Multi-Operator Minimum Variance Adaptive Beamforming Algorithms Accelerated With GPU.

The goal of this work is to design high-resolution, high-contrast and robust MV adaptive beamforming algorithms, which are also implemented in real-time frame rate. Multi-operator optimization is introduced into MV adaptive beamforming in this work to propose a multi-operator MV adaptive beamforming algorithmic optimization framework. Based on the proposed algorithmic optimization framework, the algorithm optimization can be either conducted by activating a single optimization operator, or conducted by activating multiple optimization operators.

Conditional Adversarial Transfer for Glaucoma Diagnosis.

Deep learning has achieved great success in image classification task when given sufficient labeled training images. However, in fundus image based glaucoma diagnosis, we often have very limited training data due to expensive cost in data labeling. Moreover, when facing a new application environment, it is difficult to train a network with limited labeled training images.

Online Heterogeneous Transfer by Hedge Ensemble of Offline and Online Decisions.

In this paper, we study the online heterogeneous transfer (OHT) learning problem, where the target data of interest arrive in an online manner, while the source data and auxiliary co-occurrence data are from offline sources and can be easily annotated. OHT is very challenging, since the feature spaces of the source and target domains are different. To address this, we propose a novel technique called OHT by hedge ensemble by exploiting both offline knowledge and online knowledge of different domains.

Multi-Instance Metric Transfer Learning for Genome-Wide Protein Function Prediction.

Multi-Instance (MI) learning has been proven to be effective for the genome-wide protein function prediction problems where each training example is associated with multiple instances. Many studies in this literature attempted to find an appropriate Multi-Instance Learning (MIL) method for genome-wide protein function prediction under a usual assumption, the underlying distribution from testing data (target domain, i.e.

Multi-instance multi-label distance metric learning for genome-wide protein function prediction.

Multi-instance multi-label (MIML) learning has been proven to be effective for the genome-wide protein function prediction problems where each training example is associated with not only multiple instances but also multiple class labels. To find an appropriate MIML learning method for genome-wide protein function prediction, many studies in the literature attempted to optimize objective functions in which dissimilarity between instances is measured using the Euclidean distance. But in many real applications, Euclidean distance may be unable to capture the intrinsic similarity/dissimilarity in feature space and label space.

Sparse Markov chain-based semi-supervised multi-instance multi-label method for protein function prediction.

Automated assignment of protein function has received considerable attention in recent years for genome-wide study. With the rapid accumulation of genome sequencing data produced by high-throughput experimental techniques, the process of manually predicting functional properties of proteins has become increasingly cumbersome. Such large genomics data sets can only be annotated computationally.

An Improved Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm with Elitist Breeding for Unconstrained Optimization.

An improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization with elitist breeding (EB-QPSO) for unconstrained optimization is presented and empirically studied in this paper. In EB-QPSO, the novel elitist breeding strategy acts on the elitists of the swarm to escape from the likely local optima and guide the swarm to perform more efficient search. During the iterative optimization process of EB-QPSO, when criteria met, the personal best of each particle and the global best of the swarm are used to generate new diverse individuals through the transposon operators.

Simultaneous Recognition and Modeling for Learning 3-D Object Models From Everyday Scenes.

Object recognition and modeling have classically been studied separately, but practically, they are two closely correlated aspects. In this paper, by exploring the interrelations, we propose a framework to address these two problems at the same time, which we call simultaneous recognition and modeling. Differing from traditional recognition process which consists of off-line object model learning and on-line recognition procedures, our method is solely online.

Robust dead reckoning system for mobile robots based on particle filter and raw range scan.

Robust dead reckoning is a complicated problem for wheeled mobile robots (WMRs), where the robots are faulty, such as the sticking of sensors or the slippage of wheels, for the discrete fault models and the continuous states have to be estimated simultaneously to reach a reliable fault diagnosis and accurate dead reckoning. Particle filters are one of the most promising approaches to handle hybrid system estimation problems, and they have also been widely used in many WMRs applications, such as pose tracking, SLAM, video tracking, fault identification, etc. In this paper, the readings of a laser range finder, which may be also interfered with by noises, are used to reach accurate dead reckoning.

[Differentially expressed genes between upward and downward progressing types of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: Upward (local growth and invasion of the base of skull), downward (distant metastasis) and mixed progressing types of nasopharygeal carcinoma (NPC) have been observed when the disease progress to middle-late stage. The upward and downward progressing types are evidently different in clinical symptom, therapy strategy and prognosis. Identification of the molecular differences between them is very important for molecular classification, prognostic prediction and research on neoplasia and development of NPC.

[Correlations of biomolecular markers, such as P53 protein and vascular endothelial growth factor, to radiosensitivity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: About 20%-40% nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients, who are in the same staging group, receiving the same treatment modality and radiotherapy dose, relapse in the irradiated fields within 5 years. This is mainly due to the differences in internal radiosensitivity. This study was to analyze the proliferation, apoptosis, angiogenesis, and lymphogenesis of tumor cells, and to explore the correlation of these factors to radiosensitivity.

Improvement of survival after addition of induction chemotherapy to radiotherapy in patients with early-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma: Subgroup analysis of two Phase III trials.

Purpose: Induction chemotherapy has not been shown to improve survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) in Phase III trials. To evaluate the effect of induction chemotherapy in NPC further, we performed subgroup analysis of two Phase III trials according to the T and N stage.

Methods And Materials: Data from two phase III trials comparing cisplatin/epirubicin or cisplatin/bleomycin/5-fluorouracil followed by radiotherapy (RT) vs.

Elevated plasma big ET-1 is associated with distant failure in patients with advanced-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Background: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoactive peptide and a hypoxia-inducible angiogenic growth factor associated with the development and spread of solid tumors. The clinical significance of plasma big ET-1 in patients with advanced-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is not known.

Methods: Pretreatment plasma big ET-1 levels were measured in 62 patients with advanced-stage NPC using a sandwich enzyme-linked immunoassay and compared with the levels from a control group (n = 19 participants).

Prognostic value of Survivin and Livin in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Background And Objectives: Survivin and Livin are new members from the family of anti-apoptotic factors. Increased levels of Survivin and Livin have been observed in many malignancies and correlated with poor prognosis. Survivin is expressed almost exclusively in proliferating cells, including various kinds of cancers, but Livin expression is relatively rare in cancer cells.

[Clinical analysis of 1,142 hospitalized cantonese patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: Few large-scale epidemiologic investigations of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) at high incidence region in Guangdong province were reported in recent 20 years. This study was to summarize clinical data of a population of hospitalized Cantonese NPC patients,analyze the epidemiologic characteristics of NPC in the high incidence region, and provide references for the prevention and treatment of NPC.

Methods: Clinical data of 1 142 Cantonese NPC patients, hospitalized in Cancer Center of Sun Yat-sen University between Jan.

[Impact of pre-radiotherapy hemoglobin level on local control of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: Oxygen increases tumor sensitivity to radiotherapy; tumor hypoxia is more prevalent in tumor patients with pretreatment hemoglobin concentration of < 130 g/L. This study was to evaluate impact of pre-radiotherapy hemoglobin level on radiotherapy outcome of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients.

Methods: Clinical and follow-up data of 166 NPC patients received definitive radiotherapy from 1999 to 2000 were reviewed.

[Correlation of endothelin A receptor expression to prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: Endothelin A receptor (ET(A)R) activation contributes to tumor growth and metastasis, including cell proliferation, cell death, angiogenesis, and metastatic spread. In this study, we evaluated correlation of ET(A)R expression to clinical features of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), and explored its correlation to prognosis.

Methods: Expression of ET(A)R in 153 specimens of NPC was detected by SABC immunohistochemistry.

Long-term survival after cisplatin-based induction chemotherapy and radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a pooled data analysis of two phase III trials.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term outcome in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with induction chemotherapy and radiotherapy (CRT) versus radiotherapy alone (RT).

Patients And Methods: The data from two phase III studies comparing CRT with RT in NPC were updated and pooled together for analysis. A total of 784 patients were included for analysis, with an equal number of patients in both arms.

[Clinical value of vascular endothelial growth factor detection in forecasting distant metastasis risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)closely relates with the malignancy and metastasis of various kinds of cancers. This study was designed to evaluate the value of VEGF detection in forecasting distant metastasis risk of nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC)patients.

Methods: Tumor biopsies,and serum specimens were collected before treatment from 59 pathologically diagnosed NPC patients, hospitalized in our hospital from Mar.

[Treatment of unresectable esophageal carcinoma by stenting with or without radiochemotherapy].

Objective: To evaluate the benefits of post-stenting radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy for unresectable esophageal carcinoma.

Methods: Fifty-three patients with unresectable esophageal carcinoma were randomly divided into two groups: patients in group A (n = 27) were treated with stenting alone, and those in group B (n = 26) were treated with stenting followed by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Comparison was made by assessing their survival time, quality of life (QOL), degree of dysphagia, and stenting-related morbidity, respectively.

[Expression of topoisomerase IIalpha in nasopharyngeal carcinoma and its clinical significance].

Background & Objective: TopoisomeraseIIalpha (TopoIIalpha) is a protein in eukaryotic cell with many different roles in DNA duplication and repair. It was reported that the expression level of TopoIIalpha was related to the prognosis of many malignant tumors. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of expression of TopoIIalpha in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with clinicopathologic factors and its prognostic significance.

[Significance of cell-free Epstein-Barr virus DNA in monitoring prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: It has been reported that cell-free Epstein-Barr virus (EBV-DNA) in plasma was useful in diagnosing and monitoring nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). The current study was designed to evaluate the significance of EBV-DNA in monitoring the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and to compare with VCA/IgA and EA/IgA.

Methods: EBV-DNA, VCA/IgA, and EA/IgA levels in plasma were detected in different NPC patients after radiotherapy, including 30 distant metastasis patients, 22 locoregional recurrence patients, 24 remission individuals who had been followed up more than 2 years after treatment.

[Analysis of gene expression patterns of periphery lymphocytes in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma].

Background & Objective: The periphery T and B lymphocytes are most important immune cells in a body. Analysis for the gene expression profiles of the immune cells will contribute to the understanding of the biological essence of immune suppression. The advanced technique of DNA microarray make it possible to monitor the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously in one hybridization experiment until recently.

Prognostic significance of DNA ploidy and proliferative indices in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Background & Objective: Radiotherapy is the fundamental treatment for the patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Altered fraction radiotherapy and chemotherapy have become a part of combined regimes for advanced disease judged by clinicopathological criteria. However, the known prognostic factors reveal a wide range of treatment outcomes with NPC.