Rediscovery of the Effectiveness of Standard Convolution for Lightweight Face Detection

This paper analyses the design choices of face detection architecture that improve efficiency between computation cost and accuracy. Specifically, we re-examine the effectiveness of the standard convolutional block as a lightweight backbone architecture on face detection. Unlike the current tendency of lightweight architecture design, which heavily utilizes depthwise separable convolution layers, we show that heavily channel-pruned standard convolution layer can achieve better accuracy and inference speed when using a similar parameter size. This observation is supported by the analyses concerning the characteristics of the target data domain, face. Based on our observation, we propose to employ ResNet with a highly reduced channel, which surprisingly allows high efficiency compared to other mobile-friendly networks (e.g., MobileNet-V1,-V2,-V3). From the extensive experiments, we show that the proposed backbone can replace that of the state-of-the-art face detector with a faster inference speed. Also, we further propose a new feature aggregation method maximizing the detection performance. Our proposed detector EResFD obtained 80.4% mAP on WIDER FACE Hard subset which only takes 37.7 ms for VGA image inference in on CPU. Code will be available at https://github.com/clovaai/EResFD

Stochastic Particle Flow for Nonlinear High-Dimensional Filtering Problems

A series of novel filters for probabilistic inference that propose an alternative way of performing Bayesian updates, called particle flow filters, have been attracting recent interest. These filters provide approximate solutions to nonlinear filtering problems. They do so by defining a continuum of densities between the prior probability density and the posterior, i.e. the filtering density. Building on these methods' successes, we propose a novel filter. The new filter aims to address the shortcomings of sequential Monte Carlo methods when applied to important nonlinear high-dimensional filtering problems. The novel filter uses equally weighted samples, each of which is associated with a local solution of the Fokker-Planck equation. This hybrid of Monte Carlo and local parametric approximation gives rise to a global approximation of the filtering density of interest. We show that, when compared with state-of-the-art methods, the Gaussian-mixture implementation of the new filtering technique, which we call Stochastic Particle Flow, has utility in the context of benchmark nonlinear high-dimensional filtering problems. In addition, we extend the original particle flow filters for tackling multi-target multi-sensor tracking problems to enable a comparison with the new filter

CTA-Based Truncal-Type Occlusion Is Best Matched With Postprocedural Fixed Focal Stenosis in Vertebrobasilar Occlusions

Background: Differentiation of embolic and atherosclerotic occlusions is difficult prior to endovascular treatment (EVT) of acute ischemic stroke due to intracranial large artery occlusions. CTA-determined occlusion type has been reported to be associated with a negative cardiac embolic source and stent retriever failure, a potential of intracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS)-related occlusions. In this study, we evaluated the agreement between preprocedural identification of CTA-determined truncal-type occlusion (TTO) and postprocedural evaluation of underlying fixed focal stenosis (FFS) in the occlusion site.Methods: Patients who underwent intracranial EVT for acute ischemic stroke within 24 h of onset and who had baseline CTA were identified from a multicenter registry collected between January 2011 and May 2016. Preprocedural occlusion type was classified as TTO (target artery bifurcation saved) or branching-site occlusion (bifurcation involved) on CTA. As for postprocedural identification, FFS was evaluated by stepwise analyses of procedural and postprocedural angiographies. The agreement between TTO and FFS was evaluated in respective intracranial vascular beds. Receiver operating characteristics analyses were also performed.Results: A total of 509 patients were included [intracranial internal carotid artery (ICA): 193, middle cerebral artery (MCA) M1: 256, and vertebrobasilar artery (VBA): 60]. In preprocedural identification, 33 (17.1%), 41 (16.0%), and 29 patients (48.3%) had TTOs, respectively. TTOs had good agreement with angiographic FFS in M1 (positive predictive value: 63.4%, negative predictive value: 83.2%, likelihood ratio: 5.42, Pmultivariate < 0.001) and VBA (72.4%, 96.8%, and 4.54, respectively, Pmultivariate = 0.004), but not in intracranial ICA occlusions (Pmultivariate = 0.358). The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve was the largest for VBA (0.872, p < 0.001), followed by MCA M1 (0.671, p < 0.001), and intracranial ICA (0.551, p = 0.465).Conclusions: Agreement between preprocedural TTO and postprocedural FFS, both of which are surrogate markers for ICAS-related occlusions, is highest for VBA, followed by MCA M1 occlusions. There is no significant association in intracranial ICA

Acute Kidney Injury after Endovascular Treatment in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is often associated with the use of contrast agents. We evaluated the frequency of AKI, factors associated with AKI after endovascular treatment (EVT), and associations with AKI and clinical outcomes. We retrospectively analyzed consecutively enrolled patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent EVT at three stroke centers in Korea. We compared the characteristics of patients with and without AKI and independent factors associated with AKI after EVT. We also investigated the effects of AKI on functional outcomes and mortality at 3 months. Of the 601 patients analyzed, 59 patients (9.8%) developed AKI and five patients (0.8%) started renal replacement therapy after EVT. In the multivariate analysis, diabetes mellitus (odds ratio (OR), 2.341; 95% CI, 1.283–4.269; p = 0.005), the contrast agent dose (OR, 1.107 per 10 mL; 95% CI, 1.032–1.187; p = 0.004), and unsuccessful reperfusion (OR, 1.909; 95% CI, 1.019–3.520; p = 0.040) were independently associated with AKI. The presence of AKI was associated with a poor functional outcome (OR, 5.145; 95% CI, 2.177–13.850; p < 0.001) and mortality (OR, 8.164; 95% CI, 4.046–16.709; p < 0.001) at 3 months. AKI may also affect the outcomes of ischemic stroke patients undergoing EVT. When implementing EVT, practitioners should be aware of these risk factors

Lobeglitazone, a novel thiazolidinedione, for secondary prevention in patients with ischemic stroke: a nationwide nested case-control study

Abstract Introduction Ischemic stroke patients with diabetes are at high risk for recurrent stroke and cardiovascular complications. Pioglitazone, a type of thiazolidinedione, has been shown to reduce cardiovascular complications in patients with ischemic stroke and type 2 diabetes (T2D) or insulin resistance. Lobeglitazone is a novel thiazolidinedione agent that improves insulin resistance and has similar glycemic efficacy to pioglitazone. Using population-based health claims data, we evaluated whether lobeglitazone has secondary cardiovascular preventive effects in patients with ischemic stroke and T2D. Methods This study has a nested case-control design. From nationwide health claims data in Korea, we identified patients with T2D admitted for acute ischemic stroke in 2014–2018. Cases were defined who suffered the primary outcome (a composite of recurrent stroke, myocardial infarction, and all-cause death) before December 2020. Three controls were selected by incidence density sampling for each case from those who were at risk at the time of their case occurrence with exact matching on sex, age, the presence of comorbidities, and medications. As a safety outcome, we also evaluated the risk of heart failure (HF) according to the use of lobeglitazone. Results From the cohort of 70,897 T2D patients with acute ischemic stroke, 20,869 cases and 62,607 controls were selected. In the multivariable conditional logistic regression, treatment with lobeglitazone (adjusted OR 0.74; 95% CI 0.61–0.90; p = 0.002) and pioglitazone (adjusted OR 0.71; 95% CI 0.64–0.78; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with a lower risk for the primary outcome. In a safety outcome analysis for HF, treatment with lobeglitazone did not increase the risk of HF (adjusted OR 0.90; 95% CI 0.66–1.22; p = 0.492). Conclusions In T2D patients with ischemic stroke, lobeglitazone reduced the risk of cardiovascular complications similar to that of pioglitazone without an increased risk of HF. There is a need for further studies on the cardioprotective role of lobeglitazone, a novel thiazolidinedione

Statin Treatment on Cardiovascular Risk After Retinal Artery Occlusion: A Historical Cohort Study

Abstract Introduction Retinal artery occlusion (RAO) is a major cause of acute visual loss and patients with RAO have an increased risk for subsequent cardiovascular events. However, there is little evidence of whether the use of statins is associated with the prevention of cardiovascular events in patients with RAO. We investigated whether statin treatment in patients with RAO is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events. Methods This study was a historical cohort study with nested case–control analysis. Using the nationwide health insurance claims database in Korea, we retrospectively established a cohort of newly diagnosed RAO patients without prior cardiovascular events between January 2008 and March 2020. We defined the case group as those who had cardiovascular events (stroke or myocardial infarction) and the control group as RAO patients without primary outcome matched by sex, age, comorbidities, and duration of follow-up (1:2 incidence density sampling). Conditional logistic regression was performed. Results Among 13,843 patients newly diagnosed with RAO, 1030 patients had cardiovascular events (mean follow-up period of 6.4 ± 3.7 years). A total of 957 cases were matched to 1914 controls. Throughout the study period, the proportion of patients taking statin was less than half. Statin treatment after RAO was associated with a low risk of cardiovascular events (adjusted OR, 0.637; 95% CI 0.520–0.780; P < 0.001). A longer duration of statin exposure was associated with a lower cardiovascular risk. Conclusions In patients with newly diagnosed RAO, treatment with statins, particularly long-term use, was associated with a low risk of future cardiovascular events

A computerized red glass test for quantifying diplopia

Abstract Background Accurate evaluation of diplopia during bedside physical examination is challenging. We developed a new computerized red glass test (CRT) to detect, localize, and quantify diplopia and investigated whether the CRT is useful and feasible. Methods During the CRT, a white dot randomly appears on a monitor. Because a red glass is applied on the right eye, a patient can see one white dot and one red dot when diplopia is present. We defined the degree of diplopia as the direct distance of the two points with the largest deviation and compared the degree with the Hess score and Hess area ratio. Results We prospectively enrolled 14 patients with binocular diplopia. Test–retest reliability of the CRT was excellent (overall intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.948, 95% CI 0.939–0.956). The degree of diplopia in the CRT was well correlated with both the Hess score (r = 0.719, p = 0.005) and the Hess area ratio (r = −0.620, p = 0.018). Conclusions The CRT can easily detect the presence of diplopia and provided the quantitative values of the degree of diplopia. The CRT was useful and feasible for improving routine bedside examination