Search

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) can synthesize more and more realistic images. However, one fundamental issue hinders their practical applications: the incapability of encoding real samples in the latent space. Many semantic image editing applications rely on inverting the given image into the latent space and then manipulating inverted code. One possible solution is to learn an encoder for GAN via Variational Auto-Encoder. However, the entanglement of the latent space poses a major challenge for learning the encoder. To tackle the challenge and enable inference in GANs, we propose a novel method named Latently Invertible Autoencoder (LIA). In LIA, an invertible network and its inverse mapping are symmetrically embedded in the latent space of an autoencoder. The decoder of LIA is first trained as a standard GAN with the invertible network, and then the encoder is learned from a disentangled autoencoder by detaching the invertible network from LIA. It thus avoids the entanglement problem caused by the latent space. Extensive experiments on the FFHQ face dataset and three LSUN datasets validate the effectiveness of LIA for the image inversion and its applications. Code and models are available at https://github.com/genforce/lia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to apply the best single-energy (SE) scanning in energy spectrum computed tomography (CT) to evaluate the usefulness of lower extremity arterial angiography imaging in patients with lower extremity arterial occlusive disease. A total of 64 patients diagnosed with lower extremity arterial occlusive disease were randomly selected and divided into either the experimental group (n=32) or the control group (n=32). The two treatment groups were scanned for lower extremity arteriography using the best SE scanning mode of energy spectrum CT Gemstone imaging (GSI) and mixed energy scanning mode of multi-slice helical CT (MSCT). The CT images, image noise, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and quality scores of the images of lower extremity arteries between the two groups were compared. Image quality of the two experimental groups were independently evaluated by two imaging diagnostic physicians. The CT scores and CNR of the lower extremity arteries were significantly higher in the experimental group compared with the control group (P<0.01). No statistically significant differences in the background noise between the two groups were observed (P<0.05). The image quality scores of two groups, with the differences between the two diagnosticians, were found to be statistically significant (P<0.01). In the lower extremity arterial angiography, the image quality of the best SE in the CT GSI scanning mode was observed to be superior to that taken using MSCT mixed energy scanning mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the inhibitory effect of salvianolic acid on inflammatory mediators of rats with collagen-induced rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Thirty rats were randomly divided into the normal control group, collagen-induced arthritis model group (CIA model group) and drug group (Salvianolic Acid-CIA group). In the model group, the CIA models were established through intradermal injection of collagen emulsion at the toes. At 3 weeks after the model establishment, grouped drug administration was conducted, of which salvianolic acid was given by gavage to Salvianolic Acid-CIA group. The degrees of joint swelling of each group of rats were recorded. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to detect the levels of relevant inflammatory mediators, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to measure the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of serum necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), and hematoxylin and eosin staining was utilized to detect the pathological characteristics of the synovial tissues. After the establishment of models, the ankle joint swelling degree of rats in the model group was more obvious compared with that in the normal control group (P<0.01). After 3 weeks of drug administration, the ankle joint swelling degree of rats in the Salvianolic Acid-CIA group was alleviated compared with that in the model group (P<0.05). The contents of TNF-α, IL-6 and PGE2 in Salvianolic Acid-CIA group were obviously lower than those in the model group (P<0.01). The mRNA expression levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and PGE2 in the Salvianolic Acid-CIA group were markedly lower than those in the model group. The hyperemia of rat synovial tissues in Salvianolic Acid-CIA group was obviously relieved compared with that in the CIA model group. In conclusion, the models of CIA rats are successfully established, and the results show salvianolic acid has an inhibitory effect on the RA of CIA model rats and can significantly inhibit the expression levels of relevant inflammatory mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artesunate, a derivative of artemisinin, has been reported to have anti-inflammatory property. However, few studies showed the protective effects of artesunate on lung injury. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effects of artesunate on LPS-induced lung injury in mice. The mice were treated with artesunate 1 h before or after LPS treatment. The effects of artesunate on lung MPO activity and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were detected. The lung wet/dry radio and the numbers of inflammatory cells in BALF were also measured. ELISA was used to evaluate the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 in BALF. Western blot analysis was adapted to detect TLR4 and Nrf2 signaling pathways. The results showed that artesunate protected against LPS-induced ALI by decreasing the numbers of inflammatory cells, lung edema, MPO activity, and MDA content. Furthermore, artesunate significantly inhibited the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. Artesunate also inhibited LPS-induced IL-6 and IL-8 production in the A549 cells. In addition, artesunate dose-dependently suppressed LPS-induced TLR4 expression and NF-κB activation. The expression of Nrf2 and HO-1 were also up-regulated by artesunate. The data suggest that artesunate possesses anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties against LPS-induced ALI via inhibiting TLR4 signaling pathway and activating Nrf2 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Feicheng County is a high-risk area for esophageal cancer in Shandong province, China. It is important to determine the long-term spatio-temporal trends in epidemiological characteristics and the burden of esophageal cancer, especially since the implementation of the national esophageal cancer screening program for early detection and treatment in 2005. Methods: The data collected in Feicheng County from 2001 to 2012 was extracted from the whole-population cancer registry system. The incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALY) and changing trends in esophageal cancer according to age and sex were calculated and described. Results: The incidence rate of esophageal cancer in Feicheng was consistently high, and increased significantly for male, but not for female from 2001 to 2012, according to the joinpoint regression analysis. The highest and lowest yearly crude incidence rates were 160.78 and 95.97 per 100000 for males, and 81.36 and 52.17 per 100000 for females. The highest and lowest crude yearly mortality rates were 122.26 and 94.40 per 100000 for males, and 60.75 and 49.35 per 100000for females. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was the main pathology type and the tumor location changed significantly from 2001 to 2012. Overall, the DALY remained roughly stable and was estimated as 11.50 for males and 4.90 for females per 1000 people. The burden was mainly caused by premature death. There is an obvious spatial pattern in the distribution of incidence density and burden. Conclusion: Esophageal cancer remains a public health issue in Feicheng County with a high incidence, mortality and disease burden. The incidence and burden have obvious spatial heterogeneity, and further studies should be conducted to identify geographical risk factors for precise local prevention and control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Agglomerative clustering, which iteratively merges small clusters, is commonly used for clustering because it is conceptually simple and produces a hierarchy of clusters. In this paper, we propose a novel graph-structural agglomerative clustering algorithm, where the graph encodes local structures of data. The idea is to define a structural descriptor of clusters on the graph and to assume that two clusters have large affinity if their structural descriptors undergo substantial change when merging them into one cluster. A key insight of this paper to treat a cluster as a dynamical system and its samples as states. Based on that, Path Integral, which has been introduced in statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics, is utilized to measure the stability of a dynamical system. It is proposed as the structural descriptor, and the affinity between two clusters is defined as Incremental Path Integral, which can be computed in a closed-form exact solution, with linear time complexity with respect to the maximum size of clusters. A probabilistic justification of the algorithm based on absorbing random walk is provided. Experimental comparison on toy data and imagery data shows that it achieves considerable improvement over the state-of-the-art clustering algorithms. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Learning from large-scale contrastive language-image pre-training like CLIP has shown remarkable success in a wide range of downstream tasks recently, but it is still under-explored on the challenging few-shot action recognition (FSAR) task. In this work, we aim to transfer the powerful multimodal knowledge of CLIP to alleviate the inaccurate prototype estimation issue due to data scarcity, which is a critical problem in low-shot regimes. To this end, we present a CLIP-guided prototype modulating framework called CLIP-FSAR, which consists of two key components: a video-text contrastive objective and a prototype modulation. Specifically, the former bridges the task discrepancy between CLIP and the few-shot video task by contrasting videos and corresponding class text descriptions. The latter leverages the transferable textual concepts from CLIP to adaptively refine visual prototypes with a temporal Transformer. By this means, CLIP-FSAR can take full advantage of the rich semantic priors in CLIP to obtain reliable prototypes and achieve accurate few-shot classification. Extensive experiments on five commonly used benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method, and CLIP-FSAR significantly outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods under various settings. The source code and models are publicly available at https://github.com/alibaba-mmai-research/CLIP-FSAR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: LLE is a well-known method to nonlinear dimensionality reduction. In this short paper, we present an alternative way to formulate LLE. The alignment technique is exploited to align the local coordinates on the local patches of manifolds to be the global ones. The efficient computation of embedding coordinates of LLE automatically appears in the proposed framework. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The morphology and microstructural evaluation of Y phases in AISI 321 (a Ti-stabilized stainless steel) were characterized after hot deformation. The electronic structure and phase stability of titanium carbosulfide were further discussed by first-principle calculations. It was found that Y phases, like curved strips or bones in AISI 321 stainless steel, mostly show a clustered distribution and are approximately arranged in parallel. The width of the Y phase is much less than the length, and the composition of the Y phase is close to that of Ti2SC. Y phases have exceptional thermal stability. The morphology of Y phases changed considerably after forging. During the first calculations, the Ti2SC with hexagonal structure does not spontaneously change into TiS and TiC; however Ti4S2C2 (Z = 2) can spontaneously change into the two phases. The Ti–S bonds are compressed in Ti4S2C2 cells, which leads to poor structural stability for Ti4S2C2. There is a covalent interaction between C/S and Ti, as well as an exchange of electrons between Ti and S/C atoms. Evidently, the mechanical stability of Ti4S2C2 is weak; however, Ti2SC shows high stability. Ti2SC, as a hard brittle phase, does not easily undergo plastic deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the relationship between the brain parenchymal density, the cerebral vessel density, the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) content, the mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and the morbidity associated with lacunar infarction of residents living in either the plains or the plateau regions were analyzed and compared for their potential clinical implications. Clinical data from the brain CT scans of individuals living in either the plain or plateau regions (129 each) were collected. Specifically, the CT values for basal ganglia, the middle cerebral artery, and the superior sagittal sinus, along with the number of patients with lacunar infarction, were collected. In addition, the MCH and MCHC values were measured in blood samples collected within 48 h following the CT scans. For statistical analysis, an independent sample t-test, Pearson's correlation test (permutation test), and Chi-squared test were employed. The inhabitants of the plateau had a significantly higher CT value of basal ganglia, the middle cerebral artery, and superior sagittal sinus and also higher levels of MCH and MCHC in the blood (ps < 0.001) than the inhabitants of the plains region. Further, there was a significant positive correlation between the three aforementioned CT values and the MCH and MCHC findings. However, no significant differences were found in the morbidity of lacunar infarction between these two regions (p > 0.05). The inhabitants in the plateau have a significantly higher brain parenchymal density, higher CT value for cerebral vessels density, and higher blood MCH and MCHC levels in comparison with individuals occupying the plains. Concurrently, the parenchymal density and the CT values are shown to be positively correlated with the MCH and MCHC content in the blood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although endoscopic screening for esophageal cancer has been performed in high‐risk areas in China for decades, there is limited and inconsistent evidence regarding the starting age for individuals participating in screening. The aim of this study is to investigate the optimal starting age of esophageal cancer screening. Methods: This study is based on a multicenter prospective cohort consisting 338,017 permanent residents aged 40–69 years in six high‐risk areas of esophageal cancer in China. The participation rate, detection rate, hazard ratios (HRs), cumulative incidence and mortality and number needed to screen (NNS) were calculated in each age group. Screening burden, benefit and risk were compared among screening strategies with different initiation ages to explore the optimal starting age for population‐based screening in high‐risk areas. Results: Individuals aged 50–69 had a higher participation rate, a higher detection rate and improved screening effectiveness than those aged 40–49. The endoscopic screening had no significant effect on reducing the incidence of esophageal cancer in individuals under 55 and mortality in individuals under 45. Increasing the starting age to 50 years reduced the screening demand and NNS by 40% and 55%, and resulted in 12% of detectable positive cases, 16% of preventable incident cases, and 14% of preventable deaths being missed. Conclusions: Postponing the starting age of endoscopic screening to 50 years might yield a more‐favorable balance between screening benefit and burden in high‐ risk areas with limited resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, superheavy forgings that are manufactured from 600 t grade ingots have been applied in the latest generation of nuclear power plants to provide good safety. However, component production is pushing the limits of the current free-forging industry. Large initial grain sizes and a low strain rate are the main factors that contribute to the deformation of superheavy forgings during forging. In this study, 18Mn18Cr0.6N steel with a coarse grain structure was selected as a model material. Hot compression and hot tension tests were conducted at a strain rate of 10−4·s−1. The essential nucleation mechanism of the dynamic recrystallization involved low-angle grain boundary formation and subgrain rotation, which was independent of the original high-angle grain boundary bulging and the presence of twins. Twins were formed during the growth of dynamic recrystallization grains. The grain refinement was not obvious at 1150°C. A lowering of the deformation temperature to 1050°C resulted in a fine grain structure; however, the stress increased significantly. Crack-propagation paths included high-angle grain boundaries, twin boundaries, and the insides of grains, in that order. For superheavy forging, the ingot should have a larger height and a smaller diameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: This study investigated the natural history of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in rural Chinese. We sought to help provide more data to support ESCC screenings. Methods: This study was based on an existing Screening Program in Feicheng, China. Esophageal precancerous lesions were identified in 1753 cases, diagnosed from esophageal cancer screenings from 2006 to 2016. We followed up with them through endoscopic screening until October 1, 2017. Pathology results from various grades of precancerous lesions were recorded and the annual transition probabilities and incidence density of ESCC were calculated. Results: As of October 1, 2017, a total of 4055.8 person‐years has been observed. The ESCC incidence density of mild, moderate, and severe dysplasia (SD) was 0.17, 0.79, and 1.77 per 100 person‐years, respectively. The median follow‐up time of mild, moderate, and SD was 3.5, 2.3, and 2.2 years, respectively. The annual transition probability of mild, moderate, and SD to the next pathological level was 0.025, 0.038, and 0.016, respectively. The ESCC incidence density of males was 2.6 times higher than females (0.58 vs. 0.22), and the older age group (56–69 age group) had a ESCC incidence density 1.2 times higher than the younger group (40–55 age group) (0.45 vs. 0.39). Conclusions: The higher the grade of precancerous lesions, the higher the incidence density of ESCC. Screening of esophageal cancer in males and the elderly should be strengthened. It is recommended to reinforce follow‐up management for untreated patients with SD/carcinoma in situ. For patients with mild and moderate dysplasia in high‐risk rural Chinese populations, endoscopic follow‐up intervals can be appropriately adjusted to once every 2 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known regarding plaque distribution, composition, and the association with inflammation in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). This study aimed to assess the relationship between coronary plaque subtypes and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels. Coronary CTA were performed in 98 symptomatic DM2 patients and 107 non-DM2 patients using a 256-slice CT. The extent and types of plaque as well as luminal narrowing were evaluated. Patients with DM2 were more likely to have significant stenosis (>50%) with calcified plaques in at least one coronary segment (p<0.01); the prevalence rates of diffuse calcified plaques in the DM2 and non-DM2 groups were 31.6% and 4.7%, respectively (p<0.01). Plasma hs-CRP levels in DM2 with calcified plaques were higher compared with values obtained for the non-DM2 group (p<0.01). In conclusion, combination of coronary CTA and hs-CRP might improve risk stratification in symptomatic DM2 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dietary patterns and symptoms research among Chinese with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its precursor lesions is limited, especially as it relates to multiple food consumption and multiple co-occurring symptoms. The aim of our study was to identify the dietary patterns and severity of symptom classes with the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its histological precursor lesions, and develop a risk prediction model for different stages of esophageal disease. Methods: We analyzed data from a multicenter cross-sectional study carried out in ESCC high incidence areas between 2017 and 2018, which included 34,707 individuals aged 40–69 years. Dietary patterns and severity of symptom classes were derived by applying a latent class analysis (LCA). A multiple logistic regression model was used to derive the odds ratio (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for ESCC and the different stages of esophageal disease according to the dietary patterns and severity of symptom classes identified. We built the risk prediction model by using a nomogram. Results: We identified five dietary patterns and three severity of symptom classes. The dietary patterns were classified as follows: "Healthy", "Western", "Lower consumers-combination", "Medium consumers-combination" and "Higher consumers-combination" patterns based on the intake of foods such as red meat, vegetables and fruits. The severity of symptoms was categorized into "Asymptomatic", "Mild symptoms" and "Overt symptoms" classes based on health-related symptoms reported by the participants. Compared to the "Healthy" pattern, the other four patterns were all associated with an increased risk of esophageal disease. Similarly, the other two symptom classes present different degrees of increased risk of esophageal disease compared to the "Asymptomatic". The nomograms reflect the good predictive ability of the model. Conclusion: Among individuals aged 40–69 years in high incidence regions of upper gastrointestinal cancer, the results supplied that subjects with diets rich in livestock and poultry meat and low in fruits and vegetables and subjects with typical symptoms were at increased ESCC risk. The findings highlight the importance of considering food and symptom combinations in cancer risk evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Dietary patterns and symptoms research among Chinese with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its precursor lesions is limited, especially as it relates to multiple food consumption and multiple co-occurring symptoms. The aim of our study was to identify the dietary patterns and severity of symptom classes with the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its histological precursor lesions, and develop a risk prediction model for different stages of esophageal disease.Methods: We analyzed data from a multicenter cross-sectional study carried out in ESCC high incidence areas between 2017 and 2018, which included 34,707 individuals aged 40-69 years. Dietary patterns and severity of symptom classes were derived by applying a latent class analysis (LCA). A multiple logistic regression model was used to derive the odds ratio (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for ESCC and the different stages of esophageal disease according to the dietary patterns and severity of symptom classes identified. We built the risk prediction model by using a nomogram.Results: We identified five dietary patterns and three severity of symptom classes. The dietary patterns were classified as follows: "Healthy", "Western", "Lower consumers-combination", "Medium consumers-combination" and "Higher consumers-combination" patterns based on the intake of foods such as red meat, vegetables and fruits. The severity of symptoms was categorized into "Asymptomatic", "Mild symptoms" and "Overt symptoms" classes based on health-related symptoms reported by the participants. Compared to the "Healthy" pattern, the other four patterns were all associated with an increased risk of esophageal disease. Similarly, the other two symptom classes present different degrees of increased risk of esophageal disease compared to the "Asymptomatic". The nomograms reflect the good predictive ability of the model.Conclusion: Among individuals aged 40-69 years in high incidence regions of upper gastrointestinal cancer, the results supplied that subjects with diets rich in livestock and poultry meat and low in fruits and vegetables and subjects with typical symptoms were at increased ESCC risk. The findings highlight the importance of considering food and symptom combinations in cancer risk evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, linear local tangent space alignment (LLTSA), as a novel linear dimensionality reduction algorithm, is proposed. It uses the tangent space in the neighborhood of a data point to represent the local geometry, and then aligns those local tangent spaces in the low-dimensional space which is linearly mapped from the raw high-dimensional space. Since images of faces often belong to a manifold of intrinsically low dimension, we develop LLTSA algorithm for effective face manifold learning and recognition. Comprehensive comparisons and extensive experiments show that LLTSA achieves much higher recognition rates than a few competing methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Despite research efforts, the causative factors that contribute to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in high-risk areas have not yet been understood. In this study, we, therefore, aimed to describe the risk factors associated with ESCC and its precursor lesions.Methods: We performed an endoscopic examination of 44,857 individuals aged 40-69 years from five high incidence regions of China in 2017-2018. Participants were classified as 4 groups of normal control, esophagitis, low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN) and high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia/esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (HGIN/ESCC) using an unconditional logistic regression determine risk factors.Results: We identified 4890 esophagitis, 1874 LGIN and 437 HGIN/ESCC cases. Crude odds ratios (ORs) and adjusted odds ratios were calculated using unconditional logistic regression. Drinking well and surface water, salty diet, and positive family history of cancer were the common risk factors for esophagitis, LGIN and HGIN/ESCC. History of chronic hepatitis/cirrhosis was the greatest risk factor of esophagitis (adjusted OR 2.96, 95%CI 2.52-3.47) and HGIN/ESCC (adjusted OR 1.91, 95%CI 1.03-3.22). Pesticide exposure (adjusted OR 1.20, 95%CI 1.05-1.37) was essential risk factor of LGIN.Conclusions: Among individuals aged 40-69 years in high incidence regions of upper gastrointestinal cancer, the results provided important epidemiological evidence for the prevention of different precancerous lesions of ESCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dear Editor, Endoscopy with iodine staining was widely used for esophageal cancer (EC) screening in high-incidence area.1,2 Most endoscopy screening-positive population was found to develop esophageal epithelium lesion, and therefore endured higher risk for developing esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) than normal population.3,4 However, endoscopic screening may be too costly and invasive for large-scale population, and non-invasive biomarkers may be more applicable and cost effective for population-based screening.5,6 In this population-based screening study, we aim to identify potential metabolic biomarkers for early screening of ESCC, and establish the optimal early ESCC screening model. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF/MS) was used to explore ESCC screening related metabolic biomarkers and profile difference between ESCC screening-positive subjects and normal population. [Extracted from the article]

Background: Long-term smoking exposure will increase the risk of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), whereas the mechanism is still unclear. We conducted a cross-sectional study to explore whether serum metabolites mediate the occurrence of ESCC caused by cigarette smoking.Methods: Serum metabolic profiles and lifestyle information of 464 participants were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression was used to estimate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of smoking exposure to ESCC risk. High-dimensional mediation analysis and univariate mediation analysis were performed to screen potential intermediate metabolites of smoking exposure for ESCC.Results: Ever smoking was associated with a 3.11-fold increase of ESCC risk (OR = 3.11, 95% CI 1.63-6.05), and for each cigarette-years increase in smoking index, ESCC risk increased by 56% (OR = 1.56, 95% CI 1.18-2.13). A total of 5 metabolites were screened as mediators by high-dimensional mediation analysis. In addition, glutamine, histidine, and cholic acid were further proved existing mediation effects according to univariate mediation analysis. And the proportions of mediation of histidine and glutamine were 40.47 and 30.00%, respectively. The mediation effect of cholic acid was 8.98% according to the analysis of smoking index.Conclusions: Our findings suggest that cigarette smoking contributed to incident ESCC, which may be mediated by glutamine, histidine and cholic acid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence is required to quantify the population-level effects of endoscopic screening for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). The objective of this study was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness of 1-time endoscopic ESCC screening in a Chinese rural population.Methods: This community-based cohort study was based on an existing esophageal cancer screening program in Feicheng City, China. The screening group consisted of all permanent residents aged 40 to 69 years in 17 villages who were screened during 2006 through 2009, and the control group consisted of residents in another 43 villages who were not yet covered by the screening program. Residents in the remaining 511 villages were defined as the total population control. The cumulative incidence and mortality of ESCC and the observed and expected numbers of ESCC cases and deaths during the follow-up period (2010-2018) were calculated and compared.Results: After a 9-year follow-up, the screening group (n = 8460) revealed reductions of 20% (relative risk, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.66-0.97) and 32% (relative risk, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.52-0.89) in ESCC cumulative incidence and mortality, respectively, compared with the control group (n = 20,468). Endoscopic screening prevented 0.41% of the population (attributable risk, 0.41%; 95% CI, 0.07%-0.75%) from ESCC occurrence and 0.38% (attributable risk, 0.38%; 95% CI, 0.14%-0.62%) from ESCC-related death. In the screening group, reductions of 43% (standardized incidence ratio, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.48-0.67) and 45% (standardized mortality ratio, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.44-0.69) were found in the observed cumulative cases and deaths, respectively, compared with the expected cases and deaths.Conclusions: One-time endoscopic screening was associated with a significant and consistent reduction in ESCC incidence and mortality among individuals aged 40 to 69 years in high-risk areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Endoscopic resection cap technique (ER-Cap), multiband mucosectomy (MBM), and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) have been widely applied in the treatment of esophageal squamous neoplasia and cancer. However, little is known with regards to the comparison of these methods. This study aimed to compare the feasibility, safety, effectiveness, and costs of these three techniques. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients with squamous premalignant or early malignant lesions of the esophagus undergoing ER-Cap, MBM, or ESD from January 2009 to December 2015 in one of the centers in China was performed. The procedural data and follow-up data for all patients were recorded. Results: A total of 672 patients with 733 lesions were included; 148 lesions (133 patients) were treated with ER-Cap, 427 lesions (388 patients) with MBM, and 158 lesions (151 patients) with ESD. The mean age was 61.59 years and the male-to-female ratio was 2.78:1. The operation time was significantly shorter for ER-Cap (29.26 ± 16.73 mins, p < 0.001) group, and the hospitalization costs were significantly lower in the MBM group (20,942.03 ± 8435.56￥, p = 0.003). The resection sample size of ESD was significantly larger (4.40 ± 1.20 cm, p < 0.001) and the en bloc resection rate of ESD was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of the other two groups. The frequencies of perforation, bleeding, and cicatricial stenosis were significantly lower in the MBM group (p < 0.001, p = 0.011, p = 0.009). Three local recurrences were observed in the ER-Cap group, while no recurrence was observed in MBM and ESD groups. There were three and two metastatic patients observed in the MBM and ESD groups, respectively. Conclusions: ER-Cap, MBM, and ESD are all minimally invasive, safe, and effective methods for treating early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. MBM could be considered as a good alternative when performed by a less-experienced endoscopist in high-incidence areas with limited resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Endoscopic resection cap technique (ER-Cap), multiband mucosectomy (MBM), and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) have been widely applied in the treatment of esophageal squamous neoplasia and cancer. However, little is known with regards to the comparison of these methods. This study aimed to compare the feasibility, safety, effectiveness, and costs of these three techniques. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients with squamous premalignant or early malignant lesions of the esophagus undergoing ER-Cap, MBM, or ESD from January 2009 to December 2015 in one of the centers in China was performed. The procedural data and follow-up data for all patients were recorded. Results: A total of 672 patients with 733 lesions were included; 148 lesions (133 patients) were treated with ER-Cap, 427 lesions (388 patients) with MBM, and 158 lesions (151 patients) with ESD. The mean age was 61.59 years and the male-to-female ratio was 2.78:1. The operation time was significantly shorter for ER-Cap (29.26 ± 16.73 mins, p < 0.001) group, and the hospitalization costs were significantly lower in the MBM group (20,942.03 ± 8435.56￥, p = 0.003). The resection sample size of ESD was significantly larger (4.40 ± 1.20 cm, p < 0.001) and the en bloc resection rate of ESD was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of the other two groups. The frequencies of perforation, bleeding, and cicatricial stenosis were significantly lower in the MBM group (p < 0.001, p = 0.011, p = 0.009). Three local recurrences were observed in the ER-Cap group, while no recurrence was observed in MBM and ESD groups. There were three and two metastatic patients observed in the MBM and ESD groups, respectively. Conclusions: ER-Cap, MBM, and ESD are all minimally invasive, safe, and effective methods for treating early esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. MBM could be considered as a good alternative when performed by a less-experienced endoscopist in high-incidence areas with limited resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) about the most common cancers survivors (lung, stomach, colorectal, breast, and esophageal cancer) in rural China.Methods: We administrated a cross-sectional study in three counties in Shandong province from August to September 2017. The five-level EuroQol-5-dimension (EQ-5D-5L) questionnaire was used to measure the HRQoL among cancer patients at least 8 months post-diagnosis. The Chinese population-based preference trade-off time (TTO) model and discrete choice experiment (DCE) were used to convert the EQ-5D-5L utility score. Tobit regression model was used to identify independent associations between socio-demographic, clinical variables with the HRQoL.Results: In total, 452 cancer survivors were included. The mean EQ-5D-5L utility scores and Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) scores were 0.841 (SD = 0.233) and 70.35 (SD = 18.80) for cancer survivors, respectively. Among the five dimensions, 58.6% of survivors had at least slight levels of pain/discomfort, and 39.2% showed at least slight levels of anxiety/depression. The influencing factors of HRQoL included cancer stage at diagnosis, tumor site, comorbidities, annual household income, and migrant worker status (rural-to-urban migration). Compared to other cancer patients, lung cancer patients had the lowest HRQoL. Higher household income and being a migrant worker were associated with a higher HRQoL for cancer survivors.Conclusions: Cancer survivors in rural China have deteriorated HRQoL, and a substantial number of survivors have pain/discomfort problems. Our study provides detailed data on HRQoL of rural cancer survivors for future supportive and survivorship care in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing action recognition algorithms require a set of positive exemplars to train a classifier for each action. However, the amount of action classes is very large and the users' queries vary dramatically. It is impractical to pre-define all possible action classes beforehand. To address this issue, we propose to perform action recognition with no positive exemplars, which is often known as the zero-shot learning. Current zero-shot learning paradigms usually train a series of attribute classifiers and then recognize the target actions based on the attribute representation. To ensure the maximum coverage of ad-hoc action classes, the attribute-based approaches require large numbers of reliable and accurate attribute classifiers, which are often unavailable in the real world. In this paper, we propose an approach that merely takes an action name as the input to recognize the action of interest without any pre-trained attribute classifiers and positive exemplars. Given an action name, we first build an analogy pool according to an external ontology, and each action in the analogy pool is related to the target action at different levels. The correlation information inferred from the external ontology may be noisy. We then propose an algorithm, namely adaptive multi-model rank-preserving mapping (AMRM), to train a classifier for action recognition, which is able to evaluate the relatedness of each video in the analogy pool adaptively. As multiple mapping models are employed, our algorithm has better capability to bridge the gap between visual features and the semantic information inferred from the ontology. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method achieves the promising performance for action recognition only using action names, while no attributes and positive exemplars are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: High carbon steel rods with a microduplex structure was fabricated by warm cross-wedge rolling (WCWR) using fully lamellar pearlite starting material. The microstructures and mechanical properties at different locations over the cross-section of the rolled rod were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and mini-tensile tests. The results show that after WCWR, the microstructure from the surface to 1/4R of the rod was refined, and the sizes of cementite particles and equiaxed ferrite grains were about 0.1–0.2 and 0.3–0.4μm, respectively. The spheroidization/recrystallization of cementite/ferrite was non-uniform from the surface to the center, and the cementite/ferrite near the surface experienced more complete spheroidization/recrystallization. After WCWR, the change in strength and microhardness over the cross-section of the rod was not so distinct from the surface to the center. However, the elongation (EL) and the percentage of reduction in area (RA) of the rod decreased gradually from the surface to the center. This change can be linked to the non-uniform distribution of equivalent strain and strain rate, which also decreased from the surface to the center. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]