AV-MaskEnhancer: Enhancing Video Representations through Audio-Visual Masked Autoencoder

Learning high-quality video representation has shown significant applications in computer vision and remains challenging. Previous work based on mask autoencoders such as ImageMAE and VideoMAE has proven the effectiveness of learning representations in images and videos through reconstruction strategy in the visual modality. However, these models exhibit inherent limitations, particularly in scenarios where extracting features solely from the visual modality proves challenging, such as when dealing with low-resolution and blurry original videos. Based on this, we propose AV-MaskEnhancer for learning high-quality video representation by combining visual and audio information. Our approach addresses the challenge by demonstrating the complementary nature of audio and video features in cross-modality content. Moreover, our result of the video classification task on the UCF101 dataset outperforms the existing work and reaches the state-of-the-art, with a top-1 accuracy of 98.8% and a top-5 accuracy of 99.9%

Global characteristics and trends in research on Candida auris

IntroductionCandida auris, a fungal pathogen first reported in 2009, has shown strong resistance to azole antifungal drugs and has caused severe nosocomial outbreaks. It can also form biofilms, which can colonize patients’ skin and transmit to others. Despite numerous reports of C. auris isolation in various countries, many studies have reported contradictory results.MethodA bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer to summarize research trends and provide guidance for future research on controlling C. auris infection. The analysis revealed that the United States and the US CDC were the most influential countries and research institutions, respectively. For the researchers, Jacques F. Meis published the highest amount of related articles, and Anastasia P. Litvintseva’s articles with the highest average citation rate. The most cited publications focused on clade classification, accurate identification technologies, nosocomial outbreaks, drug resistance, and biofilm formation. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed that the top five highest frequencies were for ‘drug resistance,’ ‘antifungal susceptibility test,’ ‘infection,’ ‘Candida auris,’ and ‘identification.’ The high-frequency keywords clustered into four groups: rapid and precise identification, drug resistance research, pathogenicity, and nosocomial transmission epidemiology studies. These clusters represent different study fields and current research hotspots of C. auris.ConclusionThe bibliometric analysis identified the most influential country, research institution, and researcher, indicating current research trends and hotspots for controlling C. auris

Phenotypic and genetic features of a novel clinically isolated rough morphotype Candida auris

IntroductionCandida auris is a newly emerging pathogenic fungus of global concern and has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a member of the critical group of the most health-threatening fungi.MethodsThis study reveals and reports for the first time that a rough morphotype C. auris strain causes urinary tract infections in non-intensive care unit (ICU) inpatients. Furthermore, the morphology, the scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM), Whole-genome resequencing and RNA sequencing of C. auris possessing rough morphotype colonies compared to their smooth morphotype counterparts.ResultsThe newly identified phenotypic variation of C. auris appears round, convex, dry, and burr-like with a rough texture. SEM shows that rough type C. auris has a rough and uneven colony surface with radial wrinkles and irregular spore arrangement. Cells of the rough morphotype C. auris naturally aggregate into clusters with tight connections in the liquid, and it seems that the cell division is incomplete. A genome-wide analysis of the rough type C. auris confirmed its genetic association with the smooth type of C. auris prevalent in China (Shenyang) two years ago; however, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) mutations of five genes (ACE2, IFF6, RER2, UTP20, and CaO19.5847) were identified more recently. RNA-seq revealed IFF2/HYR3, DAL5, PSA31, and SIT1 were notably up-regulated, while multiple cell wall-associated genes (ALS1, MNN1, PUL1, DSE1, SCW11, PGA38, RBE1, FGR41, BGLI, GIT3, CEP3, and SAP2) were consistently down-regulated in rough morphotype C. auris.DiscussionThe rough phenotypic variation of C. auris is likely to be related to the structural and functional changes in cell wall proteins. This novel rough morphotype C. auris will provide a basis for further studies concerning the evolutionary characteristics of C. auris

Eff ect of a comprehensive programme to provide universal access to care for sputum-smear-positive multidrugresistant tuberculosis in China: a before-and-after study

Background China has a quarter of all patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) worldwide, but less than 5% are in quality treatment programmes. In a before-and-after study we aimed to assess the eff ect of a comprehensive programme to provide universal access to diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up for MDRTB in four Chinese cities (population 18 million). Methods We designated city-level hospitals in each city to diagnose and treat MDRTB. All patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosed in Center for Disease Control (CDC) clinics and hospitals were tested for MDRTB with molecular and conventional drug susceptibility tests. Patients were treated with a 24 month treatment package for MDRTB based on WHO guidelines. Outpatients were referred to the CDC for directly observed therapy. We capped total treatment package cost at US$4644. Insurance reimbursement and project subsidies limited patients’ expenses to 10 (2011) to those from a retrospective survey of all patients with MDRTB diagnosed in the same cities during a baseline period (2006–09). Findings 243 patients were diagnosed with MDRTB or rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis during the 12 month programme period compared with 92 patients (equivalent to 24 per year) during the baseline period. 172 (71 243 individuals were enrolled in the programme. Time from specimen collection for resistance testing to treatment initiation decreased by 90 started on appropriate drug regimen increased 2·7 times (from nine [35 172), and follow-up by the CDC after initial hospitalisation increased 24 times (from one [4 163 [99 increased ten times (from two [8 programme period had negative cultures or clinical–radiographic improvement. Patients’ expenses for hospital admission after MDRTB diagnosis decreased by 78$796 to $174), reducing the ratio of patients’ expenses to annual household income from 17·6% to 3·5% (p<0·0001 for all comparisons between baseline and programme periods). However, 36 (15%) patients did not start or had to discontinue treatment in the programme period because of fi nancial diffi culties. Interpretation This comprehensive programme substantially increased access to diagnosis, quality treatment, and aff ordable treatment for MDRTB. The programme could help China to achieve universal access to MDRTB care but greater fi nancial risk protection for patients is needed

Lower gestational age is associated with lower cortical volume and cognitive and educational performance in adolescence

Background: Gestational age (GA) is associated with later cognition and behavior. However, it is unclear how specific cognitive domains and brain structural development varies with the stepwise change of gestational duration. Methods: This large-scale longitudinal cohort study analyzed 11,878 early adolescents’ brain volume maps at 9–10 years (baseline) and 5685 at 11–12 years (a 2-year follow-up) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. According to gestational age, adolescents were divided into five categorical groups: ≤ 33 weeks, 34–35 weeks, 36 weeks, 37–39 weeks, and ≥ 40 weeks. The NIH Toolbox was used to estimate neurocognitive performance, including crystallized and fluid intelligence, which was measured for 11,878 adolescents at baseline with crystallized intelligence and relevant subscales obtained at 2-year follow-up (with participant numbers ranging from 6185 to 6310 depending on the cognitive domain). An additional large population-based cohort of 618,070 middle adolescents at ninth-grade (15–16 years) from the Danish national register was utilized to validate the association between gestational age and academic achievements. A linear mixed model was used to examine the group differences between gestational age and neurocognitive performance, school achievements, and grey matter volume. A mediation analysis was performed to examine whether brain structural volumes mediated the association between GA and neurocognition, followed with a longitudinal analysis to track the changes. Results: Significant group differences were found in all neurocognitive scores, school achievements, and twenty-five cortical regional volumes (P < 0.05, Bonferroni corrected). Specifically, lower gestational ages were associated with graded lower cognition and school achievements and with smaller brain volumes of the fronto-parieto-temporal, fusiform, cingulate, insula, postcentral, hippocampal, thalamic, and pallidal regions. These lower brain volumes mediated the association between gestational age and cognitive function (P = 1 × 10−8, β = 0.017, 95% CI: 0.007–0.028). Longitudinal analysis showed that compared to full term adolescents, preterm adolescents still had smaller brain volumes and crystallized intelligence scores at 11–12 years. Conclusions: These results emphasize the relationships between gestational age at birth and adolescents’ lower brain volume, and lower cognitive and educational performance, measured many years later when 9–10 and 11–12 years old. The study indicates the importance of early screening and close follow-up for neurocognitive and behavioral development for children and adolescents born with gestational ages that are even a little lower than full term

A model-based approach to assess reproducibility for large-scale high-throughput MRI-based studies

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology has been increasingly used in neuroscience studies. Reproducibility of statistically significant findings generated by MRI-based studies, especially association studies (phenotype vs. MRI metric) and task-induced brain activation, has been recently heavily debated. However, most currently available reproducibility measures depend on thresholds for the test statistics and cannot be use to evaluate overall study reproducibility. It is also crucial to elucidate the relationship between overall study reproducibility and sample size in an experimental design. In this study, we proposed a model-based reproducibility index to quantify reproducibility which could be used in large-scale high-throughput MRI-based studies including both association studies and task-induced brain activation. We performed the model-based reproducibility assessments for a few association studies and task-induced brain activation by using several recent large sMRI/fMRI databases. For large sample size association studies between brain structure/function features and some basic physiological phenotypes (i.e. Sex, BMI), we demonstrated that the model-based reproducibility of these studies is more than 0.99. For MID task activation, similar results could be observed. Furthermore, we proposed a model-based analytical tool to evaluate minimal sample size for the purpose of achieving a desirable model-based reproducibility. Additionally, we evaluated the model-based reproducibility of gray matter volume (GMV) changes for UK Biobank (UKB) vs. Parkinson Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) and UK Biobank (UKB) vs. Human Connectome Project (HCP). We demonstrated that both sample size and study-specific experimental factors play important roles in the model-based reproducibility assessments for different experiments. In summary, a systematic assessment of reproducibility is fundamental and important in the current large-scale high-throughput MRI-based studies

A Shared Neural Basis Underlying Psychiatric Comorbidity

Recent studies proposed a general psychopathology factor underlying common comorbidities among psychiatric disorders. However, its neurobiological mechanisms and generalizability remain elusive. In this study, we used a large longitudinal neuroimaging cohort from adolescence to young adulthood (IMAGEN) to define a neuropsychopathological (NP) factor across externalizing and internalizing symptoms using multitask connectomes. We demonstrate that this NP factor might represent a unified, genetically determined, delayed development of the prefrontal cortex that further leads to poor executive function. We also show this NP factor to be reproducible in multiple developmental periods, from preadolescence to early adulthood, and generalizable to the resting-state connectome and clinical samples (the ADHD-200 Sample and the Stratify Project). In conclusion, we identify a reproducible and general neural basis underlying symptoms of multiple mental health disorders, bridging multidimensional evidence from behavioral, neuroimaging and genetic substrates. These findings may help to develop new therapeutic interventions for psychiatric comorbidities

Expanding the genetic spectrum for Chinese familial hypercholesterolemia population with six genetic mutations identified using a next‐generation sequencing‐based laboratory‐developed screening test

Abstract Background This study was to reveal the prevalence of definite familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) in the hospital‐visiting population, determine the pathogenic mutation detection rate in clinically diagnosed definite FH patients, and expand the FH mutation spectrum in China. Methods Blood lipid profiles of 41,803 patients visiting the hospital were investigated and 4967 patients with clinical diagnoses of other metabolic diseases were excluded. One hundred and seventy‐three (0.41%) received a definite diagnosis of FH according to the Dutch Lipid Clinical Network Criteria‐Chinese Revised Version (DLCN‐CRV), and 18 patients subsequently agreed to undergo genetic testing. A next‐generation sequencing (NGS)‐based laboratory‐developed test covering the exonic regions of 24 lipid metabolism‐related genes was conducted alongside in silico analyses to identify possible FH mutations in 16 definite FH patients, according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) criteria. Sanger sequencing was used to confirm mutations, and SWISS‐MODEL was used to simulate the molecular structures of the confirmed protein‐carrying mutations. Results The FH prevalence was 0.41% for the 41,803 individuals (DLCN‐CRV grade >8) and 25% of definite FH patients carried six FH pathogenic mutations (≥ACMG Class 4). All genetic variants were confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Five pathogenic variants on the LDLR gene (NM_000527: c.C1783T: p.R595W, c.T493G: p.W165G, c.G1879A: p.A627T, c.G682T: p.E228X, and exon10: c.G1432A: p.G478R) and one pathogenic variant on APOB (NM_000384: c.C10579T: p.R3527W) in 25% of the identified definite FH patients. Two pathogenic mutations, c.T493G (p.W165G) and c.C1783T (p.R595W), were added to the current genetic spectrum of FH in China. Conclusion This study contributes to improving the current FH detection rate and genetic screening strategies; it provides new directions for treatment, management, and drug development

Wear Analysis of Tibial Inserts Made of Highly Cross-Linked Polyethylene Supplemented with Dodecyl Gallate before and after Accelerated Aging

The wear of the tibial insert is one of the primary factors leading to the failure of total knee arthroplasty. As materials age, their wear performance often degrades. Supplementing highly cross-linked polyethylene (HXLPE) with dodecyl gallate (DG) can improve the oxidation stability of tibial inserts for use in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). This study aimed to evaluate the wear resistance of HXLPE supplemented with DG (HXLPE-DG) tibial inserts before and after accelerated aging. HXLPE-DG tibial inserts were subjected to wear testing of up to 5 million loading cycles according to ISO 14243, and the resulting wear particles were analyzed according to ISO 17853. The wear rate, number, size, and shape of the wear particles were analyzed. The average wear rate of the unaged samples was 4.39 ± 0.75 mg/million cycles and was 3.22 ± 1.49 mg/million cycles for the aged samples. The unaged tibial inserts generated about 2.80 × 107 particles/mL following the wear test, but this was considerably lower for the aged samples at about 1.35 × 107 particles/mL. The average equivalent circle diameter (ECD) of the wear particles from the unaged samples was 0.13 μm (max: 0.80 μm; min: 0.04 μm), and it was 0.14 μm (max: 0.66 μm; min: 0.06 μm) from the aged samples. Moreover, 22.1% of the wear particles from the unaged samples had an aspect ratio (AR) of >4 (slender shape), while this was 15.4% for the aged samples. HXLPE-DG improves the wear performance of the material over time. HXLPE-DG is a novel material that has been demonstrated to have antiaging properties and high wear resistance, making it a promising candidate for use in TKA. Nevertheless, the results are preliminary and will be clarified in further studies