MIMO Is All You Need : A Strong Multi-In-Multi-Out Baseline for Video Prediction

The mainstream of the existing approaches for video prediction builds up their models based on a Single-In-Single-Out (SISO) architecture, which takes the current frame as input to predict the next frame in a recursive manner. This way often leads to severe performance degradation when they try to extrapolate a longer period of future, thus limiting the practical use of the prediction model. Alternatively, a Multi-In-Multi-Out (MIMO) architecture that outputs all the future frames at one shot naturally breaks the recursive manner and therefore prevents error accumulation. However, only a few MIMO models for video prediction are proposed and they only achieve inferior performance due to the date. The real strength of the MIMO model in this area is not well noticed and is largely under-explored. Motivated by that, we conduct a comprehensive investigation in this paper to thoroughly exploit how far a simple MIMO architecture can go. Surprisingly, our empirical studies reveal that a simple MIMO model can outperform the state-of-the-art work with a large margin much more than expected, especially in dealing with longterm error accumulation. After exploring a number of ways and designs, we propose a new MIMO architecture based on extending the pure Transformer with local spatio-temporal blocks and a new multi-output decoder, namely MIMO-VP, to establish a new standard in video prediction. We evaluate our model in four highly competitive benchmarks (Moving MNIST, Human3.6M, Weather, KITTI). Extensive experiments show that our model wins 1st place on all the benchmarks with remarkable performance gains and surpasses the best SISO model in all aspects including efficiency, quantity, and quality. We believe our model can serve as a new baseline to facilitate the future research of video prediction tasks. The code will be released

Effect of a Traditional Chinese Medicine combined therapy on adolescent idiopathic scoliosis: a randomized controlled trial

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of a combined Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) therapy versus conventional treatment on adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.MethodsOne hundred twenty outpatients with mild and moderate adolescent idiopathic scoliosis were randomly divided into a TCM group (TCMG) and a brace group (CG). TCMG patients underwent Daoyin, Tuina, and acupotomology therapies. CG patients were treated with a Milwaukee brace. Each patient's Cobb angle was measured after 12 and 24 months of treatment, and pulmonary function was determined after 12 months of treatment. Average electromyogram (AEMG) ratio of the surface electromyogram was measured after 6 and 12 months of treatment and followed-up after 18 and 24 months.ResultsThe Cobb angle significantly decreased in both groups after 12 months of treatment compared with before treatment (P < 0.05). The percentages of original Cobb angle in TCMG and CG were 51.4% and 47.8% (P > 0.05) after 12 months and 62.5% and 34.7% (P < 0.05) after 24 months, respectively. Pulmonary function significantly improved after 12 months in TCMG (P < 0.05) but significantly decreased in CG (P < 0.05). The AEMG ratio was significantly lower (P < 0.01) and tended to remain at 1 after stopping treatment in TCMG, but increased in CG (P < 0.05).ConclusionTCM combined therapy can prevent the progression of scoliosis. The AEMG ratio is a promising index that could replace radiography in the evaluation of treatment effect and progression in scoliosis

The burden of skin and subcutaneous diseases: findings from the global burden of disease study 2019

BackgroundThe small number of existing integrative studies on the global distribution and burden of all types of skin and subcutaneous diseases hinders relevant comparisons.ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine the latest distribution, epidemiological differences, and factors potentially influencing each skin and subcutaneous disease and the policy implications.MethodsData on the skin and subcutaneous diseases were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The incidence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and deaths due to skin and subcutaneous diseases in 204 countries and regions from 1990 to 2019 were analyzed and stratified by sex, age, geographical location, and sociodemographic index (SDI). The annual age-standardized rate of change in the incidence was obtained to evaluate temporal trends.ResultsOf 4,859,267,654 (95% uncertainty interval [UI], 4,680,693,440–5,060,498,767) new skin and subcutaneous disease cases that were identified, most were fungal (34.0%) and bacterial (23.0%) skin diseases, which accounted for 98,522 (95% UI 75,116–123,949) deaths. The burden of skin and subcutaneous diseases measured in DALYs was 42,883,695.48 (95%UI, 28,626,691.71-63,438,210.22) in 2019, 5.26% of which were years of life lost, and 94.74% of which were years lived with disability. The highest number of new cases and deaths from skin and subcutaneous diseases was in South Asia. Globally, most new cases were in the 0–4-year age group, with skin and subcutaneous disease incidence slightly higher in men than in women.ConclusionFungal infections are major contributors to skin and subcutaneous diseases worldwide. Low–middle SDI states had the highest burden of skin and subcutaneous diseases, and this burden has increased globally. Targeted and effective management strategies based on the distribution characteristics of each country are, thus, required to reduce the burden of skin and subcutaneous diseases

Investigation of diverse bacteria encoding histidine decarboxylase gene in Sichuan-style sausages by culture-dependent techniques, polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, and high-throughput sequencing

The diverse bacteria encoding histidine decarboxylase gene during the fermentation of Sichuan-style sausages were investigated by culture-dependent techniques, polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE), and high-throughput sequencing. All microbial indicators exhibited the advantages of mixed starter culture and the stability of microecosystem was more in the inoculation group than in the control group. DGGE and selected band sequencing were used to investigate the bacterial diversity of these sausages. Weissella were the main lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in the initial fermentation stage, whereas Weissella and Lactobacillus were the dominant bacteria in the later fermentation stage. After sequence alignment analysis, Enterobacter aerogenes and Citrobacter freundi were the two main bacteria encoding histidine decarboxylase gene and could produce histamine. These findings facilitate the better understanding of bacteria producing histidine decarboxylase during sausage fermentation and provide a theoretical basis for the control of histamine-producing bacteria in the process of fermented sausage processing.Peer reviewe

Effects of lipids with different oxidation levels on protein degradation and biogenic amines formation in Sichuan-style sausages

ABS T R A C T We evaluated the effects of different oxidation levels of lipids on protein degradation and biogenic amines (BAs) formation during Sichuan-style sausages processing. Lipids with varying degrees of oxidation were obtained through storage at different temperatures and added as raw materials of Sichuan-style sausages, followed by the analyses of lipid oxidation, protein degradation, biogenic amine content, and other indicators. During the pro-cessing, with increasing degree of lipid oxidation, the contents of peroxide value (POV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs), protein degradation index (PI), amino acid nitrogen (AAN), free amino acids (FAAs), and BAs increased. Based on the protein electrophoresis results, the higher the oxidation degree of pig backfat, the higher degree of sarcoplasmic protein oxidation, and the greater myofibril protein degradation. Pearson correlation revealed that lipid oxidation, protein degradation, and BAs content correlated significantly (P < 0.05).Peer reviewe

Saturation effect in functional photoacoustic imaging

We investigate the saturation effect, which describes the violation of the linearity between the measured photoacoustic amplitude and the object’s optical absorption coefficient in functional photoacoustic imaging when the optical absorption in the object increases. We model the optical energy deposition and photoacoustic signal generation and detection in a semi-infinite optical absorbing object. Experiments are carried out by measuring photoacoustic signals generated from an ink-filled plastic tube. The saturation effect is studied by varying the optical absorption coefficient in the model and the ink concentration in the photoacoustic experiments. By changing the center frequency of the ultrasonic detector, the requirement to minimize the saturation effect in functional photoacoustic imaging is established