Learned Multi-Patch Similarity

Estimating a depth map from multiple views of a scene is a fundamental task in computer vision. As soon as more than two viewpoints are available, one faces the very basic question how to measure similarity across >2 image patches. Surprisingly, no direct solution exists, instead it is common to fall back to more or less robust averaging of two-view similarities. Encouraged by the success of machine learning, and in particular convolutional neural networks, we propose to learn a matching function which directly maps multiple image patches to a scalar similarity score. Experiments on several multi-view datasets demonstrate that this approach has advantages over methods based on pairwise patch similarity.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, Accepted at ICCV 201

De morbo maculoso haemorrhagico Werlhofii : dissertatio inauguralis medica

http://tartu.ester.ee/record=b1921598~S1*es

Diagnostic utility of cerebrospinal fluid immunocytochemistry for diagnosis of feline infectious peritonitis manifesting in the central nervous system

Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate whether an ante-mortem diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is possible via immunocytochemical staining (ICC) of feline coronavirus antigen (FCoV) within macrophages of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Methods Prospectively, CSF samples of 41 cats were investigated, including cats with histopathologically confirmed FIP and neurological signs (n = 10), cats with confirmed FIP without CNS involvement (n = 11), cats with neurological signs but another confirmed CNS disease (n = 17), and cats without neurological signs and a disease other than FIP (n = 3). ICC staining of CSF macrophages was performed in all cats. Sensitivity, specificity, positive (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV) of CSF ICC were calculated. Results Of 10 samples from cats with CNS FIP, eight had detectable CSF macrophages, seven of which were positive for FCoV. Ten of 11 samples from cats with confirmed FIP without neurological signs had macrophages in the CSF, with all 10 being ICC-positive. In cats with other CNS disorders, 11/17 had macrophages, two of which stained positively. In cats with diseases other than FIP and without neurological disorders, 2/3 revealed macrophages, with one cat showing positive ICC staining. Diagnosis of FIP via CSF ICC had a sensitivity of 85.0% and a specificity of 83.3%. PPV and NPV were 85.0% and 83.3%. Conclusions and relevance CSF ICC is a highly sensitive test for ante-mortem diagnosis of FIP manifesting in the CNS. However, CNS ICC specificity is too low to confirm FIP and the method should only be applied in conjunction with other features such as CSF cytology. CNS ICC could be helpful to discover pre-neurological stages of CNS FIP

Entanglement Creation and Storage in Two Qubits Coupling to an Anisotropic Heisenberg Spin Chain

The time evolution of the entanglement of a pair of two spin qubits is investigated when the two qubits simultaneously couple to an environment of an anisotropic Heisenberg XXZ spin chain. The entanglement of the two spin qubits can be created and is a periodic function of the time if the magnetic field is greater than a critical value. If the two spin qubits are in the Bell state, the entanglement can be stored with relatively large value even when the magnetic field is large.Comment: 4figures

The Innate Immune System: Its Rediscovery before Toll Was Described

In 1994, in a prospective control trial in cyclosporine-treated, kidneytransplant patients, we observed that treatment of a non-specificallograft injury (postischemic reperfusion injury) leads to asignificant reduction in the incidence of both specificalloimmune-mediated allograft rejection and chronic allograft failure. From these convincing clinical data, we concluded in terms of an‘argumentum e contrario’: it is the tissue injury that induces immunity. As from where we stand today in innate immunity research, these earlyclinical observations can be regarded as the discovery of the existence of a human innate immune system activated by tissue injury and precedingadaptive immunity

Eye movements track prioritized auditory features in selective attention to natural speech

Over the last decades, cognitive neuroscience has identified a distributed set of brain regions that are critical for attention. Strong anatomical overlap with brain regions critical for oculomotor processes suggests a joint network for attention and eye movements. However, the role of this shared network in complex, naturalistic environments remains understudied. Here, we investigated eye movements in relation to (un)attended sentences of natural speech. Combining simultaneously recorded eye tracking and magnetoencephalographic data with temporal response functions, we show that gaze tracks attended speech, a phenomenon we termed ocular speech tracking. Ocular speech tracking even differentiates a target from a distractor in a multi-speaker context and is further related to intelligibility. Moreover, we provide evidence for its contribution to neural differences in speech processing, emphasizing the necessity to consider oculomotor activity in future research and in the interpretation of neural differences in auditory cognition

Healthcare Utilization and Costs in Sepsis Survivors in Germany-Secondary Analysis of a Prospective Cohort Study

Background: Survivors of sepsis often face long-term sequelae after intensive care treatment. Compared to the period of hospitalization, little is known about the ambulatory healthcare utilization in sepsis patients. The study evaluated healthcare utilization and associated costs of sepsis care including allied health professions after initial hospitalization. Methods: Secondary analysis was performed on data in 210 sepsis patients prospectively enrolled from nine intensive care study centers across Germany. Data was collected via structured surveys among their Primary care (Family-) physicians (PCPs) within the first month after discharge from ICU (baseline) and again at 6, 12 and 24 months after discharge, each relating to the period following the last survey. Costs were assessed by standardized cost unit rates from a health care system’s perspective. Changes in healthcare utilization and costs over time were calculated using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Results: Of the 210 patients enrolled, 146 (69.5%) patients completed the 24 months follow-up. In total, 109 patients were hospitalized within the first 6 months post-intensive care. Mean total direct costs per patient at 0–6 months were €17,531 (median: €6047), at 7–12 months €9029 (median: €3312), and at 13–24 months €18,703 (median: €12,828). The largest contributor to the total direct costs within the first 6 months was re-hospitalizations (€13,787 (median: €2965). After this first half year, we observed a significant decline in inpatient care costs for re-hospitalizations (p ≤ 0.001). PCPs were visited by more than 95% of patients over 24 months. Conclusions: Sepsis survivors have high health care utilization. Hospital readmissions are frequent and costly. Highest costs and hospitalizations were observed in more than half of patients within the first six months post-intensive care. Among all outpatient care providers, PCPs were consulted most frequently. Clinical impact: Sepsis survivors have a high healthcare utilization and related costs which persist after discharge from hospital. Within outpatient care, possible needs of sepsis survivors as physiotherapy or psychotherapy seem not to be met appropriately. Development of sepsis aftercare programs for early detection and treatment of complications should be prioritized