Monolingual Recognizers Fusion for Code-switching Speech Recognition

The bi-encoder structure has been intensively investigated in code-switching (CS) automatic speech recognition (ASR). However, most existing methods require the structures of two monolingual ASR models (MAMs) should be the same and only use the encoder of MAMs. This leads to the problem that pre-trained MAMs cannot be timely and fully used for CS ASR. In this paper, we propose a monolingual recognizers fusion method for CS ASR. It has two stages: the speech awareness (SA) stage and the language fusion (LF) stage. In the SA stage, acoustic features are mapped to two language-specific predictions by two independent MAMs. To keep the MAMs focused on their own language, we further extend the language-aware training strategy for the MAMs. In the LF stage, the BELM fuses two language-specific predictions to get the final prediction. Moreover, we propose a text simulation strategy to simplify the training process of the BELM and reduce reliance on CS data. Experiments on a Mandarin-English corpus show the efficiency of the proposed method. The mix error rate is significantly reduced on the test set after using open-source pre-trained MAMs.Comment: Submitted to ICASSP202

Satellite-based estimate of the variability of warm cloud properties associated with aerosol and meteorological conditions

Aerosol-cloud interaction (ACI) is examined using 10 years of data from the MODIS/Terra (morning orbit) and MODIS/Aqua (afternoon orbit) satellites. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) and cloud properties retrieved from both sensors are used to explore in a statistical sense the morning-to-afternoon variation of cloud properties in conditions with low and high AOD, over both land and ocean. The results show that the interaction between aerosol particles and clouds is more complex and of greater uncertainty over land than over ocean. The variation in d(Cloud_X), defined as the mean change in cloud property Cloud_X between the morning and afternoon overpasses in high-AOD conditions minus that in low-AOD conditions, is different over land and ocean. This applies to cloud droplet effective radius (CDR), cloud fraction (CF) and cloud top pressure (CTP), but not to cloud optical thickness (COT) and cloud liquid water path (CWP). Both COT and CWP increase over land and ocean after the time step, irrespective of the AOD. However, the initial AOD conditions can affect the amplitude of variation of COT and CWP. The effects of initial cloud fraction and meteorological conditions on the change in CF under lowand high-AOD conditions after the 3 h time step over land are also explored. Two cases are considered: (1) when the cloud cover increases and (2) when the cloud cover decreases. For both cases, we find that almost all values of d(CF) are positive, indicating that the variations of CF are larger in high AOD than that in low AOD after the 3 h time step. The results also show that a large increase in cloud fraction occurs when scenes experience large AOD and stronger upward motion of air parcels. Furthermore, the increase rate of cloud cover is larger for high AOD with increasing relative humidity (RH) when RH is larger than 20 %. We also find that a smaller increase in cloud fraction occurs when scenes experience larger AOD and larger initial cloud cover. Overall, the analysis of the diurnal variation of cloud properties provides a better understanding of aerosol-cloud interaction over land and ocean.Peer reviewe

The effect of water temperature on the pathogenicity of decapod iridescent virus 1 (DIV1) in Litopenaeus vannamei

Decapod iridescent virus 1 (DIV1) has caused huge losses to the shrimp breeding industry in recent years as a new shrimp virus. In this study, white leg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, were cultured at different temperatures (26 ± 1 °C and 32 ± 1 °C) and the same salinity, then infected with DIV1 by intramuscular injection to determine the effects of water temperature on viral infection. The DIV1 copy counts in the gills, hepatopancreas, pleopods, intestines, and muscles of L. vannamei were measured in samples collected at 6, 12, and 24 h post-infection (hpi), and the survival rate of L. vannamei was assessed every 6 h after infection. At 96 hpi, the survival rates of L. vannamei in the high (32 ± 1 ℃) and standard (26 ± 1 ℃) water temperature groups were 2.22% and 4.44%, respectively. The peak time of mortality in the high-water temperature group was 6 h earlier than in the standard water temperature group. After 24 hours of DIV1 infection, the DIV1 copy counts in the standard water temperature treatment group were significantly higher than those in the high-water temperature treatment group. The tissues with the highest virus copy counts in the standard and high-temperature groups were the intestines (2.9×1011 copies/g) and muscles (7.0×108 copies/g). The effect of temperature on the pathogenicity of DIV1 differs from that of other previously studied viruses, such as white spot syndrome virus, Taura syndrome virus, and infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus, because the high-water temperature did not mitigate the damage caused by DIV1 infection

Quantitatively assessing ecological stress of urbanization on natural ecosystems by using a landscape-adjacency index

Urban spatial expansion poses a threat to regional ecosystems and biodiversity directly through altering the size, shape, and interconnectivity of natural landscapes. Monitoring urban spatial expansion using traditional area-based metrics from remote sensing provides a feasible way to quantify this regional ecological stress. However, variation in landscape-adjacency relationships (i.e., the adjacency between individual landscape classes) caused by urban expansion is often overlooked. In this study, a novel edge-based index (landscape-adjacency index, LAdI) was proposed based on the spatial-adjacency relationship between landscape patches to measure the regional ecological stress of urban expansion on natural landscapes. Taking the entire Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations (YRD) as a study area, we applied the LAdI for individual landscape classes (Vi) and landscape level (LV) to quantitatively assess change over time in the ecological stress of YRD from 1990 to 2015 at two spatial scales: municipal scale and 5 km-grid scale. The results showed that the vulnerable zones (LV ≥ 0.6) were mainly distributed in the north of the YRD, and cultivated land was the most vulnerable natural landscape (Vi ≥ 0.6) at the 5 km-grid scale. The most vulnerable landscape at the municipal scale was cultivated land in 19 of 26 cities in each period, and that in the remaining 7 cities varied at distinct urbanization stages. We used scatter diagrams and Pearson correlation analysis to compare the edge-based LAdI with an area-based index (percent of built-up area, PB) and found that: LV and PB had a significant positive correlation at both the municipal scale and 5 km-grid scale. But there were multiple LVs with different values corresponding to one PB with the same value at the 5 km-grid scale. Both indexes could represent the degree of urban expansion; however, the edge-based metric better quantified ecological stress under different urban-sprawl patterns sharing the same percent of built-up area. As changes in land use affect both the size and edge effect among landscape patches, the area-based PB and the edge-based LAdI should be applied together when assessing the ecological stress caused by urbanization

Deciphering the rhizosphere bacteriome associated with biological control of tobacco black shank disease

IntroductionThe black shank disease seriously affects the health of tobacco plants. Conventional control methods have limitations in terms of effectiveness or economic aspects and cause public health concerns. Thus, biological control methods have come into the field, and microorganisms play a key role in suppressing tobacco black shank disease.MethodsIn this study, we examined the impact of soil microbial community on black shank disease basing on the structural difference of bacterial communities in rhizosphere soils. We used Illumina sequencing to compare the bacterial community diversity and structure in different rhizosphere soil samples in terms of healthy tobacco, tobacco showing typical black shank symptoms, and tobacco treated with the biocontrol agent, Bacillus velezensis S719.ResultsWe found that Alphaproteobacteria in the biocontrol group, accounted for 27.2% of the ASVs, was the most abundant bacterial class among three groups. Heatmap and LEfSe analyses were done to determine the distinct bacterial genera in the three sample groups. For the healthy group, Pseudomonas was the most significant genus; for the diseased group, Stenotrophomonas exhibited the strongest enrichment trend, and Sphingomonas showed the highest linear discriminant analysis score, and was even more abundant than Bacillus; for the biocontrol group, Bacillus, and Gemmatimonas were the largely distributed genus. In addition, co-occurrence network analysis confirmed the abundance of taxa, and detected a recovery trend in the network topological parameters of the biocontrol group. Further functional prediction also provided a possible explanation for the bacterial community changes with related KEGG annotation terms.DiscussionThese findings will improve our knowledge of plant-microbe interactions and the application of biocontrol agents to improve plant fitness, and may contribute to the selection of biocontrol strains

Sialidase facilitates Porphyromonas gingivalis immune evasion by reducing M1 polarization, antigen presentation, and phagocytosis of infected macrophages

BackgroundPorphyromonas gingivalis (P. gingivalis), a major pathogen of periodontitis, can evade host immune defenses. Previously, we found that P. gingivalis W83 sialidase gene mutant strain (ΔPG0352) was more easily cleared by macrophages. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of sialidase in P. gingivalis on the polarization, antigen presentation, and phagocytosis of infected macrophages and to clarify the mechanism of P. gingivalis immune evasion.MethodsHuman monocytes U937 were differentiated to macrophages and infected with P. gingivalis W83, ΔPG0352, comΔPG0352, and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The phagocytosis of macrophages was observed by transmission electron microscopy and flow cytometry. ELISA or Griess reaction were used to examine the levels of interleukin-12 (IL-12), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and interleukin-10 (IL-10), and the expressions of CD68, CD80 and CD206 were determined by flow cytometry. The expression of major histocompatibility complex-II (MHC-II) was detected by immunofluorescence. A rat periodontitis model was established to determine the M1 and M2 polarization of macrophages.ResultsCompare with P. gingivalis W83, ΔPG0352 increased the levels of IL-12, iNOS, CD80, and MHC-II and inhibited the levels of IL-10 and CD206. Macrophages phagocytosed 75.4% of ΔPG0352 and 59.5% of P. gingivalis W83. In the rat periodontitis model, the levels of M1 and M2 macrophages in P. gingivalis W83 group were both higher than those in ΔPG0352 group, while the ratio of M1/M2 was higher in the ΔPG0352 group. Alveolar bone absorption was lower in ΔPG0352 group.ConclusionSialidase facilitates P. gingivalis immune evasion by reducing M1 polarization, antigen presentation, and phagocytosis of infected macrophages

A prospective phase II study of L-asparaginase- CHOP plus radiation in newly diagnosed extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type

Purpose: To explore the efficacy and safety of L-asparaginase in newly-diagnosed extranodal nature killer (NK)/T -cell lymphoma (ENKTL), we conducted a prospective phase II study of L-asparaginase, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin and dexamethasone (CHOP-L) regimen in combination with radiotherapy. Patients and methods: Patients with newly diagnosed ENKTL and an ECOG performance status of 0 to 2 were eligible for enrollment. Treatment included 6-8 cycles of CHOP-L (cyclophosphamide, 750 mg/m(2) day 1; vincristine, 1.4 mg/m(2) day 1 (maximal dose 2 mg), doxorubicin 50 mg/m(2) day 1; dexamethasone 10 mg days 1-8; L-asparaginase 6000 u/m(2) days 2-8). Radiotherapy was scheduled after 4-6 cycles of CHOP-L regimen, depending on stage and primary anatomic site. The primary endpoint was complete response (CR) rate. Results: A total of 38 eligible patients were enrolled. The median age was 40.5 years (range, 15 to 71 years). Their clinical characteristics were male to female ratio, 24: 14; Ann Arbor stage I, 20; II, 11; III, 3; IV, 4. CR and overall response rates were 81.6% (95% CI, 69.3% to 93.9%) and 84.2%, respectively. With a median follow-up of 25 months, the 2-year overall survival, progression-free survival and disease-free survival rates were 80.1% (95% CI, 73.3% to 86.9%), 81% (95% CI, 74.5% to 87.5%) and 93.6% (95% CI, 89.3% to 97.9%), respectively. The major adverse events were myelosuppression, liver dysfunction, and digestive tract toxicities. Grade 3 to 4 leukopenia and neutropenia were 76.3% and 84.2%, respectively. No treatment-related death was observed. Conclusion: CHOP-L chemotherapy in combination with radiotherapy is a safe and highly effective treatment for newly diagnosed ENKTL.OncologyHematologySCI(E)9ARTICLEnull

An Oligodeoxynucleotide with Promising Modulation Activity for the Proliferation and Activation of Osteoblast

The paper explored the regulatory role of oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) with specific sequences in the proliferation and activation of osteoblast, using human osteoblast-like cell line MG 63 as the model. Through the administration of ODNs to MG 63 cells at a concentration of 1.0 μg/mL, ODN MT01 with positive effects on proliferation and activation of osteoblast was selected from 11 different ODNs by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity measurement. To get a deeper insight into the molecular mechanism, effects of ODN MT01 treatment on the expression level of Sp7, runx-2, collagen-I, osteoprotegerin (OPG) and RANK ligand (RANKL) were determined using quantitative real time PCR and Western blotting. Remarkably, the mRNA and protein expression levels of Sp7, runx-2, collagen-I and OPG were improved after ODN MT01 treatment. Meanwhile, the protein expression level of RANKL was dramatically decreased. These results suggested that ODN MT01 had a significant impact in facilitating osteogenic proliferation and activation, and provided a direct evidence for the notion that single strand ODN could regulate the balance of bone formation and resorption, and thus was of great potential in the rebuilding of alveolar bone

The impact of monthly air pollution exposure and its interaction with individual factors: Insight from a large cohort study of comprehensive hospitalizations in Guangzhou area

BackgroundAlthough the association between short-term air pollution exposure and certain hospitalizations has been well documented, evidence on the effect of longer-term (e. g., monthly) air pollution on a comprehensive set of outcomes is still limited.MethodA total of 68,416 people in South China were enrolled and followed up during 2019–2020. Monthly air pollution level was estimated using a validated ordinary Kriging method and assigned to individuals. Time-dependent Cox models were developed to estimate the relationship between monthly PM10 and O3 exposures and the all-cause and cause-specific hospitalizations after adjusting for confounders. The interaction between air pollution and individual factors was also investigated.ResultsOverall, each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM10 concentration was associated with a 3.1% (95%CI: 1.3%−4.9%) increment in the risk of all-cause hospitalization. The estimate was even greater following O3 exposure (6.8%, 5.5%−8.2%). Furthermore, each 10 μg/m3 increase in PM10 was associated with a 2.3%-9.1% elevation in all the cause-specific hospitalizations except for those related to respiratory and digestive diseases. The same increment in O3 was relevant to a 4.7%−22.8% elevation in the risk except for respiratory diseases. Additionally, the older individuals tended to be more vulnerable to PM10 exposure (Pinteraction: 0.002), while the alcohol abused and those with an abnormal BMI were more vulnerable to the impact of O3 (Pinteraction: 0.052 and 0.011). However, the heavy smokers were less vulnerable to O3 exposure (Pinteraction: 0.032).ConclusionWe provide comprehensive evidence on the hospitalization hazard of monthly PM10 and O3 exposure and their interaction with individual factors