Toward Fairness via Maximum Mean Discrepancy Regularization on Logits Space

Fairness has become increasingly pivotal in machine learning for high-risk applications such as machine learning in healthcare and facial recognition. However, we see the deficiency in the previous logits space constraint methods. Therefore, we propose a novel framework, Logits-MMD, that achieves the fairness condition by imposing constraints on output logits with Maximum Mean Discrepancy. Moreover, quantitative analysis and experimental results show that our framework has a better property that outperforms previous methods and achieves state-of-the-art on two facial recognition datasets and one animal dataset. Finally, we show experimental results and demonstrate that our debias approach achieves the fairness condition effectively

Toward Fairness Through Fair Multi-Exit Framework for Dermatological Disease Diagnosis

Fairness has become increasingly pivotal in medical image recognition. However, without mitigating bias, deploying unfair medical AI systems could harm the interests of underprivileged populations. In this paper, we observe that while features extracted from the deeper layers of neural networks generally offer higher accuracy, fairness conditions deteriorate as we extract features from deeper layers. This phenomenon motivates us to extend the concept of multi-exit frameworks. Unlike existing works mainly focusing on accuracy, our multi-exit framework is fairness-oriented; the internal classifiers are trained to be more accurate and fairer, with high extensibility to apply to most existing fairness-aware frameworks. During inference, any instance with high confidence from an internal classifier is allowed to exit early. Experimental results show that the proposed framework can improve the fairness condition over the state-of-the-art in two dermatological disease datasets.Comment: MICCAI202

Co-Overexpression of Cyclooxygenase-2 and Microsomal Prostaglandin E Synthase-1 Adversely Affects the Postoperative Survival in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

IntroductionCyclooxygenase (COX)-2 and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase (mPGES)-1 have been found to be overexpressed in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study was to investigate the expression profiles of COX-2 and mPGES-1 and their correlation with the clinical characteristics and survival outcomes in patients with resected NSCLC.Methods/ResultsSeventy-nine paired adjacent normal-tumor matched samples were prospectively procured from patients undergoing surgery for NSCLC. The protein levels of COX-2 and mPGES-1 were assessed by Western blot analysis. Overexpression in the tumor sample was defined as more than twofold increase in protein expression compared with the corresponding adjacent normal tissue. Co-overexpression of COX-2 and mPGES-1 were further confirmed by immunohistochemistry. COX-2 was overexpressed in 58% and mPGES-1 in 70% of the tumor samples (p < 0.0001). Co-overexpression of mPGES-1 and COX-2 was noted in 43%, and they were unrelated to each other (p = 0.232). Co-overexpression of both proteins was significantly associated with less tumor differentiation (p = 0.046), tumor size larger than 5 cm (p = 0.038), and worse survival status during the follow-up (p = 0.036). Multivariate analysis showed that in addition to overall stage, co-overexpression of both proteins adversely affected the overall (hazard ratio, 2.40; p = 0.045) and disease-free survivals (hazard ratio, 2.27; p = 0.029).ConclusionsOverexpression of either COX-2 or mPGES-1 is common but unrelated in NSCLC. Co-overexpression of both COX-2 and mPGES-1 adversely affects postoperative overall and disease-free survivals

Audio-video Synchronization with Arbitrary, Non-periodic Video Sources

The latency between audio and video streams of a device is usually measured using stock test videos. Although the use of stock test videos eases analysis, the test video differs materially from real-world videos, which tend to be far more diverse in content and encoding schemes, resulting in laborious experimental setup and inaccurate synchronization. This disclosure describes techniques to measure the latency between the audio and video streams of a given device using arbitrary, real-world, audio-visual footage (test video). Characteristic video and audio frames and their differences in timestamps (characteristic durations) are identified within the test video. The test video is played by the device-under-test while being recorded by a high-precision video camera. Characteristic durations of the recorded footage are determined. The differences in characteristic durations between the test and the recorded videos are statistically analyzed to determine the AV asynchrony of the device-under-test

Orderly arranged NLO materials on exfoliated layeredtemplates based on dendrons with alternating moietiesat the periphery†

Nonlinear optical dendrons with alternating terminal groups of the stearyl group (C18) and chromophorewere prepared through a convergent approach. These chromophore-containing dendrons were used asthe intercalating agents for montmorillonite via an ion-exchange process. An orderly exfoliatedmorphology is obtained by mixing the dendritic structure intercalated layered silicates with a polyimide.As a result, optical nonlinearity, i.e. the Pockels effect was observed for these nanocomposites withoutresorting to the poling process. EO coefficients of 9–22 pm V 1 were achieved despite that relativelylow NLO densities were present in the nanocomposites, particularly for the samples comprising thedendrons with alternating moieties. In addition, the hedging effects of the stearyl group on the selfalignmentbehavior, electro-optical (EO) coefficient and temporal stability of the dendron-intercalatedmontmorillonite/polyimide nanocomposites were also investigated

Precise Latency Calculation for Audio-Video Synchronization

Synchronization between the audio and video tracks in recording equipment is usually achieved using an audio-first approach. In this approach, the timestamp of a target video frame is compared to the timestamp of the sound emitted during that frame, timestamps being counted in units of video frames. Videos have a relatively low sampling rate, e.g., a 60 frame-per-sec video has frames separated by 16.67 milliseconds. Thus, the measurement of audio-video asynchrony is imprecise. This disclosure describes video-first techniques for audio-video synchronization. A target video frame is captured, and its timestamp is mapped to the audio track. The audio track has millisecond-level time resolution due to high audio-sampling rates. Using the audio track, the timestamp of the sound (pulse) emitted during the target video frame is determined to millisecond accuracy. Timestamps of the target video frame and of the audio pulse are differenced to obtain a high-precision estimate of audio-video asynchrony

Identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes at 16q22.1 increase diabetic nephropathy risk in Han Chinese population

Abstract Background Diabetic nephropathy (DN) has become one of the most common causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in many countries, such as 44.5% in Taiwan. Previous studies have shown that there is a genetic component to ESRD. Studies attempting to determine which genetic variants are related to DN in Han Chinese are limited. A case–control study was conducted to identify DN susceptibility variants in Han Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes. Results We included 574 unrelated type 2 diabetes patients (217 DN cases and 357 controls), who were genotyped using Illumina HumanHap550-Duo BeadChip. In single-SNP association tests, the SNPs rs11647932, rs11645214, and rs6499323 located at 16q22.1 under the additive-effect disease model were significantly associated with an approximately 2-fold increased risk of DN. In haplotype association tests, identified haplotypes located in the chromosome 16q22.1 region (containing ST3GAL2, COG4, SF3B3, and IL34 genes) raised DN risk. The strongest association was found with haplotype rs2288491-rs4985534-rs11645214 (C-C-G) (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.93, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.83-2.03, p = 6.25 × 10−7), followed by haplotype rs8052125-rs2288491-rs4985534-rs11645214 (G-C-C-G) (AOR 1.92, 95% CI 1.82-2.02, p = 6.56 × 10−7), and haplotype rs2303792-rs8052125-rs2288491-rs4985534-rs11645214 (A-G-C-C-G) (AOR 1.91, 95% CI 1.81-2.01, p = 1.15 × 10−6). Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the novel SNPs and haplotypes located at the 16q22.1 region may involve in the biological pathways of DN in Han Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes. This study can provide new insights into the etiology of DN.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109508/1/12863_2014_Article_113.pd

Evaluation of prognostic factors and the role of chemotherapy in unfavorable carcinoma of unknown primary site: a 10-year cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Carcinoma of unknown primary site (CUP) has a poor prognosis and the prognostic factors in these patients are not well established. Furthermore, there are no selection criteria for patients who should benefit from chemotherapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The medical records of 179 CUP patients who were treated at Taipei Veterans General Hospital from 2000 to 2009 were reviewed. Factors associated with survival were determined by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Differences between the groups with and without palliative chemotherapy were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Univariate analysis revealed multiple prognostic factors, including performance status, lung metastasis, number of metastatic organs, serum albumin, corrected serum calcium, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), sodium, and cholesterol levels, palliative chemotherapy, and white blood cell and lymphocyte counts. Multivariate analysis showed that performance status < 2, serum albumin level ≥ 3.5 g/dl, corrected serum calcium level < 10.7 mg/dl, single metastatic organ, and palliative chemotherapy were independent factors of better prognosis. Patients with better performance status, higher serum albumin, and lower serum LDH levels had significantly greater benefit from palliative chemotherapy.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Certain patients with unfavorable CUP will have better survival. Identification of patients with unfavorable CUP who could benefit from palliative chemotherapy warrants future prospective studies.</p

Multiple Lineages of Human Breast Cancer Stem/Progenitor Cells Identified by Profiling with Stem Cell Markers

Heterogeneity of cancer stem/progenitor cells that give rise to different forms of cancer has been well demonstrated for leukemia. However, this fundamental concept has yet to be established for solid tumors including breast cancer. In this communication, we analyzed solid tumor cancer stem cell markers in human breast cancer cell lines and primary specimens using flow cytometry. The stem/progenitor cell properties of different marker expressing-cell populations were further assessed by in vitro soft agar colony formation assay and the ability to form tumors in NOD/SCID mice. We found that the expression of stem cell markers varied greatly among breast cancer cell lines. In MDA-MB-231 cells, PROCR and ESA, instead of the widely used breast cancer stem cell markers CD44+/CD24-/low and ALDH, could be used to highly enrich cancer stem/progenitor cell populations which exhibited the ability to self renew and divide asymmetrically. Furthermore, the PROCR+/ESA+ cells expressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers. PROCR could also be used to enrich cells with colony forming ability from MB-361 cells. Moreover, consistent with the marker profiling using cell lines, the expression of stem cell markers differed greatly among primary tumors. There was an association between metastasis status and a high prevalence of certain markers including CD44+/CD24−/low, ESA+, CD133+, CXCR4+ and PROCR+ in primary tumor cells. Taken together, these results suggest that similar to leukemia, several stem/progenitor cell-like subpopulations can exist in breast cancer