A Survey of Dataset Refinement for Problems in Computer Vision Datasets

Large-scale datasets have played a crucial role in the advancement of computer vision. However, they often suffer from problems such as class imbalance, noisy labels, dataset bias, or high resource costs, which can inhibit model performance and reduce trustworthiness. With the advocacy of data-centric research, various data-centric solutions have been proposed to solve the dataset problems mentioned above. They improve the quality of datasets by re-organizing them, which we call dataset refinement. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive and structured overview of recent advances in dataset refinement for problematic computer vision datasets. Firstly, we summarize and analyze the various problems encountered in large-scale computer vision datasets. Then, we classify the dataset refinement algorithms into three categories based on the refinement process: data sampling, data subset selection, and active learning. In addition, we organize these dataset refinement methods according to the addressed data problems and provide a systematic comparative description. We point out that these three types of dataset refinement have distinct advantages and disadvantages for dataset problems, which informs the choice of the data-centric method appropriate to a particular research objective. Finally, we summarize the current literature and propose potential future research topics.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figures, to be published in ACM Computing Survey

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Effects of Soybean Oil Body as a Milk Fat Substitute on Ice Cream: Physicochemical, Sensory and Digestive Properties

Soybean oil body (SOB) has potential as a milk fat substitute due to its ideal emulsification, stability and potential biological activity. In this study, SOB was used as a milk fat substitute to prepare ice cream, expecting to reduce the content of saturated fatty acid and improve the quality defects of ice cream products caused by the poor stability of milk fat at low temperatures. This study investigated the effect of SOB as a milk fat substitute (the substitution amount was 10–50%) on ice cream through apparent viscosity, particle size, overrun, melting, texture, sensory and digestive properties. The results show SOB substitution for milk fat significantly increased the apparent viscosity and droplet uniformity and decreased the particle size of the ice cream mixes, indicating that there were lots of intermolecular interactions to improve ice cream stability. In addition, ice cream with 30% to 50% SOB substitution had better melting properties and texture characteristics. The ice cream with 40% SOB substitution had the highest overall acceptability. Furthermore, SOB substitution for milk fat increased unsaturated fatty acid content in ice cream and fatty acid release during digestion, which had potential health benefits for consumers. Therefore, SOB as a milk fat substitute may be an effective way to improve the nutritional value and quality characteristics of dairy products

Reproducibility and Validity of a Semi-Quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire for Assessing Dietary Intake of Vegetarians and Omnivores in Harbin, China

This study aims to evaluate the reproducibility and validity of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (SQFFQ) developed for vegetarians and omnivores in Harbin, China. Participants (36 vegetarians and 64 omnivores) administered SQFFQ at baseline (SQFFQ1) and six months later (SQFFQ2) to assess the reproducibility. The 24 h recalls (24 HRs) for three consecutive days were completed between the administrations of two SQFFQs to determine the validity. For reproducibility, Pearson correlation coefficients between SQFFQ1 and SQFFQ2 for vegetarians and omnivores were 0.45~0.88 and 0.44~0.84, respectively. For validity, unadjusted Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.46~0.83 with an average of 0.63 and 0.43~0.86 with an average of 0.61, respectively; energy-adjusted Pearson correlation coefficients were 0.43~0.82 with an average of 0.61 and 0.40~0.85 with an average of 0.59, respectively. Majority of the correlation coefficients for food groups and macronutrients decreased or remained unchanged after energy adjustment. Furthermore, all correlations were statistically significant (p < 0.05). Bland–Altman plots also showed reasonably acceptable agreement between the two methods. In conclusion, the SQFFQ developed in this study has reasonably acceptable reproducibility and validity

Molecular Characterization Of Pathogenic Salmonella Spp From Raw Beef In Karachi, Pakistan

The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella and investigate the dominant serovars distribution in raw beef and to screen the isolated serovars for the prescense of beta-lactamases and virulence genes. A total of 150 samples of raw beef sold at butcher shops (n = 75) and supermarkets (n = 75) in Karachi city were collected (50 samples each from muscles, lymph nodes, and minced beef). The samples were cultured according to the ISO-6579-1guidlines. The overall prevalence of Salmonella strains was found to be 21.34%. A total of 56 isolates of Salmonella belonging to four serogroups (Salmonella Pullorum, Salmonella Enteritidis, Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Choleraesuis) were isolated from beef muscles (12%), lymph nodes (24%) and minced beef (28%) samples collected from butcher shops (av. 21.34%). No Salmonella was detected in beef samples collected from supermarkets. S. Enteritidis contamination was highest (37.5%), followed by S. Choleraesuis (30.4%), S. Pullorum (19.6%) and S. Typhimurium (12.5 %). Antibiotic susceptibility testing revealed that Salmonella isolates were highly resistant to Oxytetracycline (90%), Ampicillin (90.5%), Amoxicillin (81.1%), Tetracycline (76%), Neomycin, (79.8%) and Ciprofloxacin (61.4%). The Salmonella isolates examined were more susceptible to the Cephalosporin antibiotics such as Cefixime (43.2%), Cefepime (48.2) and Cefoxitin (49.8%). PCR based screening of blaTEM, blaCTX-M and blaSHV revealed that blaCTX-M and blaTEM were the dominant resistant genes in S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium followed by S. Pullorum and S. Choleraesuis whereas blaSHV was the least detected beta-lactamase in Salmonella isolates. Virulence genes screening revealed that at least five genes were present in all the serovars, highest being present in S. Enteritidis (12/17) and S. Typhimurium (12/17). S. Cholerasuis (5/17) carried the least number of virulence genes followed by S. Pullorum (6/17). The present data suggest that beef samples from butcher shops of Karachi city are heavily contaminated with MDR Salmonella. The presence of resistance and virulence genes in MDR strains of Salmonella may play a significant role in transmission and development of Salmonella infection in humans

Soybean-Oil-Body-Substituted Low-Fat Ice Cream with Different Homogenization Pressure, Pasteurization Condition, and Process Sequence: Physicochemical Properties, Texture, and Storage Stability

The purpose of this research was to explore the impacts of different homogenization pressures, pasteurization conditions, and process sequence on the physical and chemical properties of soybean oil body (SOB)-substituted low-fat ice cream as well as the storage stability of SOB-substituted ice cream under these process parameters. With the increase of homogenization pressure (10–30 MPa), the increase of pasteurization temperature (65 °C for 30 min–85 °C for 15 min), and the addition of SOB before homogenization, the overrun and apparent viscosity of ice cream increased significantly, and the particle size, hardness, and melting rate decreased significantly. Thus, frozen dairy products of desired quality and condition could be obtained by optimizing process parameters. In addition, the SOB ice cream showed better storage stability, which was reflected in lower melting rate and hardness and more stable microstructure compared with the full-milk-fat ice cream. This study opened up new ideas for the application of SOB and the development of nutritious and healthy ice cream. Meanwhile, this research supplied a conceptual basis for the processing and quality optimization of SOB ice cream

Intermedin protects HUVECs from ischemia reperfusion injury via Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway

Intermedin (IMD) is a member of the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) superfamily and a pro-angiogenic factor. In the present study, we identified activation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway by IMD. Adding CoCl2 HUVECs was used to establish an in vitro model. The migration of HUVECs was measured by wound healing assays and transwell migration assays. Capillary formation was measured using tube formation assays. Immunocytochemistry (ICC) analysis was used to evaluate VEGF and RAMP2 expression in HUVECs. The relevant signaling molecules were detected with western blot. Our study shows that IMD could promote H/R impaired HUVECs migration and tube formation in vitro. On the other hand, inhibition of Wnt/β-catenin signaling led to the suppression of this promotion of migration and tube formation. This result suggests that Wnt/β-catenin signaling is correlated to IMD induced angiogenesis. Analysis of results from ICC assays indicated that IMD works through increasing levels of VEGF and RAMP2. Meanwhile, the Wnt/β-catenin signaling specific inhibitor IWR-1-endo was shown to down-regulate VEGF and RAMP2 expression. Western blot results further confirmed the signaling mechanism by which IMD promotes angiogenesis. Thus, Wnt/β-catenin signaling plays an important role in IMD induced neovascularization. The data further suggest that the PI3K axis contributes positively downstream