Unified Medical Image Pre-training in Language-Guided Common Semantic Space

Vision-Language Pre-training (VLP) has shown the merits of analysing medical images, by leveraging the semantic congruence between medical images and their corresponding reports. It efficiently learns visual representations, which in turn facilitates enhanced analysis and interpretation of intricate imaging data. However, such observation is predominantly justified on single-modality data (mostly 2D images like X-rays), adapting VLP to learning unified representations for medical images in real scenario remains an open challenge. This arises from medical images often encompass a variety of modalities, especially modalities with different various number of dimensions (e.g., 3D images like Computed Tomography). To overcome the aforementioned challenges, we propose an Unified Medical Image Pre-training framework, namely UniMedI, which utilizes diagnostic reports as common semantic space to create unified representations for diverse modalities of medical images (especially for 2D and 3D images). Under the text's guidance, we effectively uncover visual modality information, identifying the affected areas in 2D X-rays and slices containing lesion in sophisticated 3D CT scans, ultimately enhancing the consistency across various medical imaging modalities. To demonstrate the effectiveness and versatility of UniMedI, we evaluate its performance on both 2D and 3D images across 10 different datasets, covering a wide range of medical image tasks such as classification, segmentation, and retrieval. UniMedI has demonstrated superior performance in downstream tasks, showcasing its effectiveness in establishing a universal medical visual representation

A Vital Signs Fast Detection and Extraction Method of UWB Impulse Radar Based on SVD

The identification of weak vital signs has always been one of the difficulties in the field of life detection. In this paper, a novel vital sign detection and extraction method with high efficiency, high precision, high sensitivity and high signal-to-noise ratio is proposed. Based on the NVA6100 pulse radar system, the radar matrix which contains several radar pulse detection signals is received. According to the characteristics of vital signs and radar matrices, the Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) is adopted to perform signal denoising and decomposition after preprocessing, and the temporal and spatial eigenvectors of each principal component are obtained. Through the energy proportion screening, the Wavelet Transform decomposition and linear trend suppression, relatively pure vital signs in each principal component, are obtained. The human location is detected by the Energy Entropy of spatial eigenvectors, and the respiratory signal and heartbeat signal are restored through a Butterworth Filter and an MTI harmonic canceller. Finally, through an analysis of the performance of the algorithm, it is proved to have the properties of efficiency and accuracy

Establishment of a Real-Time Recombinase Polymerase Amplification for Rapid Detection of Pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica

Yersinia enterocolitica is a zoonotic proto-microbe that is widespread throughout the world, causes self-limiting diseases in humans or animals and even leads to sepsis and death in patients with severe cases. In this study, a real-time recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) assay for pathogenic Y. enterocolitica was established based on the ail gene. The results showed that the RPA detection for Y. enterocolitica could be completed within 20 min at an isothermal temperature of 38 °C by optimizing the conditions in the primers and Exo probe. Moreover, the sensitivity of the current RT-RPA was 10−4 ng/μL, and the study found that the assay was negative in the application of the genomic DNA of other pathogens. These suggest the establishment of a rapid and sensitive real-time RPA method for the detection of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica, which can provide new understandings for the early diagnosis of the pathogens

Synergistic trifunctional electrocatalysis of pyridinic nitrogen and single transition-metal atoms anchored on pyrazine-modified graphdiyne

Multifunctional catalysts that integrate high efficiency hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) catalytic activity in a single material are attractive for unitized regenerative fuel cells and overall water splitting technologies. As the best-known HER and ORR electrocatalysts, Pt and its alloys have only moderate OER activity. Ruthenium and iridium oxides exhibit the highest OER activities but not as active as Pt for HER and ORR. Here, we proposed a general principle for achieving trifunctional electrocatalysis for three reactions in a single material. Using the newly-synthesized pyrazine-modified graphdiyne (PR-GDY) as an example, we demonstrated that the synergistic effect of the pyridinic nitrogen and anchored transition-metal (TM) single atoms renders highly-efficient HER/OER/ORR trifunctional electrocatalytic activity. For the Ni-doped PR-GDY, the overpotentials for HER, OER and ORR can be respectively as low as −0.05, 0.29 and 0.38 V, which are comparable or even superior to the best-known single-functional and bi-functional precious electrocatalysts. These computational results offer not only a promising trifunctional electrocatalyst but also a strategy for the design of multifunctional electrocatalysts.</p

The Association Between Genetic Variation in FOXP2 and Sensorimotor Control of Speech Production

Significant advances have been made in understanding the role of auditory feedback in sensorimotor integration for speech production. The neurogenetic basis of this feedback-based control process, however, remains largely unknown. Mutations of FOXP2 gene in humans are associated with severe deficits in speech motor behavior. The present study examined the associations between a FOXP2 common variant, rs6980093 (A/G), and the behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) responses to -50 and -200 cents pitch perturbations during vocal production in a sample of 133 Chinese adults. Behaviorally, the GG genotype was associated with significantly smaller vocal compensations for -200 cents perturbations relative to the AA and AG genotypes. Furthermore, both the AA and AG genotypes exhibited significant positive correlations between the degree of vocal compensation for -50 and -200 cents perturbations and the variability of normal voice fundamental frequency, whereas no such correlation existed for the GG genotype. At the cortical level, significantly larger P2 responses to -200 cents perturbations were associated with the GG genotype as compared to the AA and AG genotypes due to increased left-lateralized activity in the superior, middle, and inferior frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex, middle temporal gyrus, and insula. The neurobehavioral responses to -50 cents perturbations, however, did not vary as a function of genotype. These findings present the first neurobehavioral evidence for an association between FOXP2 genetic variant and auditory-motor integration for vocal pitch regulation. The differential effects of FOXP2 genotypes at rs6980093 may reflect their influences on the weighting of feedback and feedforward control of speech production

Airborne microplastics: Occurrence, sources, fate, risks and mitigation

This paper serves to enhance the current knowledge base of airborne microplastics which is significantly smaller than that of microplastics in marine, freshwater and terrestrial environments. It systematically presents the prevalence, sources, fate, risks and mitigations of airborne microplastics through the review of >140 scientific papers published mainly in the last 10 years. Unlike the extant review, it places an emphasis on the indoor microplastics, the risks of airborne microplastics on animals and plants and their mitigations. The outdoor microplastics are mostly generated by the wear and tear of tires, brake pads, waste incineration and industrial activities. They have been detected in many regions worldwide at concentrations ranging from 0.3 particles/m3 to 154,000 particles/L of air even in the Pyrenees Mountains and the Arctic. As for indoor microplastics, the reported concentrations range from 1 piece/m3 to 9900 pieces/m2/day, and are frequently higher than those of the outdoor microplastics. They come from the wear and tear of walls and ceilings, synthetic textiles and furniture finishings. Airborne microplastics could be suspended and resuspended, entrapped, settle under gravity as well as interact with chemicals, microorganisms and other microplastic particles. In the outdoors, they could also interact with sunlight and be carried by the wind over long distance. Airborne microplastics could adversely affect plants, animals and humans, leading to reduced photosynthetic rate, retarded growth, oxidative stress, inflammatory responses and increased cancer risks in humans. They could be mitigated indirectly through filters attached to air-conditioning system and directly through source reduction, regulation and biodegradable substitutes.24 month embargo; available online: 07 November 2022This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]