HumanMAC: Masked Motion Completion for Human Motion Prediction

Human motion prediction is a classical problem in computer vision and computer graphics, which has a wide range of practical applications. Previous effects achieve great empirical performance based on an encoding-decoding style. The methods of this style work by first encoding previous motions to latent representations and then decoding the latent representations into predicted motions. However, in practice, they are still unsatisfactory due to several issues, including complicated loss constraints, cumbersome training processes, and scarce switch of different categories of motions in prediction. In this paper, to address the above issues, we jump out of the foregoing style and propose a novel framework from a new perspective. Specifically, our framework works in a masked completion fashion. In the training stage, we learn a motion diffusion model that generates motions from random noise. In the inference stage, with a denoising procedure, we make motion prediction conditioning on observed motions to output more continuous and controllable predictions. The proposed framework enjoys promising algorithmic properties, which only needs one loss in optimization and is trained in an end-to-end manner. Additionally, it accomplishes the switch of different categories of motions effectively, which is significant in realistic tasks, e.g., the animation task. Comprehensive experiments on benchmarks confirm the superiority of the proposed framework. The project page is available at https://lhchen.top/Human-MAC

Synthetic organic reactions mediated by sodium hydride

In synthetic organic chemistry, sodium hydride (NaH) has been utilized almost exclusively as a routine Brønsted base, while NaH has not been considered to work as a hydride donor. Recently, our group has serendipitously found that NaH can function as a unique hydride donor by its solvothermal treatment with sodium iodide (NaI) or lithium iodide (LiI) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) as a solvent. This discovery led to the development of unprecedented reductive molecular transformations such as hydrodecyanation of α-quaternary benzyl cyanides, controlled reduction of amides into aldehydes, dearylation of arylphopsphine oxides, and hydrodehalogenation of haloarenes. Moreover, this concise protocol allows for the use of NaH as enhanced Lewis acid and Brønsted base, enabling directed aromatic C-H sodiation, nucleophilic amination of methoxy arenes, and C2-amination of pyridines (the Chichibabin amination).Ministry of Education (MOE)Nanyang Technological UniversityThis work was supported by funding from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore and the Singapore Ministry of Education (Academic Research Fund Tier 1: 2015─T1─001─040). We thank Prof. Ryo Takita (University of Tokyo) and Prof. Hajime Hirao (City University of Hong Kong) for their computational studies on our reactions. Our co─workers whose names appear in the references are gratefully acknowledged for their intellectual and experimental contributions

C2 amination of pyridine with primary amines mediated by sodium hydride in the presence of lithium iodide

N-Butylpyridin-2-amine (3). An oven-dried, 250 mL three-necked roundbottomed flask fitted with a 25 x 15 mm Teflon-coated oval magnetic stir bar, a thermometer, rubber septum and a Liebig reflux condenser, is connected to a Schlenk line (Note 2). Sodium hydride (NaH) (3.00 g, 75.0 mmol, 3.0 equiv) (Note 3) is charged to the reaction vessel, after which it is evacuated and backfilled with argon three times. Anhydrous THF (Note 4) (35 mL) is added via a syringe. The reaction flask is suspended in a 22 °C water bath, and lithium iodide (LiI) (6.69 g, 50.0 mmol, 2.0 equiv) (Note 5) is introduced through the top of the reflux condenser, after which the Ar line is reintroduced with an out needle in place for 5 min to exchange the atmosphere.Ministry of Education (MOE)Nanyang Technological UniversityAccepted versionThis work was supported by Nanyang Technological University, the Singapore Ministry of Education (Academic Research Fund Tier 2: MOE2019-T2-1-089)

The Influence of Water Reducing Agents on Early Hydration Property of Ferrite Aluminate Cement Paste

The ferrite aluminate cement (FAC) could rapidly lose fluidity or workability due to its excessive hydration rate, and greatly reduce the construction performance. Chemical admixtures are commonly used to provide the workability of cement-based materials. In this study, to ensure required fluidity of FAC, chemically different water reducing agents are incorporated into the FAC pastes. The experiments are performed with aliphatic water reducing agent (AP), polycarboxylic acid water reducing agent (PC) and melamine water reducing agent (MA), respectively. Influence of the water reducing agents on fluidity, setting time, hydration process, hydration product and zeta potential of the fresh cement pastes is investigated. The results show that PC has a better dispersion capacity compared to AP and MA. Besides decreasing water dosage, PC also acts as a retarder, significantly increasing the setting times, delaying the hydration rate and leading to less ettringite in the hydration process of FAC particles. The water reducing agents molecules are adsorbed on the surface of positively charged minerals and hydration products, however, for PC, steric hindrance from the long side chain of PC plays a critical role in dispersing cement particles, whereas AP and MA acting through an electrostatic repulsion force

Leaving group ability in nucleophilic aromatic amination by sodium hydride-lithium iodide composite

The methoxy group is generally considered as a poor leaving group for nucleophilic substitution reactions. This work verified the superior ability of the methoxy group in nucleophilic amination of arenes mediated by the sodium hydride and lithium iodide through experimental and computational approaches.Ministry of Education (MOE)Nanyang Technological UniversityAccepted versionThis work was supported by funding from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) (for S.C.), the Singapore Ministry of Education (Aca- demic Research Fund Tier 1: RG10/17 for S.C.), and Japan Society for the Promotion of Science [Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) (19K0662)], Takeda Science Foundation, The FUGAKU Trust for Me- dicinal Research, and Uehara Memorial Foundation (for R.T.). Ministry of Education-Singapore (RG10/17) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19K062)

Dearylation of arylphosphine oxides using a sodium hydride–iodide composite

A new protocol for the dearylation of arylphosphine oxides was developed using sodium hydride (NaH) in the presence of lithium iodide (LiI). The transient sodium phosphinite could be functionalized with a range of electrophiles in a one-pot fashion.MOE (Min. of Education, S’pore)Accepted versio

Preoperative prediction of cervical cancer survival using a high-resolution MRI-based radiomics nomogram

Abstract Background Cervical cancer patients receiving radiotherapy and chemotherapy require accurate survival prediction methods. The objective of this study was to develop a prognostic analysis model based on a radiomics score to predict overall survival (OS) in cervical cancer patients. Methods Predictive models were developed using data from 62 cervical cancer patients who underwent radical hysterectomy between June 2020 and June 2021. Radiological features were extracted from T2-weighted (T2W), T1-weighted (T1W), and diffusion-weighted (DW) magnetic resonance images prior to treatment. We obtained the radiomics score (rad-score) using least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression and Cox’s proportional hazard model. We divided the patients into low- and high-risk groups according to the critical rad-score value, and generated a nomogram incorporating radiological features. We evaluated the model’s prediction performance using area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) and classified the participants into high- and low-risk groups based on radiological characteristics. Results The 62 patients were divided into high-risk (n = 43) and low-risk (n = 19) groups based on the rad-score. Four feature parameters were selected via dimensionality reduction, and the scores were calculated after modeling. The AUC values of ROC curves for prediction of 3- and 5-year OS using the model were 0.84 and 0.93, respectively. Conclusion Our nomogram incorporating a combination of radiological features demonstrated good performance in predicting cervical cancer OS. This study highlights the potential of radiomics analysis in improving survival prediction for cervical cancer patients. However, further studies on a larger scale and external validation cohorts are necessary to validate its potential clinical utility

Stereo-controlled anti-hydromagnesiation of aryl alkynes by magnesium hydrides

A concise protocol for anti-hydromagnesiation of aryl alkynes was established using 1 : 1 molar combination of sodium hydride (NaH) and magnesium iodide (MgI2) without the aid of any transition metal catalysts. The resulting alkenylmagnesium intermediates could be trapped with a series of electrophiles, thus providing facile accesses to stereochemically well-defined functionalized alkenes. Mechanistic studies by experimental and theoretical approaches imply that polar hydride addition from magnesium hydride (MgH2) is responsible for the process.Ministry of Education (MOE)Nanyang Technological UniversityPublished versionThis work was supported by funding from Nanyang Techno- logical University (NTU) and the Singapore Ministry of Educa- tion (Academic Research Fund Tier 2: MOE2019-T2-1-089) (for S. C.) as well as JSPS (Grant-in-Aid for Scientic Research (C) (19K0662)), Uehara Memorial Foundation, and the Naito Foundation (for R. T.). The computations were performed using Research Center for Computational Science at Okazaki, Japan

Excavation of diagnostic biomarkers and construction of prognostic model for clear cell renal cell carcinoma based on urine proteomics

PurposeClear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is the most common pathology type in kidney cancer. However, the prognosis of advanced ccRCC is unsatisfactory. Thus, early diagnosis becomes one of the most important research priorities of ccRCC. However, currently available studies about ccRCC lack urine-related further studies. In this study, we applied proteomics to search urinary biomarkers to assist early diagnosis of ccRCC. In addition, we constructed a prognostic model to assist judge patients’ prognosis.Materials and methodsUrine which was used to perform 4D label-free quantitative proteomics was collected from 12 ccRCC patients and 11 non-tumor patients with no urinary system diseases. The urine of 12 patients with ccRCC confirmed by pathological examination after surgery was collected before operatoin. Bioinformatics analysis was used to describe the urinary proteomics landscape of these patients with ccRCC. The top ten proteins with the highest expression content were selected as the basis for subsequent validation. Urine from 46 ccRCC patients and 45 control patients were collected to use for verification by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In order to assess the prognostic value of urine proteomics, a prognostic model was constructed by COX regression analysis on the intersection of RNA-sequencing data in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and our urine proteomic data.Results133 proteins differentially expressed in the urinary samples were found and 85 proteins (Fold Change, FC>1.5) were identified up-regulated while 48 down-regulated (FC<0.5). Top 10 proteins including S100A14, PKHD1L1, FABP4, ITIH2, C3, C8G, C2, ATF6, ANGPTL6, F13B were performed ELISA to verify. The results showed that PKHD1L1, ANGPTL6, FABP4 and C3 were statistically significant (P<0.05). We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis and plotted a nomogram. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve indicted that the diagnostic efficiency of combined indicators is satisfactory (Aare under curve, AUC=0.835). Furthermore, the prognostic value of the urine proteomics was explored through the intersection between urine proteomics and TCGA RNA-seq data. Thus, COX regression analysis showed that VSIG4, HLA-DRA, SERPINF1, and IGLV2-23 were statistically significant (P<0.05).ConclusionOur study indicated that the application of urine proteomics to explore diagnostic biomarkers and to construct prognostic models of renal clear cell carcinoma is of certain clinical value. PKHD1L1, ANGPTL6, FABP4 and C3 can assist to diagnose ccRCC. The prognostic model constituted of VSIG4, HLA-DRA, SERPINF1, and IGLV2-23 can significantly predict the prognosis of ccRCC patients, but this still needs more clinical trials to verify