Scene Graph Generation with External Knowledge and Image Reconstruction

Scene graph generation has received growing attention with the advancements in image understanding tasks such as object detection, attributes and relationship prediction,~\etc. However, existing datasets are biased in terms of object and relationship labels, or often come with noisy and missing annotations, which makes the development of a reliable scene graph prediction model very challenging. In this paper, we propose a novel scene graph generation algorithm with external knowledge and image reconstruction loss to overcome these dataset issues. In particular, we extract commonsense knowledge from the external knowledge base to refine object and phrase features for improving generalizability in scene graph generation. To address the bias of noisy object annotations, we introduce an auxiliary image reconstruction path to regularize the scene graph generation network. Extensive experiments show that our framework can generate better scene graphs, achieving the state-of-the-art performance on two benchmark datasets: Visual Relationship Detection and Visual Genome datasets.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, Accepted in CVPR 201

“Internet +” helps research on fitness for all

Using the literature method and the logical analysis method, the study of “Internet +” to help the national fitness is conducted. The value of “Internet +” in helping national fitness: helping the government to reform the national fitness sector in terms of “decentralization, management and service”; helping the national fitness service to match supply and demand accurately; helping the national fitness sector to develop intelligently. The existing dilemmas: the popularity of “Internet +” national fitness integration is not high, the platform construction is insufficient, and the supervision ability is not strong. Accordingly, the development path of “Internet +” to help national fitness is proposed: based on the integration and popularization, to enhance the ability of the masses to apply online fitness; platform construction as the core, to strengthen the governance capacity of national fitness; innovation–driven focus, to promote the intelligent empowerment of national fitness; rule of law construction as a guarantee, to enhance the ability of national fitness network supervision

Use of linked data to assess the impact of out-of-hospital deaths on 30-day mortality indicators

Introduction Publicly reported 30-day mortality indicators in Canada usually only take into account in-hospital deaths recorded in clinical administrative databases. Studies show that the percentage out-of-hospital deaths may account for 24% to 53% of all 30-day mortality, depending on the indicator, however, such assessments have not been done in Canada. Objectives and Approach The objective of this study was to compare 30-day mortality rates calculated using clinical administrative data only (in-hospital deaths) with rates calculated combining administrative data and Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database (CVSD) that captures both in- and out-of-hospital deaths. We considered mortality following acute myocardial infarction (AMI), stroke and major surgery. Episodes of care were created through linkage of Discharge Abstract Database (DAD) and National Ambulatory Care Reporting System (NACRS). Mortality information on deaths outside of acute care hospitals was obtained from DAD/NACRS-CVSD linked files created by Statistics Canada. Data from Quebec and Yukon were not included in the analysis. Results The overall 30-day AMI mortality rate calculated using both DAD and DAD-CSVD linked file was 7.4% compared to 6.7% 30-day in-hospital mortality rate calculated using DAD only. Mortality rates after stroke were 15.8% and 14.0% and after major surgery 1.8% and 1.6%, respectively. The impact of adding out-of-hospitals deaths to rate calculations varied by province and rurality. Adding death data from the DAD-CVSD linked file accounted for 10% of 30-day AMI mortality, 11% of 30-day stroke mortality and 12% of 30-day mortality after major surgery, based on 2011 data. However, depending on the indicator, 7% to 9% of the deaths within 30 days recorded in DAD were not found in DAD-CVSD linked file due to limitations of the linkage methodology. Conclusion/Implications An impact of including out-of-hospital deaths in the 30-day mortality rates appears to be less in Canada (~10%) than shown in other studies. However, while the DAD/NACRS-CVSD linked files provide valuable supplemental information, linkage methodology limitations suggest that they should be used in conjunction with mortality information available in DAD

Risk analysis and assessment based on Sigma metrics and intended use

Introduction: In order to ensure the quality in clinical laboratories and meet the low risk requirements of patients and clinicians, a risk analysis and assessment model based on Sigma metrics and intended use was constructed, based on which differential sigma performance (σ) expectations of 42 analytes were developed. Materials and methods: Failure mode and effects analysis was applied to produce an analytic risk rating based on three factors, each test of which was graded as follows: 1) Sigma metrics; 2) the severity of harm; 3) intended use. By multiplying the score of Sigma metrics by the score of severity of harm by the score of intended use, each was assigned a typical risk priority number (RPN), with RPN ≤ 25 rated as low risk. Low risk was defined as acceptable standards; the sigma performance expectations were calculated. Results: Among the 42 analytes, tests with σ ≥ 6, 5 ≤ σ < 6, 4 ≤ σ < 5, 3 ≤ σ < 4, σ < 3 were 21, 5, 5, 6, and 5, respectively; there were 7 high-risk tests, 8 of them medium risk tests. According to the risk assessment conclusion, 13 tests had sigma performance expectations ≥ 6; 15 test items had sigma performance expectations ≥ 5, while 3 test items had sigma performance expectations ≥ 4; 11 test items had sigma performance expectations ≥ 3. Conclusions: Constructing the risk analysis and assessment model based on Sigma metrics and intended use will help clinical laboratories to identify the high-risk tests more objectively and comprehensively. Such model can also be used to establish the sigma performance expectations and meet the low risk requirements of patients and clinicians

Oat beta-glucan reduces colitis by promoting autophagy flux in intestinal epithelial cells via EPHB6-TFEB axis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a group of chronic inflammatory disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, mainly including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Epidemiological findings suggest that inadequate dietary fibers intake may be a risk factor for IBD. Oat beta-glucan is a type of fermentable dietary fiber and has been proved to reduce experimental colitis. However, the mechanism remains unclear. The aim of this study was to explore the role and possible mechanism of oat beta-glucan in reducing experimental colitis. We used a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced mice acute colitis model to explore the potential mechanism of oat beta-glucan in reducing experimental colitis. As a result, oat beta-glucan upregulated the expressions of Erythropoietin-producing hepatocyte receptor B6 (EPHB6) and transcription factor EB (TFEB), promoted autophagy flux and downregulated the expressions of interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) in intestinal epithelial cells (IECs). The role of the EPHB6-TFEB axis was explored using a lipopolysaccharide-induced HT-29 cells inflammation model. The results revealed that EPHB6 regulated the expression of TFEB, and knockdown of EPHB6 decreased the protein level of TFEB. When EPHB6 or TFEB was knocked down, autophagy flux was inhibited, and the anti-inflammatory effect of sodium butyrate, a main metabolite of oat beta-glucan in the gut, was blocked. In summary, our findings demonstrated that oat beta-glucan reduced DSS-induced acute colitis in mice, promoted autophagy flux via EPHB6-TFEB axis and downregulated the expressions of IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α in IECs, and this effect may be mediated by butyrate

Evaluating the effectiveness of three national marine protected areas in the Yangtze River Delta, China

China’s coastal areas face serious environmental degradation as a consequence of large-scale economic development. To balance environmental sustainability with economic development, China is currently implementing a strategy of ‘eco-civilization’, with marine protected areas (MPAs) expected to be one approach to achieving sustainable marine ecosystems. Since the 1990s, China has established over 270 MPAs, but their effectiveness remains unknown, particularly in the Yangtze River Delta. This study modified pre-existing frameworks to evaluate the effectiveness of three national MPAs in the Yangtze River Delta. The modified framework includes conservation outcomes and their potential drivers. Drivers consist of – attributes species or ecosystems within the MPA, attributes of the MPA, institutional design principles, and participation. Five scenarios were proposed based on score combinations of the four drivers: proactive, well designed, well governed, interactive, and learning. All three MPAs achieved a satisfactory level of outcomes and most of the drivers for all three MPAs achieved a satisfactory level. Two of the MPAs were categorized into the learning scenario, and the third into the well-designed scenario, indicating that there is still room to improve institutional design principles and public participation. We suggest developing cost and benefit indicators to more deeply understand proportionality among stakeholders. In addition, the role of participation should be clarified and promoted. We recommend regular environmental performance monitoring and assessment to identify problems and optimize management

Associations between body composition profile and hypertension in different fatty liver phenotypes

BackgroundIt is currently unclear whether and how the association between body composition and hypertension varies based on the presence and severity of fatty liver disease (FLD).MethodsFLD was diagnosed using ultrasonography among 6,358 participants. The association between body composition and hypertension was analyzed separately in the whole population, as well as in subgroups of non-FLD, mild FLD, and moderate/severe FLD populations, respectively. The mediation effect of FLD in their association was explored.ResultsFat-related anthropometric measurements and lipid metabolism indicators were positively associated with hypertension in both the whole population and the non-FLD subgroup. The strength of this association was slightly reduced in the mild FLD subgroup. Notably, only waist-to-hip ratio and waist-to-height ratio showed significant associations with hypertension in the moderate/severe FLD subgroup. Furthermore, FLD accounted for 17.26% to 38.90% of the association between multiple body composition indicators and the risk of hypertension.ConclusionsThe association between body composition and hypertension becomes gradually weaker as FLD becomes more severe. FLD plays a significant mediating role in their association

Genetic architectures of proximal and distal colorectal cancer are partly distinct.

OBJECTIVE: An understanding of the etiologic heterogeneity of colorectal cancer (CRC) is critical for improving precision prevention, including individualized screening recommendations and the discovery of novel drug targets and repurposable drug candidates for chemoprevention. Known differences in molecular characteristics and environmental risk factors among tumors arising in different locations of the colorectum suggest partly distinct mechanisms of carcinogenesis. The extent to which the contribution of inherited genetic risk factors for CRC differs by anatomical subsite of the primary tumor has not been examined. DESIGN: To identify new anatomical subsite-specific risk loci, we performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analyses including data of 48 214 CRC cases and 64 159 controls of European ancestry. We characterised effect heterogeneity at CRC risk loci using multinomial modelling. RESULTS: We identified 13 loci that reached genome-wide significance (p<5×10-8) and that were not reported by previous GWASs for overall CRC risk. Multiple lines of evidence support candidate genes at several of these loci. We detected substantial heterogeneity between anatomical subsites. Just over half (61) of 109 known and new risk variants showed no evidence for heterogeneity. In contrast, 22 variants showed association with distal CRC (including rectal cancer), but no evidence for association or an attenuated association with proximal CRC. For two loci, there was strong evidence for effects confined to proximal colon cancer. CONCLUSION: Genetic architectures of proximal and distal CRC are partly distinct. Studies of risk factors and mechanisms of carcinogenesis, and precision prevention strategies should take into consideration the anatomical subsite of the tumour

Distant IE by Bootstrapping Using Lists and Document Structure

Distant labeling for information extraction (IE) suffers from noisy training data. We describe a way of reducing the noise associated with distant IE by identifying coupling constraints between potential instance labels. As one example of coupling,items in a list are likely to have the same label.A second example of coupling comes from analysis of document structure: in some corpora,sections can be identified such that items in the same section are likely to have the same label. Such sections do not exist in all corpora, but we show that augmenting a large corpus with coupling constraints from even a small, well-structured corpus can improve performance substantially, doubling F1 on one task

A performance comparison of flat and cluster based routings in mobile ad hoc networks

The objective of this paper is to study the performance comparison between flat and cluster-based routings in MANETs. Previous study shows that an earlier proposed cluster-based routing, Cluster based Routing Protocol (CBRP), has poorer performance due to its inefficient clustering algorithms based on Least Clusterhead Change (LCC) and Lowest ID (LID). Thus, in this paper, we first propose a new cluster-based routing, namely efficient cluster based routing protocol (ECBRP), which is based on a more efficient and stable clustering scheme. In addition, a new information table update mechanism utilizing routing events and data forwarding events is introduced in ECBRP to enhance the clustering and routing performance. The performance comparison in terms of packet delivery ratio and normalized routing overhead between flat and cluster based routings are studied extensively. Two flat routings (Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) and Ad Hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV)) and two cluster-based routing (CBRP and ECBRP) under various scenarios such as traffic load, mobility, network size and network area are considered in our study. By evaluating the performance of ECBRP and CBRP, we can study how the performance of a CBRP is affected by its underlying cluster structure. Simulation results show that ECBRP can achieve satisfying routing performance and outperform other routing schemes, DSR, AODV and CBRP, under the same simulated scenarios