Dual Branch Multi-Level Semantic Learning for Few-Shot Segmentation.

Few-shot semantic segmentation aims to segment novel-class objects in a query image with only a few annotated examples in support images. Although progress has been made recently by combining prototype-based metric learning, existing methods still face two main challenges. First, various intra-class objects between the support and query images or semantically similar inter-class objects can seriously harm the segmentation performance due to their poor feature representations.

Tetanus toxin and botulinum neurotoxin-derived fusion molecules are effective bivalent vaccines.

Tetanus toxin (TeNT) and botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are neuroprotein toxins, with the latter being the most toxic known protein. They are structurally similar and contain three functional domains: an N-terminal catalytic domain (light chain), an internal heavy-chain translocation domain (HN domain), and a C-terminal heavy chain receptor binding domain (Hc domain or RBD). In this study, fusion functional domain molecules consisting of the TeNT RBD (THc) and the BoNT/A RBD (AHc) (i.

[Evaluation of the clinical effect of acupuncture in treatment of neck pain in cervical spondylosis based on propensity score matching].

Objective: To observe the clinical effect and safety of acupuncture in treatment of neck pain due to cervical spondylosis.

Methods: According to the patients' preference and acceptance for the interventions of neck pain induced by cervical spondylosis, an acupuncture group (221 cases) and a non-acupuncture group (251 cases) were divided. After the control of confounding factors with propensity score matching, 218 cases were included in either acupuncture group or non-acupuncture group.

[Research progress of acupuncture-moxibustion in treatment of spinal cord injury through mediating inflammatory reaction].

Inflammatory reaction after spinal cord injury (SCI) is the main obstacle to the recovery of neural function. In the occurrence and development of SCI, the complex regulatory mechanisms are involved in inflammatory reaction, including the activation of inflammatory cells (e.g.

Anti-inflammatory effect and antihepatoma mechanism of carrimycin.

Background: New drugs are urgently needed for the treatment of liver cancer, a feat that could be feasibly accomplished by finding new therapeutic purposes for marketed drugs to save time and costs. As a new class of national anti-infective drugs, carrimycin (CAM) has strong activity against gram-positive bacteria and no cross resistance with similar drugs. Studies have shown that the components of CAM have anticancer effects.

Intelligent fault monitoring and diagnosis of tunnel fans using a hierarchical cascade forest.

Tunnel fan is critical fire-fighting equipment, and its safe and stable operation is very important for the efficiency and safety of tunnel traffic. Existing studies commonly train the fault diagnosis methods with the goal of minimizing mean error which ignores the difference between classes in feature distribution. To solve the problem of inaccurate prediction caused by mean error evaluation, this paper presents a non-neural deep learning model, namely hierarchical cascade forest, which has three characteristics: (1) A hierarchical cascade structure is constructed, of which the output comes from each layer; (2) Each fault class is evaluated and recognized independently, the result of fault classes that are easy to distinguish is output earlier; (3) A confidence-based threshold estimate method is proposed in HCF and used to improve the training method to increase the reliability of HCF.

NeuroVI-based new datasets and space attention network for the recognition and falling detection of delivery packages.

With the popularity of online-shopping, more and more delivery packages have led to stacking at sorting centers. Robotic detection can improve sorting efficiency. Standard datasets in computer vision are crucial for visual detection.

COVID-19 prevention and control strategies: learning from the Macau model.

Macau is a densely populated international tourist city. Compared to most tensely populated countries/territories, the prevalence and mortality of COVID-19 in Macau are lower. The experiences in Macau could be helpful for other areas to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

A miniaturized mechanical antenna based on FEP/THV unipolar electrets for extremely low frequency transmission.

An electret-based mechanical antenna (EBMA), which can transmit extremely low frequency (ELF) electromagnetic signals, has the advantages of miniaturization and high transmitting efficiency, with great potential applications in air, underwater, and underground communications. To improve the charge density of the electret, which is a key factor in determining the radiation performance of an EBMA, this work proposes a fluorinated ethylene propylene/terpolymer of tetrafluoroethylene, hexafluoropropylene and vinylidene fluoride (FEP/THV) unipolar electret exhibiting negative polarity, reaching a total charge density up to -0.46 mC/m for each layer of electret.

Development and evaluation of a tetravalent botulinum vaccine.

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are the most toxic known proteins. Naturally occurring botulism in humans is caused by botulinum serotypes A, B, E, and F. Vaccination is an effective strategy to prevent botulism.

[Effect of moxibustion at "oppositely-located points" on neurogenic bladder after spinal cord injury and endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway in rats].

Objective: To observe the effect of moxibustion at oppositely-located points "Mingmen" (GV 4) and "Shenque" (CV 8) on the motor function of the hind limbs and bladder function in rats with neurogenic bladder after suprasacral spinal cord injury (SCI), so as to explore the effect of this therapy on bladder tissue apoptosis mediated by endoplasmic reticulum stress pathway.

Methods: Twenty-eight female Wistar rats were randomly divided into a sham-operation group (8 rats) and a model establishment group (20 rats). Using the modified Allen's method, the spinal cord of T segment was injured to establish a neurogenic bladder model in the model establishment group.

Lysosome-targeted ruthenium(II) complexes induce both apoptosis and autophagy in HeLa cells.

Ruthenium complexes with good biological properties have attracted increasing attention in recent decades. In this work, three ruthenium polypyridine complexes containing 5-fluorouracil derivatives as ligands, [Ru(bpy)(L)] (Ru1), [Ru(phen)(L)] (Ru2), [Ru(dip)(L)] (Ru3) (L = 1-((1,10-phenanthroline-5-amino) pentyl)-5-fluorouracil; bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine; phen =1,10-phenanthroline; dip = 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline), were synthesized and characterized. Based on in vitro cytotoxicity tests, Ru3 (IC = 7.

Effects of the Dark Septate Endophyte (DSE) on the Growth of Root Cell Wall Polysaccharides and the Cadmium Content of L. under Cadmium Stress.

This paper aims to investigate the mechanism by which dark septate endophytes (DSEs) enhance cadmium (Cd) tolerance in there host plants. Maize ( L.) was inoculated with a DSE, , under Cd stress at different concentrations (0, 5, 10, and 20 mg·kg).

Metal-organic framework IRMOFs coated with a temperature-sensitive gel delivering norcantharidin to treat liver cancer.

Background: Norcantharidin (NCTD) is suitable for the treatment of primary liver cancer, especially early and middle primary liver cancer. This compound can reduce tumors and improve immune function. However, the side effects of NCTD have limited its application.

Recombinant L-HN Fusion Antigen Derived from the L and HN Domains of Botulinum Neurotoxin B Stimulates a Protective Antibody Response Against Active Neurotoxin.

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is a neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum in an anaerobic environment. BoNT is the most toxic protein among bacteria, animals, plants, and chemical substances reported to date. BoNTs are 150 kDa proteins composed of three major functional domains: catalytic (L domain, 50 kDa), translocation (HN domain, 50 kDa), and receptor-binding (Hc domain, 50 kDa) domains.

Improving Semantic Analysis on Point Clouds via Auxiliary Supervision of Local Geometric Priors.

Existing deep learning algorithms for point cloud analysis mainly concern discovering semantic patterns from the global configuration of local geometries in a supervised learning manner. However, very few explore geometric properties revealing local surface manifolds embedded in 3-D Euclidean space to discriminate semantic classes or object parts as additional supervision signals. This article is the first attempt to propose a unique multitask geometric learning network to improve semantic analysis by auxiliary geometric learning with local shape properties, which can be either generated via physical computation from point clouds themselves as self-supervision signals or provided as privileged information.

Closed-Form Solution and Experimental Verification for the Axisymmetric Deformation Problem of Blistering Circular Thin Polymer Films under Uniformly Distributed Gas Pressure.

The existing studies indicate that the measurement formulas used in blister test techniques, which are used to measure the mechanical properties of thin-film/substrate systems, are usually given based on an approximation-that is, the applied direction of the uniformly distributed transverse load is always vertical, while the applied direction of the uniformly distributed gas pressure is always perpendicular to the surface of the thin film. This approximation will lead to a large measurement error. In this study, we obtained the analytical solution to the problem of axisymmetric deformation of blistering circular thin polymer films under the action of uniformly distributed gas pressure via the power series method.

Synthesis and biological activity of new bisbenzofuran-imidazolium salts.

A series of novel bisbenzofuran-imidazolium salts were designed and prepared. The in vitro antitumor activity of these derivatives was evaluated against a panel of human tumor cell lines (A549, HL-60, MCF-7, SMMC-7721 and SW480). Results demonstrated that 2-methyl-benzimidazole ring and substitution of the imidazolyl-3-position with a 4-methoxyphenacyl or 2-naphthylacyl substituent were important for promoting cytotoxic activity.

Immunological characterisation and immunoprotective efficacy of functional domain antigens of botulinum neurotoxin serotype A.

Botulinum neurotoxins (BoNTs) are highly toxic proteins that mediate their effects by binding to neuronal receptors and block the neutralizing ability of therapeutic antibodies. Vaccination is currently the most effective strategy to prevent botulism. In this study, a series of recombinant functional domain antigens of BoNT/A were prepared and identified, and their immunoprotective efficacies were explored and compared.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel 3-benzylcoumarin-imidazolium salts.

A series of novel 3-benzylcoumarin-imidazolium salts were prepared and evaluated in vitro against a panel of human tumor cell lines. The results showed that the existence of 5,6-dimethyl-benzimidazole ring and substitution of the imidazolyl-3-position with a naphthylacyl group were vital for modulating cytotoxic activity. Notably, compound 38 was found to be the most potent derivative with IC values of 2.

Individualized Prediction Of Metastatic Involvement Of Lymph Nodes Posterior To The Right Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve In Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma.

Purpose: We aimed to establish a prediction model based on preoperative clinicopathologic features and intraoperative frozen section examination for precise prediction of metastatic involvement of lymph nodes posterior to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve (LN-prRLN) in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

Methods: Clinicopathologic data pertaining to patients with PTC who underwent initial thyroid surgery between July 2015 and December 2017 were collected from electronic medical records. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of LN-prRLN metastasis for incorporation in the nomogram.