CovNet: A Transfer Learning Framework for Automatic COVID-19 Detection From Crowd-Sourced Cough Sounds

Since the COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, developing a digital diagnostic tool to detect COVID-19 from respiratory sounds with computer audition has become an essential topic due to its advantages of being swift, low-cost, and eco-friendly. However, prior studies mainly focused on small-scale COVID-19 datasets. To build a robust model, the large-scale multi-sound FluSense dataset is utilised to help detect COVID-19 from cough sounds in this study. Due to the gap between FluSense and the COVID-19-related datasets consisting of cough only, the transfer learning framework (namely CovNet) is proposed and applied rather than simply augmenting the training data with FluSense. The CovNet contains (i) a parameter transferring strategy and (ii) an embedding incorporation strategy. Specifically, to validate the CovNet's effectiveness, it is used to transfer knowledge from FluSense to COUGHVID, a large-scale cough sound database of COVID-19 negative and COVID-19 positive individuals. The trained model on FluSense and COUGHVID is further applied under the CovNet to another two small-scale cough datasets for COVID-19 detection, the COVID-19 cough sub-challenge (CCS) database in the INTERSPEECH Computational Paralinguistics challengE (ComParE) challenge and the DiCOVA Track-1 database. By training four simple convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in the transfer learning framework, our approach achieves an absolute improvement of 3.57% over the baseline of DiCOVA Track-1 validation of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC) and an absolute improvement of 1.73% over the baseline of ComParE CCS test unweighted average recall (UAR). Copyright © 2022 Chang, Jing, Ren and Schuller

CovNet: a transfer learning framework for automatic COVID-19 detection from crowd-sourced cough sounds

Since the COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, developing a digital diagnostic tool to detect COVID-19 from respiratory sounds with computer audition has become an essential topic due to its advantages of being swift, low-cost, and eco-friendly. However, prior studies mainly focused on small-scale COVID-19 datasets. To build a robust model, the large-scale multi-sound FluSense dataset is utilised to help detect COVID-19 from cough sounds in this study. Due to the gap between FluSense and the COVID-19-related datasets consisting of cough only, the transfer learning framework (namely CovNet) is proposed and applied rather than simply augmenting the training data with FluSense. The CovNet contains (i) a parameter transferring strategy and (ii) an embedding incorporation strategy. Specifically, to validate the CovNet's effectiveness, it is used to transfer knowledge from FluSense to COUGHVID, a large-scale cough sound database of COVID-19 negative and COVID-19 positive individuals. The trained model on FluSense and COUGHVID is further applied under the CovNet to another two small-scale cough datasets for COVID-19 detection, the COVID-19 cough sub-challenge (CCS) database in the INTERSPEECH Computational Paralinguistics challengE (ComParE) challenge and the DiCOVA Track-1 database. By training four simple convolutional neural networks (CNNs) in the transfer learning framework, our approach achieves an absolute improvement of 3.57% over the baseline of DiCOVA Track-1 validation of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC) and an absolute improvement of 1.73% over the baseline of ComParE CCS test unweighted average recall (UAR)

Revealing the Signal of QCD Phase Transition in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We propose a novel method to construct the Landau thermodynamic potential directly from the fluctuations measured in heavy-ion collisions. The potential is capable of revealing the signal of the critical end-point (CEP) and the first order phase transition (FOPT) of QCD in the system even away from the phase transition region. With the available experimental data, we show that the criterion of the FOPT is negative for most of the collision energies which indicates no signal of FOPT. The data at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=7.7$ GeV with 0-5% centrality shows a different behavior and the mean value of the data satisfies the criterion. However, the uncertainty is still too large to make a certain conclusion. The higher order fluctuations are also required for confirming the signal. We emphasize therefore that new measurements with higher precision for the $C_{1,...,6}$ within 0-5% centrality in the vicinity of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=7.7$ GeV are in demand which may finally reveal the signal of QCD phase transition.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Regulation of ENaC-mediated alveolar fluid clearance by insulin via PI3K/Akt pathway in LPS-induced acute lung injury

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Stimulation of epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) increases Na⁺transport, a driving force of alveolar fluid clearance (AFC) to keep alveolar spaces free of edema fluid that is beneficial for acute lung injury (ALI). It is well recognized that regulation of ENaC by insulin via PI3K pathway, but the mechanism of this signaling pathway to regulate AFC and ENaC in ALI remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of insulin on AFC in ALI and clarify the pathway in which insulin regulates the expression of ENaC in vitro and in vivo.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A model of ALI (LPS at a dose of 5.0 mg/kg) with non-hyperglycemia was established in Sprague-Dawley rats receiving continuous exogenous insulin by micro-osmotic pumps and wortmannin. The lungs were isolated for measurement of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid(BALF), total lung water content(TLW), and AFC after ALI for 8 hours. Alveolar epithelial type II cells were pre-incubated with LY294002, Akt inhibitor and SGK1 inhibitor 30 minutes before insulin treatment for 2 hours. The expressions of α-,β-, and γ-ENaC were detected by immunocytochemistry, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In vivo, insulin decreased TLW, enchanced AFC, increased the expressions of α-,β-, and γ-ENaC and the level of phosphorylated Akt, attenuated lung injury and improved the survival rate in LPS-induced ALI, the effects of which were blocked by wortmannin. Amiloride, a sodium channel inhibitor, significantly reduced insulin-induced increase in AFC. In vitro, insulin increased the expressions of α-,β-, and γ-ENaC as well as the level of phosphorylated Akt but LY294002 and Akt inhibitor significantly prevented insulin-induced increase in the expression of ENaC and the level of phosphorylated Akt respectively. Immunoprecipitation studies showed that levels of Nedd4-2 binding to ENaC were decreased by insulin via PI3K/Akt pathway.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our study demonstrated that insulin alleviated pulmonary edema and enhanced AFC by increasing the expression of ENaC that dependent upon PI3K/Akt pathway by inhibition of Nedd4-2.</p

Analisis situasi semasa penggunaan buku audio kanak-kanak dan kepuasan ibu bapa di Zhengzhou, China

Sebagai wilayah pendidikan utama, Zhengzhou, Henan di China setiap tahun mempunyai hampir satu juta pelajar mengambil peperiksaan kemasukan kolej, maka ibu bapa memberi perhatian yang besar terhadap pendidikan anak-anak mereka dari prasekolah. Buku audio dipilih sebagai medium pembelajaran yang utama kepada kanak-kanak mereka. Tetapi, kepuasan penggunaan buku audio kurang dikaji di tempat ini. Prestasi kanak-kanak menggunakan buku audio mempengaruhi tahap kepuasan ibu bapa terhadap buku audio secara langsung dan seterusnya menguasai perkembangan pasaran dan jangkaan ekonomi buku audio. Justeru, tujuan kajian ini adalah untuk mendapatkan pemahaman yang jelas tentang situasi penggunaan buku audio dan kepuasan ibu bapa terhadap penggunaan buku audio oleh kanak-kanak mereka serta mempertingkatkan perkembangan kanak-kanak prasekolah secara keseluruhannya dengan lebih baik. Kajian ini dijalankan dengan kaedah kuantitatif dan soal selidik telah diedarkan kepada seramai 414 orang responden dalam kalangan ibu bapa. Analisis Regresi Berganda telah dijalankan untuk menguji hubungan antara ciri-ciri buku audio dan kepuasan. Hasil kajian telah menunjukkan bahawa majoriti ibu bapa berpuas hati dan mempercayai buku audio dapat meningkatkan kognisi dan pengetahuan kanak-kanak

Anatomical study of simple landmarks for guiding the quick access to humeral circumflex arteries

BACKGROUND: The posterior and anterior circumflex humeral artery (PCHA and ACHA) are crucial for the blood supply of humeral head. We aimed to identify simple landmarks for guiding the quick access to PCHA and ACHA, which might help to protect the arteries during the surgical management of proximal humeral fractures. METHODS: Twenty fresh cadavers were dissected to measure the distances from the origins of PCHA and ACHA to the landmarks (the acromion, the coracoid, the infraglenoid tubercle, the midclavicular line) using Vernier calipers. RESULTS: The mean distances from the origin of PCHA to the infraglenoid tubercle, the coracoid, the acromion and the midclavicular line were 27.7 mm, 50.2 mm, 68.4 mm and 75.8 mm. The mean distances from the origin of ACHA to the above landmarks were 26.9 mm, 49.2 mm, 67.0 mm and 74.9 mm. CONCLUSION: Our study provided a practical method for the intraoperative identification as well as quick access of PCHA and ACHA based on a series of anatomical measurements

Prevalence and spectrum of Nkx2.5 mutations associated with idiopathic atrial fibrillation

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and spectrum of Nkx2.5 mutations associated with idiopathic atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS: A cohort of 136 unrelated patients with idiopathic atrial fibrillation and 200 unrelated, ethnically matched healthy controls were enrolled. The coding exons and splice junctions of the Nkx2.5 gene were sequenced in 136 atrial fibrillation patients, and the available relatives of mutation carriers and 200 controls were subsequently genotyped for the identified mutations. The functional characteristics of the mutated Nkx2.5 gene were analyzed using a dual-luciferase reporter assay system. RESULTS: Two novel heterozygous Nkx2.5 mutations (p.N19D and p.F186S) were identified in 2 of the 136 unrelated atrial fibrillation cases, with a mutational prevalence of approximately 1.47%. These missense mutations co-segregated with atrial fibrillation in the families and were absent in the 400 control chromosomes. Notably, 2 mutation carriers also had congenital atrial septal defects and atrioventricular block. Multiple alignments of the Nkx2.5 protein sequences across various species revealed that the altered amino acids were completely conserved evolutionarily. Functional analysis demonstrated that the mutant Nkx2.5 proteins were associated with significantly reduced transcriptional activity compared to their wild-type counterpart. CONCLUSION: These findings associate the Nkx2.5 loss-of-function mutation with atrial fibrillation and atrioventricular block and provide novel insights into the molecular mechanism involved in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation. These results also have potential implications for early prophylaxis and allele-specific therapy of this common arrhythmia