Transformer-based Multi-Instance Learning for Weakly Supervised Object Detection

Weakly Supervised Object Detection (WSOD) enables the training of object detection models using only image-level annotations. State-of-the-art WSOD detectors commonly rely on multi-instance learning (MIL) as the backbone of their detectors and assume that the bounding box proposals of an image are independent of each other. However, since such approaches only utilize the highest score proposal and discard the potentially useful information from other proposals, their independent MIL backbone often limits models to salient parts of an object or causes them to detect only one object per class. To solve the above problems, we propose a novel backbone for WSOD based on our tailored Vision Transformer named Weakly Supervised Transformer Detection Network (WSTDN). Our algorithm is not only the first to demonstrate that self-attention modules that consider inter-instance relationships are effective backbones for WSOD, but also we introduce a novel bounding box mining method (BBM) integrated with a memory transfer refinement (MTR) procedure to utilize the instance dependencies for facilitating instance refinements. Experimental results on PASCAL VOC2007 and VOC2012 benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed WSTDN and modified instance refinement modules

Development and Control of Soybean Aphid, Aphis glycines, in Heilongjiang Province

Originating text in Chinese.Citation: Wang, Chunrong, Chen, Jiguang, Guo, Yuren, Gong, Xiangyu, Xu, Zhaofei, Lin, Chao. (1998). Development and Control of Soybean Aphid, Aphis glycines, in Heilongjiang Province. Soybean Bulletin, 6, 15

A Novel Noise Injection-based Training Scheme for Better Model Robustness

Noise injection-based method has been shown to be able to improve the robustness of artificial neural networks in previous work. In this work, we propose a novel noise injection-based training scheme for better model robustness. Specifically, we first develop a likelihood ratio method to estimate the gradient with respect to both synaptic weights and noise levels for stochastic gradient descent training. Then, we design an approximation for the vanilla noise injection-based training method to reduce memory and improve computational efficiency. Next, we apply our proposed scheme to spiking neural networks and evaluate the performance of classification accuracy and robustness on MNIST and Fashion-MNIST datasets. Experiment results show that our proposed method achieves a much better performance on adversarial robustness and slightly better performance on original accuracy, compared with the conventional gradient-based training method

Potential biomarkers of Parkinson’s disease revealed by plasma metabolic profiling

The plasma of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients may contain various altered metabolites associated with the risk or progression of the disease. Characterization of the abnormal metabolic pattern in PD plasma is therefore critical for the search for potential PD biomarkers. We collected blood plasma samples from PD patients and used an LC-MS based metabolomics approach to identify 17 metabolites with significantly altered levels. Metabolic network analysis was performed to place the metabolites linked to different pathways. The metabolic pathways involved were associated with tyrosine biosynthesis, glycerol phospholipid metabolism, carnitine metabolism and bile acid biosynthesis, within which carnitine and bile acid metabolites as potential biomarkers are first time reported. These abnormal metabolic changes in the plasma of patients with PD were mainly related to lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function

CBX4 Promotes Antitumor Immunity by Suppressing Pdcd1 Expression in T Cells

E3 SUMO-protein ligase CBX4 (CBX4), a key component of polycomb-repressive complexes 1 (PRC1), has been reported to regulate a variety of genes implicated in tumor growth, metastasis, and angiogenesis. However, its role in T-cell-mediated antitumor immunity remains elusive. To shed light on this issue, we generated mice with T-cell-specific deletion of Cbx4. Tumor growth was increased in the knockout mice. Additionally, their tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes exhibited impaired tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production, with an elevated programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) level. In fact, dysregulated Pdcd1 expression was observed in all major subsets of peripheral T cells from the knockout mice, which was accompanied by a functional defect in response to T-cell receptor (TCR) stimulation. In support of a direct link between CBX4 and PD-1, Cbx4 overexpression resulted in the downregulation of Pdcd1 expression. Epigenetic analyses indicated that Cbx4 deficiency leads to diminished accumulation of inhibitory histone modifications at conserved region (CR)-C and CR-B sites of the Pdcd1 promoter, namely mono-ubiquitinated histone H2A at lysine 119 (H2AK119ub1) and trimethylated histone H3 at lysine 27 (H3K27me3). Moreover, inhibition of either the E3 ligase activity of polycomb-repressive complexes 1 (PRC1) or the methyltransferase activity of polycomb-repressive complexes 2 (PRC2) restores Pdcd1 expression in Cbx4-transfected cells. Cumulatively, this study reveals a novel function of CBX4 in the regulation of T-cell function and expands our understanding of the epigenetic control of Pdcd1 expression

Goose STING mediates IFN signaling activation against RNA viruses

Stimulator of the interferon gene (STING) is involved in mammalian antiviral innate immunity as an interferon (IFN) activator. However, there is still a lack of clarity regarding the molecular characterization of goose STING (GoSTING) and its role in the innate immune response. In the present study, we cloned GoSTING and performed a series of bioinformatics analyses. GoSTING was grouped into avian clades and showed the highest sequence similarity to duck STING. The in vitro experiments showed that the mRNA levels of GoSTING, IFNs, IFN-stimulated genes (ISGs), and proinflammatory cytokines were significantly upregulated in goose embryo fibroblast cells (GEFs) infected with Newcastle disease virus (NDV). Overexpression of GoSTING in DF-1 cells and GEFs strongly activated the IFN-β promoter as detected by a dual-luciferase reporter assay. Furthermore, overexpression of GoSTING induced the expression of other types of IFN, ISGs, and proinflammatory cytokines and inhibited green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged NDV (NDV-GFP) and GFP-tagged vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) (VSV-GFP) replication in vitro. In conclusion, these data suggest that GoSTING is an important regulator of the type I IFN pathway and is critical in geese’s innate immune host defense against RNA viruses

Phage vB_PaeS-PAJD-1 Rescues Murine Mastitis Infected With Multidrug-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative pathogen that causes a variety of infections in humans and animals. Due to the inappropriate use of antibiotics, multi-drug resistant (MDR) P. aeruginosa strains have emerged and are prevailing. In recent years, cow mastitis caused by MDR P. aeruginosa has attracted attention. In this study, a microbial community analysis revealed that P. aeruginosa could be a cause of pathogen-induced cow mastitis. Five MDR P. aeruginosa strains were isolated from milk diagnosed as mastitis positive. To seek an alternative antibacterial agent against MDR, P. aeruginosa, a lytic phage, designated vB_PaeS_PAJD-1 (PAJD-1), was isolated from dairy farm sewage. PAJD-1 was morphologically classified as Siphoviridae and was estimated to be about 57.9 kb. Phage PAJD-1 showed broad host ranges and a strong lytic ability. A one-step growth curve analysis showed a relatively short latency period (20 min) and a relatively high burst size (223 PFU per infected cell). Phage PAJD-1 remained stable over wide temperature and pH ranges. Intramammary-administered PAJD-1 reduced bacterial concentrations and repaired mammary glands in mice with mastitis induced by MDR P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, the cell wall hydrolase (termed endolysin) from phage PAJD-1 exhibited a strong bacteriolytic and a wide antibacterial spectrum against MDR P. aeruginosa. These findings present phage PAJD-1 as a candidate for phagotherapy against MDR P. aeruginosa infection