our study aimed to investigate the association between the TG/HDL-C ratio and TA in PMN patients.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study and collected data from 363 PMN patients at Shenzhen Second People’s Hospital from January 2008 to April 2023. The primary objective was to evaluate the independent correlation between the TG/HDL-C ratio and TA using binary logistic regression model. We used a generalized additive model along with smooth curve fitting and multiple sensitivity analyses to explore the relationship between these variables. Additionally, subgroup analyses were conducted to delve deeper into the results.ResultsOf the 363 PMN patients, 75 had TA (20.66%). The study population had a mean age of 46.598 ± 14.462 years, with 217 (59.78%) being male. After adjusting for sex, age, BMI, hypertension, history of diabetes, smoking, alcohol consumption, UPRO, eGFR, HB, FPG, and ALB, we found that the TG/HDL-C ratio was an independent risk factor for TA in PMN patients (OR=1.29, 95% CI: 1.04, 1.61, P=0.0213). A non-linear correlation was observed between the TG/HDL-C ratio and TA, with an inflection point at 4.25. The odds ratios (OR) on the left and right sides of this inflection point were 1.56 (95% CI: 1.17, 2.07) and 0.25 (95% CI: 0.04, 1.54), respectively. Sensitivity analysis confirmed these results. Subgroup analysis showed a consistent association between the TG/HDL-C ratio and TA, implying that factors such as gender, BMI, age, UPRO, ALB, hypertension and severe nephrotic syndrome had negligible effects on the link between the TG/HDL-C ratio and TA.ConclusionOur study demonstrates a non-linear positive correlation between the TG/HDL-C ratio and the risk of TA in PMN patients, independent of other factors. Specifically, the association is more pronounced when the ratio falls below 4.25. Based on our findings, it would be advisable to decrease the TG/HDL-C ratio below the inflection point in PMN patients as part of treatment strategies

Genome-wide Association Study Identifies New Loci Associated With Risk Of HBV Infection And Disease Progression

Background: Recent studies have identified susceptibility genes of HBV clearance, chronic hepatitis B, liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and showed the host genetic factors play an important role in these HBV-related outcomes. Results: In order to discover new susceptibility genes for HBV-related outcomes, we conducted a genome-wide association study in 1031 Chinese participants, including 275 HBV clearance subjects, 92 asymptomatic persistence infection carriers (ASPI), 93 chronic hepatitis B patients (CHB), 188 HBV-related decompensated cirrhosis patients (DC), 214 HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma patients (HCC) and 169 healthy controls (HC). In the case-control study, we observed novel locus significantly associated with CHB (SNP: rs1264473, Gene: GRHL2, P = 1.57×10-6) and HCC (SNP: rs2833856, Gene: EVA1C, P = 1.62×10-6; SNP: rs4661093, Gene: ETV3, P = 2.26×10-6). In the trend study across progressive stages post HBV infection, one novel locus (SNP: rs1537862, Gene: LACE1, P = 1.85×10-6), and three MHC loci (HLA-DRB1, HLA-DPB1, HLA-DPA2) showed significant increased progressive risk from ASPI to CHB. Interestingly, underlying the evolutionary study of HBV-related genes in public database, we found that the derived allele of two HBV clearance related locus, rs3077 and rs9277542, are under strong selection in European population. Conclusions: In this study, we identified several novel candidate genes associated with individual HBV infectious outcomes, progressive stages, and liver enzymes. Moreover, we identified two SNPs that show selective significance (HLA-DPA1, HLA-DPB1) in non-East Asian (European, American, South Asian) versus East Asian, indicating that host genetic factors contribute to the ethnic disparities of susceptibility of HBV infection. Taken together, these findings provided a new insight into the role of host genetic factors in HBV related outcomes and progression

A role for the arginine methylation of Rad9 in checkpoint control and cellular sensitivity to DNA damage

The genome stability is maintained by coordinated action of DNA repairs and checkpoints, which delay progression through the cell cycle in response to DNA damage. Rad9 is conserved from yeast to human and functions in cell cycle checkpoint controls. Here, a regulatory mechanism for Rad9 function is reported. In this study Rad9 has been found to interact with and be methylated by protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5). Arginine methylation of Rad9 plays a critical role in S/M and G2/M cell cycle checkpoints. The activation of the Rad9 downstream checkpoint effector Chk1 is impaired in cells only expressing a mutant Rad9 that cannot be methylated. Additionally, Rad9 methylation is also required for cellular resistance to DNA damaging stresses. In summary, we uncovered that arginine methylation is important for regulation of Rad9 function, and thus is a major element for maintaining genome integrity

Study of Muscle Cell Dedifferentiation after Skeletal Muscle Injury of Mice with a Cre-Lox System

Background: Dedifferentiation of muscle cells in the tissue of mammals has yet to be observed. One of the challenges facing the study of skeletal muscle cell dedifferentiation is the availability of a reliable model that can confidentially distinguish differentiated cell populations of myotubes and non-fused mononuclear cells, including stem cells that can coexist within the population of cells being studied. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the current study, we created a Cre/Lox-β-galactosidase system, which can specifically tag differentiated multinuclear myotubes and myotube-generated mononuclear cells based on the activation of the marker gene, β-galactosidase. By using this system in an adult mouse model, we found that β-galactosidase positive mononuclear cells were generated from β-galactosidase positive multinuclear myofibers upon muscle injury. We also demonstrated that these mononuclear cells can develop into a variety of different muscle cell lineages, i.e., myoblasts, satellite cells, and muscle derived stem cells. Conclusions/Significance: These novel findings demonstrated, for the first time, that cellular dedifferentiation of skeletal muscle cells actually occurs in mammalian skeletal muscle following traumatic injury in vivo. © 2011 Mu et al

Epidemiology of invasive group B streptococcal disease in infants from urban area of South China, 2011–2014

YesBackground: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants in both developed and developing countries. To our knowledge, only a few studies have been reported the clinical features, treatment and outcomes of the GBS disease in China. The severity of neonatal GBS disease in China remains unclear. Population-based surveillance in China is therefore required. Methods: We retrospectively collected data of <3 months old infants with culture-positive GBS in sterile samples from three large urban tertiary hospitals in South China from Jan 2011 to Dec 2014. The GBS isolates and their antibiotic susceptibility were routinely identified in clinical laboratories in participating hospitals. Serotyping and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) were also conducted for further analysis of the neonatal GBS disease. Results: Total 70 cases of culture-confirmed invasive GBS infection were identified from 127,206 live births born in studying hospitals, giving an overall incidence of 0.55 per 1000 live births (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.44–0.69). They consisted of 49 with early-onset disease (EOD, 0.39 per 1000 live births (95% CI 0.29–0.51)) and 21 with late-onset disease (LOD, 0.17 per 1000 live births (95% CI 0.11–0.25)). The incidence of EOD increased significantly over the studying period. Five infants (4 EOD and 1 LOD) died before discharge giving a mortality rate of 7.1% and five infants (7.1%, 2 EOD and 3 LOD) had neurological sequelae. Within 68 GBS isolates from GBS cases who born in the studying hospitals or elsewhere, serotype III accounted for 77.9%, followed by Ib (14.7%), V (4.4%), and Ia (2.9%). MLST analysis revealed the presence of 13 different sequence types among the 68 GBS isolates and ST-17 was the most frequent sequence type (63.2%). All isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ceftriaxone, vancomycin and linezolid, while 57.4% and 51.5% were resistant to erythromycin and clindamycin, respectively. Conclusions: This study gains the insight into the spectrum of GBS infection in south China which will facilitate the development of the guidance for reasonable antibiotics usage and will provide evidence for the implementation of potential GBS vaccines in the future.Supported by medical and health science and technology projects of Health and Family Planning Commission of Guangzhou Municipality (grant number 20151A010034) and Guangdong provincial science and technology planning projects (grant number 2014A020212520)

Assessing Reproducibility of Inherited Variants Detected With Short-Read Whole Genome Sequencing

Background: Reproducible detection of inherited variants with whole genome sequencing (WGS) is vital for the implementation of precision medicine and is a complicated process in which each step affects variant call quality. Systematically assessing reproducibility of inherited variants with WGS and impact of each step in the process is needed for understanding and improving quality of inherited variants from WGS. Results: To dissect the impact of factors involved in detection of inherited variants with WGS, we sequence triplicates of eight DNA samples representing two populations on three short-read sequencing platforms using three library kits in six labs and call variants with 56 combinations of aligners and callers. We find that bioinformatics pipelines (callers and aligners) have a larger impact on variant reproducibility than WGS platform or library preparation. Single-nucleotide variants (SNVs), particularly outside difficult-to-map regions, are more reproducible than small insertions and deletions (indels), which are least reproducible when \u3e 5 bp. Increasing sequencing coverage improves indel reproducibility but has limited impact on SNVs above 30×. Conclusions: Our findings highlight sources of variability in variant detection and the need for improvement of bioinformatics pipelines in the era of precision medicine with WGS