•Deep residual learning model with multi-scale image fusion for image deblocking.•Deep jointly learning image super-resolution and image deblocking.•Residual learning with multiple loss functions for ...better network optimization.
One of the visually noticeable compression artifacts in block-based image/video compression platforms is called blocking artifact. Several post-processing methods were presented to reduce such kind of artifacts. However, most methods in the literature often induce visibly blurring artifacts. The paper presents a deep network to eliminate image compression artifacts (usually denoted by image deblocking) based on image fusion in multi-scale manner. Recent deep learning-based related methods usually learn deep models using a loss function in per-pixel manner based on explicit image priors in order to directly produce clean images. In place of existing deep learning-guided approaches, the problem is reformulated in this paper to the learning of the residuals (or artifacts) between the received images and their corresponding clean images (ground truths). In the presented deep framework, an input image is first down-sampled while naturally reducing the blocking artifacts. Then, our multi-scale image fusion model is used for fusing the different down-scaled versions (of less artifacts) with the input image (with severer artifacts) to estimate the blocking artifacts. Then, by deducting the estimated artifacts from the input image, the blocking artifacts can be significantly eliminated and most original image details are preserved simultaneously. The presented method is well applicable to any vision-based computer systems with digital visual codec embedded.
H.266/Versatile Video Coding (VVC) is the latest international video coding standard to encode ultra-high-definition video effectively. The quadtree with nested multi-type tree (QT-MTT) structure ...provides various sizes of coding tree partitioning and allows the nested binary tree (BT) split and ternary tree (TT) split at each QT level. Furthermore, numerous advanced coding tools are equipped in the H.266/VVC encoder. However, the encoding time increases tremendously. Previous researches regarding the fast coding algorithm of H.266/VVC seldom mention perceptual redundancy. This paper utilizes the human vision model of just noticeable difference to extract the visually distinguishable pixels that may affect the visual perception. We observe that the distributions acquired by the horizontal and vertical projections of visually distinguishable pixels within the coding unit are related to their corresponding MTT splitting modes. Therefore, the distributions representing the perceptual information of human vision are used to be the input features of machine learning. Fast MTT decision determined by the random forest models of machine learning is proposed to quickly select the partition for intra coding. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can effectively accelerate intra coding process while maintaining good bitrate and video quality based on the properties of the visual perception. The proposed algorithm provides better performance than the previous work.
Danhong injection (DHI) is made from Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge. and Carthamus tinctorius L. extract and is widely used in the clinical treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. This ...study aimed to evaluate the effect of DHI on cytochrome P450 (CYP450) enzymes in vitro to predict drug–drug interactions based on CYP450 as combination therapy. To assess the inhibitory effect of DHI on CYP450, we detected the IC50 value of DHI on CYP450 in vitro by liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Simultaneously, the induction effect of DHI on CYP450s was also evaluated. The relative induction ratios of DHI on CYP1A2, CYP2B6 and CYP3A4 activity were calculated by LC–MS/MS. The expression level of CYP3A4 mRNA was determined by reverse transcription PCR (RT‐PCR). The LC–MS/MS data showed DHI intensively inhibit CYP2A6 activity and the intensity of inhibition was followed by CYP2C8, CYP3A4, CYP2C19, CYP2B6, CYP2D6, CYP1A2, CYP2E1 and CYP2C9 in vitro. The results of RT‐PCR showed that there is a certain induction of DHI on CYP3A4 mRNA in human primary hepatocytes in vitro. The study suggested that drug–drug interactions might occur in clinical co‐administration of drugs owing to the CYP2A6 inhibition and CYP3A4 induction.
The latest international video coding standard, H.266/Versatile Video Coding (VVC), supports high-definition videos, with resolutions from 4 K to 8 K or even larger. It offers a higher compression ...ratio than its predecessor, H.265/High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). In addition to the quadtree partition structure of H.265/HEVC, the nested multi-type tree (MTT) structure of H.266/VVC provides more diverse splits through binary and ternary trees. It also includes many new coding tools, which tremendously increases the encoding complexity. This paper proposes a fast intra coding algorithm for H.266/VVC based on visual perception analysis. The algorithm applies the factor of average background luminance for just-noticeable-distortion to identify the visually distinguishable (VD) pixels within a coding unit (CU). We propose calculating the variances of the numbers of VD pixels in various MTT splits of a CU. Intra sub-partitions and matrix weighted intra prediction are turned off conditionally based on the variance of the four variances for MTT splits and a thresholding criterion. The fast horizontal/vertical splitting decisions for binary and ternary trees are proposed by utilizing random forest classifiers of machine learning techniques, which use the information of VD pixels and the quantization parameter. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves around 47.26% encoding time reduction with a Bjøntegaard Delta Bitrate (BDBR) of 1.535% on average under the All Intra configuration. Overall, this algorithm can significantly speed up H.266/VVC intra coding and outperform previous studies.
During the development of therapeutic microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs), it is essential to define their pharmacological actions. Rather, miRNA research and therapy mainly use miRNA mimics synthesized ...in vitro. After experimental screening of unique recombinant miRNAs produced in vivo, three lead antiproliferative miRNAs against human NSCLC cells, miR-22-3p, miR-9-5p, and miR-218-5p, were revealed to target folate metabolism by bioinformatic analyses. Recombinant miR-22-3p, miR-9-5p, and miR-218-5p were shown to regulate key folate metabolic enzymes to inhibit folate metabolism and subsequently alter amino acid metabolome in NSCLC A549 and H1975 cells. Isotope tracing studies further confirmed the disruption of one-carbon transfer from serine to folate metabolites by all three miRNAs, inhibition of glucose uptake by miR-22-3p, and reduction of serine biosynthesis from glucose by miR-9-5p and -218-5p in NSCLC cells. With greater activities to interrupt NSCLC cell respiration, glycolysis, and colony formation than miR-9-5p and -218-5p, recombinant miR-22-3p was effective to reduce tumor growth in two NSCLC patient-derived xenograft mouse models without causing any toxicity. These results establish a common antifolate mechanism and differential actions on glucose uptake and metabolism for three lead anticancer miRNAs as well as antitumor efficacy for miR-22-3p nanomedicine, which shall provide insight into developing antimetabolite RNA therapies.
A common action on folate one-carbon metabolism, and differential effects on glucose transport and biotransformation to serine were established for three anticancer recombinant miRNAs. Display omitted
Background and aim
Controversy remains as to pegylated interferon-α (PEG-IFNα) antiviral therapy to renal function in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ...influence of PEG-IFNα2b (Y shape, 40 kD) add-on treatment for renal function in CHB patients who received entecavir therapy.
Methods
This was a retrospective observational study to investigate factors related to renal function in 114 CHB patients who received PEG-IFNα2b add-on therapy to entecavir for 48 weeks. Changes of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), serum creatinine (sCr), and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), which was calculated with both Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration and Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) formulas, were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance. A linear mixed effects model for repeated measures was used to assess the correlation between baseline information and eGFR changes at 24 and 48 weeks of therapy. The model considered the baseline age, gender, body weight, viral load, hepatitis B surface antigen, BUN, sCr, and treatment strategy as fixed effects and incorporated random effects for individual subjects.
Results
BUN and sCr was decreased, while eGFR was increased at 12 weeks of therapy. Only eGFR maintained at 24 and 48 weeks of therapy. Patients with female gender, age ≥ 40 years, and baseline HBsAg level < 250 IU/mL showed significant improvement of renal function with PEG-IFNα2b add-on therapy. The linear mixed effects model revealed that female gender, baseline sCr, and PEG-IFNα2b add-on were significant positive predictors for eGFR elevation at 24 and 48 weeks of therapy.
Conclusion
In real-world experience, PEG-IFNα2b add-on therapy might be associated with increased eGFR in CHB patients.
A nanocage coupling effect from a redox RuII‐PdII metal–organic cage (MOC‐16) is demonstrated for efficient photochemical H2 production by virtue of redox–guest modulation of the photo‐induced ...electron transfer (PET) process. Through coupling with photoredox cycle of MOC‐16, tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) guests act as electron relay mediator to improve the overall electron transfer efficiency in the host–guest system in a long‐time scale, leading to significant promotion of visible‐light driven H2 evolution. By contrast, the presence of larger TTF‐derivatives in bulk solution without host–guest interactions results in interference with PET process of MOC‐16, leading to inefficient H2 evolution. Such interaction provides an example to understand the interplay between the redox‐active nanocage and guest for optimization of redox events and photocatalytic activities in a confined chemical nanoenvironment.
The photoredox cycle of a Ru‐Pd nanocage is mediated by a tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) guest as an electron relay. This results in promoted light‐driven H2 production.
The encoding format of the 3D extension of high efficiency video coding (3D-HEVC) consists of a multiview color texture and an associated depth map. Because of the unique characteristics of the depth ...map, advanced coding techniques are designed for depth map coding at the expense of computational complexity. In this paper, fast algorithms are conceived to accelerate the intra coding time of the depth map based on boundary continuity. First, the proposed fast prediction unit (PU) mode decision reduces the number of conventional intra prediction modes based on calculating the total sum of squares (TSS) of the PU boundaries. Second, the proposed fast depth modeling mode (DMM) decision makes use of the variances of the boundary pixels to determine the execution of the DMM. Third, the proposed coding unit (CU) early termination algorithm decides whether to further split the current CU by utilizing the thresholds of the TSS and the rate-distortion cost (RD-cost). The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm provides better performance in terms of coding speed and bitrate than the algorithm in previous work. The coding time of the depth map is reduced by 56.08%, while the Bjøntegaard delta bitrate (BD-BR) is only increased by 0.32% for the synthesis view.
The multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) has emerged as a global threat. Xinjiang is a multi-ethnic region and suffered second highest incidence of TB in ...China. However, epidemiological information on MDR and XDR TB is scarcely investigated.
A prospective study was conducted to analyze the prevalence of MDR and XDR TB and the differences of drug resistance TB between Chinese Han and other nationalities population at Chest Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. We performed in vitro drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to first- and second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs for all 1893 culture confirmed positive TB cases that were diagnosed between June 2009 and June 2011. Totally 1117 (59.0%, 95% CI, 56.8%-61.2%) clinical isolates were resistant to ≥1 first-line drugs; the prevalence of MDR TB was 13.2% (95% CI, 11.7%-14.7%), of which, 77 (30.8%; 95% CI, 25.0%-36.6%) and 31 (12.8%; 95% CI, 8.6%-17.0%) isolates were pre-XDR and XDR TB respectively. Among the MDR/XDR TB, Chinese Han patients were significantly less likely to be younger with an odds ratio 0.42 for age 20-29 years and 0.52 for age 40-49 years; P(trend) = 0.004), and Chinese Han patients has a lower prevalence of XDR TB (9.6%) than all the other nationality (14.9%).
The burden of drug resistance TB cases is sizeable, which highlights an urgent need to reinforce the control, detection and treatment strategies for drug resistance TB. However, the difference of MDR and XDR TB between Chinese Han and other nationalities was not observed.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Mycoplasma pneumoniae (M. pneumoniae) is one of the most common causes of community-acquired pneumonia in children. Recent studies demonstrated that the incidence of severe or fatal M. pneumoniae was ...gradually increasing, which may be related to the excessive inflammation. However, the exact pathogenesis of excessive inflammation in Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia(MPP) is still unclear. This study aimed to reveal the role of miR-29c/B7-H3/Th17 axis in children with MPP.
Children hospitalized in Respiratory Department during Jan. 2014 to Dec. 2015 were enrolled. All children enrolled was confirmed with MP infection using real-time PCR and ELISA. Children were excluded if they were co-infected with other pathogens. A total of 52 children with MPP and 26 controls were enrolled. miR-29c expression in monocytes of children with MPP was determined by real-time PCR and soluble B7-H3 (sB7-H3) and IL-17 were determined by ELISA, and explore their clinical significance. miR-29c overexpression and silencing technology and luciferase reporter assay were performed to confirm whether B7-H3 is the direct target of miR-29c. The levels of transcription factor ROR-γt in CD4+ T cells and cytokine IL-17A in supernatant were detected after stimulated by different concentrations of B7-H3 fusion protein in vitro.
Of all 52 children with MPP, the mean age of the children were 77 ± 33 months, and 23 cases were male accounting for 44.2%. Nineteen cases had pleural effusion accounting for 36.5%. Children with MPP had significantly lower level of miR-29c and higher level of sB7-H3 and IL-17 compared to controls (both P < 0.05). The level of miR-29c significantly increased during convalescent phase compared to that of acute phase while sB7-H3 and IL-17 significantly decreased during convalescent phase (both P < 0.05). There was a positive correlation between the level of sB7-H3 and IL-17 in children with MPP during acute-stage (r = 0.361,P = 0.009). Children with MPP combined with pleural effusion had significantly higher level of sB7-H3 compared to those without pleural effusion (9952.3 ± 3065.3 vs. 7449.7 ± 2231.5, pg/ml), and the levels of sB7-H3 was positively correlated with the number of days of fever. The level of miR-29c was negatively correlated with M. pneumoniae specific IgG, IgM level. High concentrations of B7-H3(15μg/ml) could enhance ROR-γt expression and increase IL-17A. Functional studies based on luciferase reporter assay and immunofluorescence staining suggested that B7-H3 is the direct target of miR-29c, and miR-29c silencing or overexpression could up- or down-regulate the expression of B7-H3 in THP-1 cells.
The axis of miR-29c/B7-H3/Th17 plays a vital role in children with MPP through excessive inflammation. miR-29c and B7-H3 may be the new target for the prevention and treatment of MPP, and may be the novel and potential biomarkers for the assessment of prognosis.
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