Long-Tailed Recognition by Mutual Information Maximization between Latent Features and Ground-Truth Labels

Although contrastive learning methods have shown prevailing performance on a variety of representation learning tasks, they encounter difficulty when the training dataset is long-tailed. Many researchers have combined contrastive learning and a logit adjustment technique to address this problem, but the combinations are done ad-hoc and a theoretical background has not yet been provided. The goal of this paper is to provide the background and further improve the performance. First, we show that the fundamental reason contrastive learning methods struggle with long-tailed tasks is that they try to maximize the mutual information maximization between latent features and input data. As ground-truth labels are not considered in the maximization, they are not able to address imbalances between class labels. Rather, we interpret the long-tailed recognition task as a mutual information maximization between latent features and ground-truth labels. This approach integrates contrastive learning and logit adjustment seamlessly to derive a loss function that shows state-of-the-art performance on long-tailed recognition benchmarks. It also demonstrates its efficacy in image segmentation tasks, verifying its versatility beyond image classification.Comment: ICML 2023 camera-read

Transcriptional regulation of the urokinase receptor (u-PAR) - A central molecule of invasion and metastasis

The phenomenon of tumor-associated proteolysis has been acknowledged as a decisive step in the progression of cancer. This short review focuses on the urokinase receptor (u-PAR), a central molecule involved in tumor-associated invasion and metastasis, and summarizes the transcriptional regulation of u-PAR. The urokinase receptor (u-PAR) is a heavily glycosylated cell surface protein and binds the serine protease urokinase specifically and with high affinity. It consists of three similar cysteine-rich repeats and is anchored to the cell membrane via a GPI-anchor. The u-PAR gene comprises 7 exons and is located on chromosome 19q13. Transcriptional activation of the u-PAR promoter region can be induced by binding of transcription factors (Sp1, AP-1, AP-2, NF-kappaB). One current study gives an example for transcriptional downregulation of u-PAR through a PEA3/ets transcriptional silencing element. Knowledge of the molecular regulation of this molecule in tumor cells could be very important for diagnosis and therapy in the near future

Elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio and ischemic stroke risk in generally healthy adults.

Elevated neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported as a marker for chronic inflammation, associated with poor prognosis in ischemic stroke patients, but there has been no study that investigated its association with ischemic stroke risk. This study was conducted to investigate elevated NLR as an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke incidence. Our retrospective cohort study included 24,708 generally healthy subjects aged 30-75 who received self-referred health screening at Seoul National University Hospital. Data on ischemic stroke incidence was retrieved from national medical claims registry. Median follow-up time was 5.9 years (interquartile range 4.2 years). Adjusted for major cardiovascular risk factors, compared to subjects with NLR<1.5, subjects with 2.5≤NLR<3.0, 3.0≤NLR<3.5, and NLR≥3.5 had elevated risk for ischemic stroke incidence with aHR (95% CI) of 1.76 (1.09-2.84), 2.21 (1.21-4.04), and 2.96 (1.57-5.58), respectively. NLR showed significant improvement in discrimination for ischemic stroke incidence compared to traditional cardiovascular risk factors (C-index 0.748 vs. 0.739, P = 0.025). There was significant net improvement in reclassification in Framingham risk for ischemic stroke incidence after addition of NLR, with IDI 0.0035 (P<0.0001), and NRI 6.02% (P = 0.0015). This reclassification for ischemic stroke incidence by NLR was markedly pronounced among subjects with atrial fibrillation with CHA2DS2-VASc<2 (NRI 42.41%, P = 0.056). Our study suggests elevated NLR to be an independent risk factor for ischemic stroke incidence in generally healthy adults. Future studies are needed to validate our results and further assess how subjects with elevated NLR should be managed within current guidelines

Upgrades to the SPS-to-LHC Transfer Line Beam Stoppers for the LHC High-Luminosity Era

Each of the 3 km long transfer lines between the SPS and the LHC is equipped with two beam stoppers (TEDs), one at the beginning of the line and one close to the LHC injection point, which need to absorb the full transferred beam. The beam stoppers are used for setting up the SPS extractions and transfer lines with beam without having to inject into the LHC. Energy deposition and thermo-mechanical simulations have, however, shown that the TEDs will not be robust enough to safely absorb the high intensity beams foreseen for the high-luminosity LHC era. This paper will summarize the simulation results and limitations for upgrading the beam stoppers. An outline of the hardware upgrade strategy for the TEDs together with modifications to the SPS extraction interlock system to enforce intensity limitations for beam on the beam stoppers will be given

Effect of Rumen Protected Methionine and α-Tocopherol on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Meat Composition of Late Fattening Hanwoo Steer in High-Temperature Seasons

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of rumen-protected methionine and &alpha;-tocopherol (RPMT) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat composition of late fattening Hanwoo steers in high-temperature seasons. Fourteen steers were randomly assigned to one of two diets; control (commercial concentrate) and treatment (commercial concentrate + 20 g of RPMT). Average daily gain was 34% higher in the treatment group than in the control group; however, there was no significant difference due to the small number under investigation. Feed conversion ratio was lower in the treatment group than in the control group (p &lt; 0.05). Supplementation of RPMT had little effect on the fatty acid composition of longissimus muscle. Metmyoglobin in the longissimus muscle was significantly lower in treatment group compared to the control group at the ninth day of storage (p &lt; 0.05). The redness of the longissimus muscle was higher in the treatment group than in the control group on day 9 of storage (p &lt; 0.01). Thus, the results suggest that RPMT have positive effects on growth performance, and Commission Internationale de l&rsquo;Eclairage color stability in the longissimus muscle of late fattening Hanwoo steers in high-temperature seasons

Incremental predictive value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio for ischemic stroke incidence.

<p>Incremental predictive value of neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio for ischemic stroke incidence.</p

Effects of weaning and castration ages on growth performance, blood metabolites, and carcass characteristics in Hanwoo steers

Abstract Background Recently, as production costs have been increasing owing to rising feed prices worldwide, shortening the age of slaughter has been recognized as a way to increase farm income. In Korea, the raising period for Hanwoo steers is over 31 months with the delay of weaning and castration stated as one of the reasons for the increase in the raising period. Thus far, studies on age of weaning and castration have been conducted individually, and there have been no studies on the combined effects of weaning and castration ages on the growth performance and carcass characteristics in Hanwoo steers. Methods Weaning ages were calculated at 80 or 130 days of age, and castration ages were calculated at 90 days and 180 days of age. Calves were allocated to one of the four treatment groups: W80C90 (weaning at 80 days of age and castration at 90 days of age), W80C180, W130C90, and W130C180. Results For the entire experimental period, weaning and castration ages did not significantly affect growth performance of Hanwoo steers. In addition, weaning and castration ages did not affect the overall yield and quality traits of carcass in Hanwoo steers. Conclusion Weaning and castration ages had small effects on growth performance and carcass characteristics in Hanwoo steers. Therefore, the early weaning and castration ages are recommended to reduce the slaughter age without any negative effects on meat quality grade