A Lightweight and Accurate Face Detection Algorithm Based on Retinaface

In this paper, we propose a lightweight and accurate face detection algorithm LAFD (Light and accurate face detection) based on Retinaface. Backbone network in the algorithm is a modified MobileNetV3 network which adjusts the size of the convolution kernel, the channel expansion multiplier of the inverted residuals block and the use of the SE attention mechanism. Deformable convolution network(DCN) is introduced in the context module and the algorithm uses focal loss function instead of cross-entropy loss function as the classification loss function of the model. The test results on the WIDERFACE dataset indicate that the average accuracy of LAFD is 94.1%, 92.2% and 82.1% for the "easy", "medium" and "hard" validation subsets respectively with an improvement of 3.4%, 4.0% and 8.3% compared to Retinaface and 3.1%, 4.1% and 4.1% higher than the well-performing lightweight model, LFFD. If the input image is pre-processed and scaled to 1560px in length or 1200px in width, the model achieves an average accuracy of 86.2% on the 'hard' validation subset. The model is lightweight, with a size of only 10.2MB.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 7 table

Unsupervised Domain Adaptation GAN Inversion for Image Editing

Existing GAN inversion methods work brilliantly for high-quality image reconstruction and editing while struggling with finding the corresponding high-quality images for low-quality inputs. Therefore, recent works are directed toward leveraging the supervision of paired high-quality and low-quality images for inversion. However, these methods are infeasible in real-world scenarios and further hinder performance improvement. In this paper, we resolve this problem by introducing Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (UDA) into the Inversion process, namely UDA-Inversion, for both high-quality and low-quality image inversion and editing. Particularly, UDA-Inversion first regards the high-quality and low-quality images as the source domain and unlabeled target domain, respectively. Then, a discrepancy function is presented to measure the difference between two domains, after which we minimize the source error and the discrepancy between the distributions of two domains in the latent space to obtain accurate latent codes for low-quality images. Without direct supervision, constructive representations of high-quality images can be spontaneously learned and transformed into low-quality images based on unsupervised domain adaptation. Experimental results indicate that UDA-inversion is the first that achieves a comparable level of performance with supervised methods in low-quality images across multiple domain datasets. We hope this work provides a unique inspiration for latent embedding distributions in image process tasks

Atomically Well-defined Nitrogen Doping in the Cross-plane Transport through Graphene Heterojunctions

The nitrogen doping of graphene leads to graphene heterojunctions with a tunable bandgap, suitable for electronics, electrochemical, and sensing applications. However, the microscopic nature and charge transport properties of atomic-level nitrogen-doped graphene are still unknown, mainly due to the multiple doping sites with topological diversities. In this work, we fabricated the atomically well-defined N-doped graphene heterojunctions and investigated the cross-plane transport through these heterojunctions to reveal the effects of doping on their electronic properties. We found that different doping number of nitrogen atoms leads to a conductance difference of up to ~288, and the conductance of graphene heterojunctions with nitrogen-doping at different positions in the conjugated framework can also lead to a conductance difference of ~170. Combined ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements and theoretical calculations reveal that the insertion of nitrogen atoms into the conjugation framework significantly stabilizes the frontier molecular orbitals, leading to a change in the relative positions of HOMO and LUMO to the Fermi level of the electrodes. Our work provides a unique insight into the role of nitrogen doping on the charge transport through graphene heterojunctions and materials at the single atomic level

Clinical efficacy and tendon integrity of patients with subscapularis tear by the technique of arthroscopic single external row repair

BackgroundWith the development of arthroscopic technology and equipment, arthroscopy can effectively repair the tear of the subscapular muscle. However, it is difficult to expose the subscapular muscle and operate it under a microscope. In this study, the SwiveLock® C external row anchor under arthroscopy was applied to repair the tear of the subscapular muscle in a single row, which is relatively easy to operate with reliable suture and fixation, and its efficacy was evaluated.PurposeThis study aimed to assess the clinical efficacy and the tendon integrity of patients who had subscapularis tears by adopting the single-row repair technique with a SwiveLock® C external row anchor.MethodsPatients who had the subscapular muscle tear either with or without retraction were included, and their follow-up time was at least 1 year. The degree of tendon injury was examined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and confirmed by arthroscopy. The tendon was repaired in an arthroscopic manner by utilizing the single-row technique at the medial margin of the lesser tuberosity. One double-loaded suture SwiveLock® C anchor was applied to achieve a strong fixation between the footprint and tendon. The range of motion, pain visual simulation score, American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, and Constant score of shoulder joint were evaluated for each patient before the operation, 3 months after the operation, and at least 1 year after the operation.ResultsIn total, 110 patients, including 31 males and 79 females, with an average age of 68.28 ± 8.73 years were included. Arthroscopic repair of the subscapular tendon with SwiveLock® C external anchor can effectively improve the range of motion of the shoulder joint. At the last follow-up, the forward flexion of the shoulder joint increased from 88.97 ± 26.33° to 138.38 ± 26.48° (P < 0.05), the abduction range increased from 88.86 ± 25.27° to 137.78 ± 25.64° (P < 0.05), the external rotation range increased from 46.37 ± 14.48° to 66.49 ± 14.15° (P < 0.05), and the internal rotation range increased from 40.03 ± 9.01° to 57.55 ± 7.43° (P < 0.05). The clinical effect is obvious. The constant shoulder joint score increased from 40.14 ± 15.07 to 81.75 ± 11.00 (P < 0.05), the ASES score increased from 37.88 ± 13.24 to 82.01 ± 9.65 (P < 0.05), and the visual analog scale score decreased from 5.05 ± 2.11 to 1.01 ± 0.85 (P < 0.05). In the 6th month after the operation, two cases (1.81%) were confirmed to have re-tears via MRI.ConclusionIn this study, we repaired the subscapularis muscle with a single-row technique fixed by SwiveLock® C anchor and FiberWire® sutures and evaluated its efficacy. The results showed that the clinical effect of single-row arthroscopic repair was satisfactory and that reliable tendon healing could be achieved

Effects of dietary sodium butyrate on growth performance, immune function, and intestinal microflora of Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis)

The Chinese soft-shelled turtle (Pelodiscus sinensis) has become increasingly susceptible to frequent diseases with the intensification of farming, which severely impacts the development of the aquaculture industry. Sodium butyrate (SB) is widely used as a feed additive due to its promotion of growth, enhancement of immune function, and antioxidative properties. This study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary SB on the growth performance, immune function, and intestinal microflora of Chinese soft-shelled turtles. A total of 300 Chinese soft-shelled turtles (mean weight: 11.36 ± 0.21g) were randomly divided into four groups with three parallel sets in each group. Each group was fed a diet supplemented with 0%, 0.005%, 0.01%, or 0.02% SB for 60 days. The results demonstrated an upward trend in weight gain rate (WGR) and specific growth rate (SGR) with increasing SB supplementation, and the experimental group fed with 0.02% SB showed a significant increase in WGR and SGR compared to other groups (P< 0.05). These levels of SB also decreased the levels of feed conversion ratio (FCR) and the total cholesterol (TC) content of Chinese soft-shelled turtles, and the 0.02% SB was significantly lower than that of other groups (P< 0.05). The activity of complement protein in vivo increased with increases in SB content, and the activities of complement C3 and C4 reached the highest level with 0.02% SB. The species abundance of the experimental group D fed with 0.02% SB was significantly higher than that of other groups (P< 0.05). Furthermore, the relative abundance of Clostridium sensu stricto 1 was significantly increased with 0.02% SB (P< 0.05). In conclusion, adding 0.02% SB to the diet improves the growth performance, feed digestion ability, and intestinal microbiota of Chinese soft-shelled turtles

Does Serum Vitamin D Level Affect COVID-19 Infection and Its Severity?-A Case-Control Study

Background: As effective medication to treat COVID-19 is currently unavailable, preventive remedies may be particularly important. Objective: To examine the relationship between serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) level and COVID-19 infection, its severity, and its clinical case characteristics. Methods: This case-control study compared serum 25(OH)D levels and rates of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) between 80 healthy controls and 62 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Guangxi People’s Hospital, China, 2/16/2020–3/16/2020. Cases were categorized into asymptomatic, mild/moderate, and severe/critical disease. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the associations between 25(OH)D level, or VDD, and case status/severity of COVID-19 while controlling for demographics and comorbidities. A threshold level of vitamin D for conveying COVID-19 risk was estimated. Results: Severe/critical COVID-19 cases were significantly older and had higher percentages of comorbidity (renal failure) compared to mild cases. The serum 25(OH)D concentration in COVID-19 patient was much lower than that in healthy control. And 25(OH)D level was the lowest in severe/ critical cases, compared with mild cases. In further, significantly higher rates of VDD were found in COVID-19 cases (41.9%) compared to healthy controls (11.1%). And VDD was the greatest in severe/critical cases (80%), compared with mild cases (36%). These statistically significant associations remained even after controlling for demographics and comorbidities. A potential threshold of 25(OH)D (41.19nmol/L) to protect against COVID-19 was identified. Conclusion: Elderly and people with comorbidities were susceptible to severe COVID-19 infection. VDD was a risk factor for COVID-19, especially for severe/critical cases. While further confirmation is needed, vitamin D supplementation may have prevention or treatment potential for COVID- 19 disease

Intermolecular coupling enhanced thermopower in single- molecule diketopyrrolopyrrole junctions

Sorting out organic molecules with high thermopower is essential for understanding molecular thermoelectrics. The intermolecular coupling offers a unique chance to enhance the thermopower by tuning the bandgap structure of molecular devices, but the investigation of intermolecular coupling in bulk materials remains challenging. Herein, we investigated the thermopower of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) cored single-molecule junctions with different coupling strengths by varying the packing density of the self-assembled monolayers (SAM) using a customized scanning tunneling microscope break junction (STM-BJ) technique. We found that the thermopower of DPP molecules could be enhanced up to one order of magnitude with increasing packing density, suggesting that the thermopower increases with larger neighboring intermolecular interactions. The combined density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed that the closely-packed configuration brings stronger intermolecular coupling and then reduces the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) gap, leading to an enhanced thermopower. Our findings offer a new strategy for developing organic thermoelectric devices with high thermopower

Triptolide Inhibits the Proliferation of Prostate Cancer Cells and Down-Regulates SUMO-Specific Protease 1 Expression

Recently, traditional Chinese medicine and medicinal herbs have attracted more attentions worldwide for its anti-tumor efficacy. Celastrol and Triptolide, two active components extracted from the Chinese herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F (known as Lei Gong Teng or Thunder of God Vine), have shown anti-tumor effects. Celastrol was identified as a natural 26 s proteasome inhibitor which promotes cell apoptosis and inhibits tumor growth. The effect and mechanism of Triptolide on prostate cancer (PCa) is not well studied. Here we demonstrated that Triptolide, more potent than Celastrol, inhibited cell growth and induced cell death in LNCaP and PC-3 cell lines. Triptolide also significantly inhibited the xenografted PC-3 tumor growth in nude mice. Moreover, Triptolide induced PCa cell apoptosis through caspases activation and PARP cleavage. Unbalance between SUMOylation and deSUMOylation was reported to play an important role in PCa progression. SUMO-specific protease 1 (SENP1) was thought to be a potential marker and therapeutical target of PCa. Importantly, we observed that Triptolide down-regulated SENP1 expression in both mRNA and protein levels in dose-dependent and time-dependent manners, resulting in an enhanced cellular SUMOylation in PCa cells. Meanwhile, Triptolide decreased AR and c-Jun expression at similar manners, and suppressed AR and c-Jun transcription activity. Furthermore, knockdown or ectopic SENP1, c-Jun and AR expression in PCa cells inhibited the Triptolide anti-PCa effects. Taken together, our data suggest that Triptolide is a natural compound with potential therapeutic value for PCa. Its anti-tumor activity may be attributed to mechanisms involving down-regulation of SENP1 that restores SUMOylation and deSUMOyaltion balance and negative regulation of AR and c-Jun expression that inhibits the AR and c-Jun mediated transcription in PCa

Revisiting Pre-analysis Information Based Rate Control in x265

Due to the excellent compression and high real-time performance, x265 is widely used in practical applications. Combined with CU-tree based pre-analysis, x265 rate control can obtain high rate-distortion (R-D) performance. However, the pre-analysis information is not fully utilized, and the accuracy of rate control is not satisfactory in x265 because of an empirical linear model. In this paper, we propose an improved cost-guided rate control scheme for x265. Firstly, the pre-analysis information is further used to refine the bit allocation. Secondly, CU-tree is combined with the lambda-domain model for more accurate rate control and higher R-D performance. Experimental results show that compared with the original x265, our method can achieve 10.3\% BD-rate gain with only 0.22\textperthousand bitrate error