Pathological Evidence Exploration in Deep Retinal Image Diagnosis

Though deep learning has shown successful performance in classifying the label and severity stage of certain disease, most of them give few evidence on how to make prediction. Here, we propose to exploit the interpretability of deep learning application in medical diagnosis. Inspired by Koch's Postulates, a well-known strategy in medical research to identify the property of pathogen, we define a pathological descriptor that can be extracted from the activated neurons of a diabetic retinopathy detector. To visualize the symptom and feature encoded in this descriptor, we propose a GAN based method to synthesize pathological retinal image given the descriptor and a binary vessel segmentation. Besides, with this descriptor, we can arbitrarily manipulate the position and quantity of lesions. As verified by a panel of 5 licensed ophthalmologists, our synthesized images carry the symptoms that are directly related to diabetic retinopathy diagnosis. The panel survey also shows that our generated images is both qualitatively and quantitatively superior to existing methods.Comment: to appear in AAAI (2019). The first two authors contributed equally to the paper. Corresponding Author: Feng L

Attenuation of kainic acid-induced epilepsy by butyrate is associated with inhibition of glial activation

Purpose: To investigate the function and potential therapeutic relevance of butyrate in epilepsy using rat models of kainic acid (KA)-induced epilepsy.Methods: The neurotoxin KA was applied to rats and rat astrocytes to establish models of epilepsy in vivo and in vitro. Multiple parameters, including behavioural seizure scores, were evaluated in rats and rat astrocytes treated with KA alone or in combination with butyrate. Western blot was performed to examine the levels of phosphorylated extracellular signal-related kinase (p-ERK), proinflammatory cytokine (IL-1ß), and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP).Results: Significant increases were observed in the seizure-related proteins p-ERK and GFAP and in the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1ß in KA-treated rats and rat astrocytes (p < 0.05). Butyrate treatment attenuated KA-induced epileptic behaviour in rats and significantly reduced the expression of p-ERK, GFAP, and IL-1ß in a dose-dependent manner (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Butyrate has potential as a treatment for epilepsy by inhibiting the activation of p-ERK, astrogliosis, and inflammation, which were induced by KA in rats and rat astrocytes.Keywords: Kainic acid, Epilepsy, Butyrate, Glial activation, Astrogliosi

Movable Fiber-Integrated Hybrid Plasmonic Waveguide on Metal Film

A waveguide structure consisting of a tapered nanofiber on a metal film is proposed and analyzed to support highly localized hybrid plasmonic modes. The hybrid plasmonic mode can be efficiently excited through the in-line tapered fiber based on adiabatic conversion and collected by the same fiber, which is very convenient in the experiment. Due to the ultrasmall mode area of plasmonic mode, the local electromagnetic field is greatly enhanced in this movable waveguide, which is potential for enhanced coherence light emitter interactions, such as waveguide quantum electrodynamics, single emitter spectrum and nonlinear optics

Effects of periarticular injection on analgesic effects and NSAID use in total knee arthroplasty and total hip arthroplasty

OBJECTIVES: This study examined periarticular multimodal drug injection and the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for an early analgesic effect after total knee arthroplasty and total hip arthroplasty. Patient satisfaction and benefits from the treatment were also assessed. METHODS: A total of 110 patients who were scheduled to undergo total knee arthroplasty and 86 patients who were scheduled to undergo total hip arthroplasty were divided into two groups, the study group and the control group. The study group received a periarticular multimodal drug injection during surgery. The control group received an equal volume of normal saline. All patients received an analgesia pump and a moderate dose of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Resting and motion Numeric Rating Scale scores, the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index, knee or hip joint range of motion, length of postoperative hospital stay, patient satisfaction, total nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug consumption and side effects were recorded. RESULTS: Both study groups exhibited significant improvement in pain Numeric Rating Scale scores during rest and exercise several days after the surgery. The range of joint motion was greater in the study group, and the length of postoperative hospital stay was shorter than that in the control group. Patients in the study group consumed fewer nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and reported greater satisfaction with surgery. CONCLUSION: Intraoperative periarticular multimodal drug injection significantly relieved pain after surgery and reduced nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug consumption. These patient had a better postoperative experience, including satisfaction and rehabilitation

Spin Transitions and Compressibility of ε‐Fe7N3 and γ′‐Fe4N: Implications for Iron Alloys in Terrestrial Planet Cores

Iron nitrides are possible constituents of the cores of Earth and other terrestrial planets. Pressure‐induced magnetic changes in iron nitrides and effects on compressibility remain poorly understood. Here we report synchrotron X‐ray emission spectroscopy (XES) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) results for ε‐Fe7N3 and γ′‐Fe4N up to 60 GPa at 300 K. The XES spectra reveal completion of high‐ to low‐spin transition in ε‐Fe7N3 and γ′‐Fe4N at 43 and 34 GPa, respectively. The completion of the spin transition induces stiffening in bulk modulus of ε‐Fe7N3 by 22% at ~40 GPa, but has no resolvable effect on the compression behavior of γ′‐Fe4N. Fitting pressure‐volume data to the Birch‐Murnaghan equation of state yields V0 = 83.29 ± 0.03 (Å3), K0 = 232 ± 9 GPa, K0′ = 4.1 ± 0.5 for nonmagnetic ε‐Fe7N3 above the spin transition completion pressure, and V0 = 54.82 ± 0.02 (Å3), K0 = 152 ± 2 GPa, K0′ = 4.0 ± 0.1 for γ′‐Fe4N over the studied pressure range. By reexamining evidence for spin transition and effects on compressibility of other candidate components of terrestrial planet cores, Fe3S, Fe3P, Fe7C3, and Fe3C based on previous XES and XRD measurements, we located the completion of high‐ to low‐spin transition at ~67, 38, 50, and 30 GPa at 300 K, respectively. The completion of spin transitions of Fe3S, Fe3P, and Fe3C induces elastic stiffening, whereas that of Fe7C3 induces elastic softening. Changes in compressibility at completion of spin transitions in iron‐light element alloys may influence the properties of Earth’s and planetary cores.Key PointsSpin transition in ε‐Fe7N3 and γ′‐Fe4N at 300 K completes at 43 and 34 GPa, respectivelyThe completion of spin transition leads to stiffening in bulk modulus of ε‐Fe7N3, but not in γ′‐Fe4NEvidence for spin transitions in Fe‐light‐element alloys and their effects are reexaminedPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163586/2/jgrb54505_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163586/1/jgrb54505.pd

The Zuo Jin Wan Formula Induces Mitochondrial Apoptosis of Cisplatin-Resistant Gastric Cancer Cells via Cofilin-1

Despite the status of cisplatin (DDP) as a classical chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of cancer, the development of multidrug resistance often leads to a failure of DDP therapy. Here we found that phosphorylated cofilin-1 (p-cofilin-1) was overexpressed in the DDP-resistant human gastric cancer cell lines SGC7901/DDP and BGC823/DDP, relative to the respective parent cell lines (SGC7901 and BGC823), and that DDP induced the dephosphorylation of p-cofilin-1 in both parent lines but not in the DDP-resistant lines. However, we noted that the traditional Chinese medicine formula Zuo Jin Wan (ZJW) could induce the dephosphorylation of p-cofilin-1 and promote cofilin-1 translocation from the cytoplasm into the mitochondria in both SGC7901/DDP and BGC823/DDP cells. This mitochondrial translocation of cofilin-1 was found to induce the conversion of filamentous actin to globular-actin, activate mitochondrial damage and calcium overloading, and induce the mitochondrial apoptosis pathway. We further observed that these effects of ZJW on DDP-resistant human gastric cancer cell lines could be reversed via transfection with cofilin-1-specific siRNA, or treatment with a PP1 and PP2A inhibitor. These results suggest that ZJW is an effective drug therapy for patients with DDP-resistant gastric cancer

Whole-genome sequencing of native sheep provides insights into rapid adaptations to extreme environments

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