132 research outputs found
Contrast-augmented Diffusion Model with Fine-grained Sequence Alignment for Markup-to-Image Generation
The recently rising markup-to-image generation poses greater challenges as
compared to natural image generation, due to its low tolerance for errors as
well as the complex sequence and context correlations between markup and
rendered image. This paper proposes a novel model named "Contrast-augmented
Diffusion Model with Fine-grained Sequence Alignment" (FSA-CDM), which
introduces contrastive positive/negative samples into the diffusion model to
boost performance for markup-to-image generation. Technically, we design a
fine-grained cross-modal alignment module to well explore the sequence
similarity between the two modalities for learning robust feature
representations. To improve the generalization ability, we propose a
contrast-augmented diffusion model to explicitly explore positive and negative
samples by maximizing a novel contrastive variational objective, which is
mathematically inferred to provide a tighter bound for the model's
optimization. Moreover, the context-aware cross attention module is developed
to capture the contextual information within markup language during the
denoising process, yielding better noise prediction results. Extensive
experiments are conducted on four benchmark datasets from different domains,
and the experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed
components in FSA-CDM, significantly exceeding state-of-the-art performance by
about 2%-12% DTW improvements. The code will be released at
https://github.com/zgj77/FSACDM.Comment: Accepted to ACM MM 2023. The code will be released at
https://github.com/zgj77/FSACD
Cytotoxicity Study of Cyclopentapeptide Analogues of Marine Natural Product Galaxamide towards Human Breast Cancer Cells
Herein, we report the cytotoxicity of cyclopentapeptide analogues of marine natural product galaxamide towards breast carcinoma cells and the underlying mechanisms. We examined the effect of the novel galaxamide analogues on cancer cell proliferation by MTT assay and also further examined the most active compound for morphological changes using Hoechst33342 staining technique, induction of apoptosis, cell cycle phases, mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation using flow cytometry in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells in vitro. Galaxamide and its analogues effectively induced toxicity in human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2, human breast carcinoma MCF-7, human epitheloid cervix carcinoma HeLa, and human breast carcinoma MB-MDA-231 cell lines. Amongst them, compound 3 exhibited excellent toxicity towards MCF-7 cells. This galaxamide analogue significantly induced apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner in MCF-7 cells involves cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase, a reduction of MMP, and a marked increase in generation of ROS. Particularly, compound 3 of galaxamide analogues might be a potential candidate for the treatment of breast cancer
Waterproofed Photomultiplier Tube Assemblies for the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment
In the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment 960 20-cm-diameter waterproof
photomultiplier tubes are used to instrument three water pools as Cherenkov
detectors for detecting cosmic-ray muons. Of these 960 photomultiplier tubes,
341 are recycled from the MACRO experiment. A systematic program was undertaken
to refurbish them as waterproof assemblies. In the context of passing the water
leakage check, a success rate better than 97% was achieved. Details of the
design, fabrication, testing, operation, and performance of these waterproofed
photomultiplier-tube assemblies are presented.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures. Submitted to Nucl. Instr. Met
Comparison of Nasopharyngeal MR, 18 F-FDG PET/CT, and 18 F-FDG PET/MR for Local Detection of Natural Killer/T-Cell Lymphoma, Nasal Type.
Objectives
The present study aims to compare the diagnostic efficacy of MR, 18F-FDG PET/CT, and 18F-FDG PET/MR for the local detection of early-stage extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTL).
Patients and Methods
Thirty-six patients with histologically proven early-stage ENKTL were enrolled from a phase 2 study (Cohort A). Eight nasopharyngeal anatomical regions from each patient were imaged using 18F-FDG PET/CT and MR. A further nine patients were prospectively enrolled from a multicenter, phase 3 study; these patients underwent 18F-FDG PET/CT and PET/MR after a single 18F-FDG injection (Cohort B). Region-based sensitivity and specificity were calculated. The standardized uptake values (SUV) obtained from PET/CT and PET/MR were compared, and the relationship between the SUV and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) of PET/MR were analyzed.
Results
In Cohort A, of the 288 anatomic regions, 86 demonstrated lymphoma involvement. All lesions were detected by 18F-FDG PET/CT, while only 70 were detected by MR. 18F-FDG PET/CT exhibited a higher sensitivity than MR (100% vs. 81.4%, χ2 = 17.641, P < 0.001) for local detection of malignancies. The specificity of 18F-FDG PET/CT and MR were 98.5 and 97.5%, respectively (χ2 = 0.510, P = 0.475). The accuracy of 18F-FDG PET/CT was 99.0% and the accuracy of MR was 92.7% (χ2 = 14.087, P < 0.001). In Cohort B, 72 anatomical regions were analyzed. PET/CT and PET/MR have a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 92.5%. The two methods were consistent (κ = 0.833, P < 0.001). There was a significant correlation between PET/MR SUVmax and PET/CT SUVmax (r = 0.711, P < 0.001), and SUVmean (r = 0.685, P < 0.001). No correlation was observed between the SUV and the ADC.
Conclusion
In early-stage ENKTL, nasopharyngeal MR showed a lower sensitivity and a similar specificity when compared with 18F-FDG PET/CT. PET/MR showed similar performance compared with PET/CT
Factors Influencing Chinese Male\u27s Willingness to Undergo Circumcision: A Cross-Sectional Study in Western China
Background
Male circumcision (MC) has been shown to reduce the risk of female to male transmission of HIV. The goal of this survey was to explore the acceptability of MC among the Chinese and to identify factors associated with circumcision preference.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey was conducted between September 2009 and December 2010. We interviewed 2,219 male community participants, from three high HIV prevalence provinces in western China. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on MC knowledge, willingness to accept MC, reasons to accept or refuse MC, and sexual behaviors and health. For those who refused MC, a health education intervention providing information on the benefits of circumcision was conducted. We used multiple logistic regression models to identify factors associated with the acceptability of MC.
Results
Of the respondents (n = 2,219), 44.6% (989/2,219) reported they would accept MC for the following reasons: promotion of female partners\u27 hygiene (60.3%), redundant foreskin (59.4%), prevention of penile cancer (50.2%), enhanced sexual pleasure (41.4%), and protection against HIV and STDs (34.2%). The multivariable logistic regression showed that five factors were associated with MC willingness: long foreskin (OR = 15.98), residing in Xinjiang province (OR = 3.69), being younger than 25 (OR = 1.60), knowing hazards of redundant foreskin (OR = 1.78), and having a friend who underwent circumcision (OR = 1.36).
Conclusion
The acceptability of male circumcision was high among the general population in China. Our study elucidates the factors associated with circumcision preference and suggests that more health education campaigns about positive health effects are necessary to increase the MC rate in China
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