Writing Instruction in China: Challenges and Efforts

This qualitative study examined the current writing instruction in 1-12 level education with the data collected in three Chinese cities. The data from the Interviews of teachers and teacher-educators at different levels and from classroom observations at upper elementary to high schools in three metropolitan cities across China provide insights into 1-12 writing instruction in contemporary China. To further reveal the efforts taken by writing teacher under China’s high-stakes testing culture, this paper also presented a case study of an exemplary 10th grade writing teacher, who took tremendous efforts in nurturing true readers and writers in his classroom under the test-obsessive culture in China

Plasma Clusterin and the CLU Gene rs11136000 Variant Are Associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Objective: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is related to an elevated risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Plasma clusterin is reported associated with the early pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and longitudinal brain atrophy in subjects with MCI. The rs11136000 single nucleotide polymorphism within the clusterin (CLU) gene is also associated with the risk of AD. We aimed to investigate the associations among plasma clusterin, rs11136000 genotype and T2DM-associated MCI. Methods: A total of 231 T2DM patients, including 126 MCI and 105 cognitively healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Demographic parameters were collected and neuropsychological tests were conducted. Plasma clusterin and CLU rs11136000 genotype were examined.Results: Plasma clusterin was significantly higher in MCI patients than in control group (p=0.007). In subjects with MCI, plasma clusterin level was negatively correlated with Montreal cognitive assessment and auditory verbal learning test_delayed recall scores (p=0.027 and p=0.020, respectively). After adjustment for age, educational attainment, and gender, carriers of rs11136000 TT genotype demonstrated reduced risk for MCI compared with the CC genotype carriers (OR=0.158, χ2=4.113, p=0.043). Multivariable regression model showed that educational attainment, duration of diabetes, HDL-c, and plasma clusterin levels are associated with MCI in T2DM patients.Conclusions: Plasma clusterin was associated with MCI and may reflect a protective response in T2DM patients. TT genotype exhibited a reduced risk of MCI compared to CC genotype. Further investigations should be conducted to determine the role of clusterin in cognitive decline

Robust Computation Offloading and Trajectory Optimization for Multi-UAV-Assisted MEC: A Multi-Agent DRL Approach

For multiple Unmanned-Aerial-Vehicles (UAVs) assisted Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) networks, we study the problem of combined computation and communication for user equipments deployed with multi-type tasks. Specifically, we consider that the MEC network encompasses both communication and computation uncertainties, where the partial channel state information and the inaccurate estimation of task complexity are only available. We introduce a robust design accounting for these uncertainties and minimize the total weighted energy consumption by jointly optimizing UAV trajectory, task partition, as well as the computation and communication resource allocation in the multi-UAV scenario. The formulated problem is challenging to solve with the coupled optimization variables and the high uncertainties. To overcome this issue, we reformulate a multi-agent Markov decision process and propose a multi-agent proximal policy optimization with Beta distribution framework to achieve a flexible learning policy. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed algorithm for the multi-UAV-assisted MEC network, which outperforms the representative benchmarks of the deep reinforcement learning and heuristic algorithms.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure

A Unified Query-based Paradigm for Camouflaged Instance Segmentation

Due to the high similarity between camouflaged instances and the background, the recently proposed camouflaged instance segmentation (CIS) faces challenges in accurate localization and instance segmentation. To this end, inspired by query-based transformers, we propose a unified query-based multi-task learning framework for camouflaged instance segmentation, termed UQFormer, which builds a set of mask queries and a set of boundary queries to learn a shared composed query representation and efficiently integrates global camouflaged object region and boundary cues, for simultaneous instance segmentation and instance boundary detection in camouflaged scenarios. Specifically, we design a composed query learning paradigm that learns a shared representation to capture object region and boundary features by the cross-attention interaction of mask queries and boundary queries in the designed multi-scale unified learning transformer decoder. Then, we present a transformer-based multi-task learning framework for simultaneous camouflaged instance segmentation and camouflaged instance boundary detection based on the learned composed query representation, which also forces the model to learn a strong instance-level query representation. Notably, our model views the instance segmentation as a query-based direct set prediction problem, without other post-processing such as non-maximal suppression. Compared with 14 state-of-the-art approaches, our UQFormer significantly improves the performance of camouflaged instance segmentation. Our code will be available at https://github.com/dongbo811/UQFormer.Comment: This paper has been accepted by ACM MM202

Revisiting Image Aesthetic Assessment via Self-Supervised Feature Learning

Visual aesthetic assessment has been an active research field for decades. Although latest methods have achieved promising performance on benchmark datasets, they typically rely on a large number of manual annotations including both aesthetic labels and related image attributes. In this paper, we revisit the problem of image aesthetic assessment from the self-supervised feature learning perspective. Our motivation is that a suitable feature representation for image aesthetic assessment should be able to distinguish different expert-designed image manipulations, which have close relationships with negative aesthetic effects. To this end, we design two novel pretext tasks to identify the types and parameters of editing operations applied to synthetic instances. The features from our pretext tasks are then adapted for a one-layer linear classifier to evaluate the performance in terms of binary aesthetic classification. We conduct extensive quantitative experiments on three benchmark datasets and demonstrate that our approach can faithfully extract aesthetics-aware features and outperform alternative pretext schemes. Moreover, we achieve comparable results to state-of-the-art supervised methods that use 10 million labels from ImageNet.Comment: AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence, 2020, accepte

Laser speckle contrast imaging to monitor microcirculation: An effective method to predict outcome in patients with sepsis and septic shock

Background: This study examines the microcirculation of patients with sepsis and septic shock using Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) technology, to enhance monitoring and predict outcomes of sepsis and septic shock.Methods: From 01 July 2021, to 31 January 2022, 44 patients diagnosed with septic shock and sepsis were included in the study, their clinical data were collected, and LSCI was used to monitor the mean peripheral blood flow perfusion index (PI).Results: The average peripheral blood flow PI of septic shock patients was significantly lower than that of septic patients, with a cutoff value of 26.25. The average peripheral blood flow PI negatively correlated with acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) Ⅱ score (p = .01 < .05), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score (p < .01), and lactic acid levels (p = .01 < .05). We report average peripheral blood flow no correlation with age, mean arterial pressure, body temperature, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and body mass index. There was no correlation with procalcitonin, C-reactive protein (CRP), red blood cell distribution width, or platelet distribution width (p > .05). PI significantly correlated with the group sepsis and septic shock (p < .001, r = −.865). And PI significantly correlated with the outcome or mortality (p = .007 < .05, r = −.398). The ROC curve was calculated for PI and the sensitivity was 81.3%, and the specificity was 75% when PI cutoff value chooses 20.88.Conclusion: LSCI technology successfully detected the fingertip microcirculation of patients with septic shock. LSCI can reliably differentiate patients with sepsis vs patients with septic shock. Additionally, the average peripheral blood PI negatively correlated with APACHE Ⅱ, SOFA score, and lactate acid levels, providing useful and supplementary information for the diagnosis and monitoring of septic shock. Trial registration: Chictr2100046761. Registered on May 28, 2021.Clinical Trial Registration:clinicaltrials.gov, identifier Chictr210004676

Determining the 59 Chemical Drugs Illegally Added in Herbal Tea by a Micro-QuEChERS-Based UPLC-MS/MS

Objective: An analysis method for simultaneous determination of 59 kinds of chemical drugs illegally added in herbal tea by micro-QuEChERS method combined with ultra performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometric (UPLC-MS/MS) was established. Method: The samples were extracted by ultrasonic extraction from acetonitrile solution for 5 min and salted out with sodium chloride (NaCl) and anhydrous sodium sulfate (Na2SO4). Supernatant was purified with C18 sorbent and separated on a ACQUITY HSS T3 column (100 mm×2.1mm, 1.8 μm) by gradient elution using a mixture of 0.01% formic acid and acetonitrile:methanol (8:2) as the mobile phase. Then the analytes were quantified by UHPLC-MS/MS in multiple reaction monitoring mode (MRM) via positive and negative electrospray ionization quantified by external standard method. Result: The coefficient of determination of the standard calibration curves for the 59 analytes were all above 0.9990. The limit of detection (LOD, S/N≥3) and the limit of quantitation (LOQ, S/N≥10) were 5.0~10.0 and 10.0~25 μg/L. At three spiked of 25.0, 50.0 and 100.0 μg/L, the average recoveries of 59 analytes were 60.3%~128.8% (n=6) with the relative standard deviations in the range of 1.0%～13.7%. Conclusion: The method developed was simple, sensitive, and had good purification effect. It could be applied for the rapid determination of 59 chemical drugs illegally added in herbal tea

Atmospheric nitrous acid (HONO) at a rural coastal site in North China: Seasonal variations and effects of biomass burning

Nitrous acid (HONO) plays a significant role in atmospheric chemistry due to its contribution to hydroxyl radical (OH). However, no scientific consensus has been achieved about the daytime HONO formation mechanisms. To identify the seasonal variations of HONO chemistry and the impacts of biomass burning (BB), we performed a two-phased field study in winter-spring and summer (covering a harvest season) in 2017 at a rural coastal site in North China. Though the mean HONO concentration in winter-spring (0.26 +/- 0.28 ppbv) was higher than in summer (0.17 + 0.19 ppbv), the maximum HONO concentrations were comparable (similar to 2 ppbv) in the two campaigns. Both the HONO/NOx ratio and nocturnal heterogeneous conversion efficiency of HONO (C-HONO) in summer were over twice of that in winter-spring. The daytime budget analysis also revealed that the strength of P(othe)r (i.e., the HONO sources apart from the reaction of OH + NO) in summer was double of that in winter-spring. BB affected the HONO concentration by enhancing the contribution of heterogeneous HONO production on the aerosol surface but weakening the role of photo-related HONO formation. HONO photolysis was a significant source of OH in both winter-spring and summer, and its contribution could be further enhanced during the BB episode in summer. Our study demonstrates the significant seasonal variations of HONO and the effects of BB, and suggests needs for more multi-season observations and considerations of BB, especially during the harvest time, in HONO research

Effect of Resveratrol on Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Muscle Fiber Type Transformation in Bovine Myotubes via SIRT1/PGC-1α

This study investigated the effect of resveratrol on muscle fiber type transformation in bovine myotubes. Cell viability and related metabolic enzyme activities were measured by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) and colorimetric assays, and myogenic regulatory factors (MRFs), myosin heavy chains (MyHCs), and gene and protein expression related to mitochondrial biogenesis were determined. The results showed that resveratrol treatment significantly increased the gene expression of Myf5, Myf6, MyoG, and MyoD (P < 0.05) and promoted the differentiation of bovine myotubes. Resveratrol significantly increased slow MyHC expression and decreased fast MyHC expression, while upregulating the mRNA expression levels of MyHC I and MyHC IIa and downregulating the mRNA expression levels of MyHC IIx and MyHC IIb (P < 0.05). Resveratrol also significantly increased succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and malate dehydrogenase (MDH) activity and decreased lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activity (P < 0.05). In addition, resveratrol increased the gene and protein expression levels of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1), peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator-1α (PGC-1α), nucleus respiratory factors-1 (NRF-1), mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) (P < 0.05). Addition of the SIRT1 inhibitor 6-chloro-2,3,4,9-tetrahydro-1H-carbazole-1-carboxamide (EX527) significantly attenuated resveratrol-induced muscle fiber type transformation (P < 0.05), and the promoting effect of resveratrol on the gene and protein expression of SIRT1, PGC-1α, NRF-1, and TFAM (P < 0.05). Taken together, resveratrol can promote mitochondrial biogenesis and consequently muscle fiber type transformation by activating the SIRT1/PGC-1α signaling pathway

Generation of the tumor-suppressive secretome from tumor cells

Rationale: The progression of cancer cells depends on the soil and building an inhibitory soil might be a therapeutic option. We previously created tumor-suppressive secretomes by activating Wnt signaling in MSCs. Here, we examined whether the anti-tumor secretomes can be produced from tumor cells. Methods: Wnt signaling was activated in tumor cells by overexpressing β-catenin or administering BML284, a Wnt activator. Their conditioned medium (CM) was applied to cancer cells or tissues, and the effects of CM were evaluated. Tumor growth in the mammary fat pad and tibia in C57BL/6 female mice was also evaluated through μCT imaging and histology. Whole-genome proteomics analysis was conducted to determine and characterize novel tumor-suppressing proteins, which were enriched in CM. Results: The overexpression of β-catenin or the administration of BML284 generated tumor-suppressive secretomes from breast, prostate and pancreatic cancer cells. In the mouse model, β-catenin-overexpressing CM reduced tumor growth and tumor-driven bone destruction. This inhibition was also observed with BML284-treated CM. Besides p53 and Trail, proteomics analysis revealed that CM was enriched with enolase 1 (Eno1) and ubiquitin C (Ubc) that presented notable tumor-suppressing actions. Importantly, Eno1 immunoprecipitated CD44, a cell-surface adhesion receptor, and its silencing suppressed Eno1-driven tumor inhibition. A pan-cancer survival analysis revealed that the downregulation of MMP9, Runx2 and Snail by CM had a significant impact on survival outcomes (p < 0.00001). CM presented a selective inhibition of tumor cells compared to non-tumor cells, and it downregulated PD-L1, an immune escape modulator. Conclusions: The tumor-suppressive secretome can be generated from tumor cells, in which β-catenin presented two opposing roles, as an intracellular tumor promoter in tumor cells and a generator of extracellular tumor suppressor in CM. Eno1 was enriched in CM and its interaction with CD44 was involved in Eno1's anti-tumor action. Besides presenting a potential option for treating primary cancers and metastases, the result indicates that aggressive tumors may inhibit the growth of less aggressive tumors via tumor-suppressive secretomes