Background & Aims
Differentiation antagonizing non‐protein coding RNA is associated with various types of neoplasms. Hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma has a high risk of recurrence. ...Here we determined the role of differentiation antagonizing non‐protein coding RNA in hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocarcinogenesis and identified potential therapeutic targets and non‐invasive prognostic markers for long‐term outcome of hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma after surgical resection.
Methods
Differentiation antagonizing non‐protein coding RNAs relevant to hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma were identified through comparative RNA‐sequencing of tumour and adjacent non‐tumour (ANT) tissues in a screening set, and were validated using real‐time polymerase chain reaction. Target long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in tissues and serum exosomes were used to predict the recurrence of hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma after curative surgical resection in a large application cohort from 2005 to 2012.
Results
We confirmed that differentiation antagonizing non‐protein coding RNA was upregulated following hepatitis C virus infection and identified as the lncRNA most relevant to hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma in tumour tissues as compared to that in ANT tissues. In 183 hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma patients followed for 10 years after curative HCC resection, the expression level of circulating exosomal differentiation antagonizing non‐protein coding RNA was positively associated with HCC recurrence and was the most predictive factor associated with HCC recurrence and mortality (hazard ratio/95% confidence intervals: 7.0/4.3‐11.6 and 2.7/1.5‐5.1 respectively).
Conclusions
Differentiation antagonizing non‐protein coding RNA is highly relevant to disease progression of hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma. Our finding indicated that circulating exosomal differentiation antagonizing non‐protein coding RNA might serve as a non‐invasive prognostic biomarker for hepatitis C virus‐related hepatocellular carcinoma.
Images/videos captured from outdoor visual devices are usually degraded by turbid media, such as haze, smoke, fog, rain, and snow. Haze is the most common one in outdoor scenes due to the atmosphere ...conditions. In this paper, a novel deep learning-based architecture (denoted by MSRL-DehazeNet) for single image haze removal relying on multi-scale residual learning (MSRL) and image decomposition is proposed. Instead of learning an end-to-end mapping between each pair of hazy image and its corresponding haze-free one adopted by most existing learning-based approaches, we reformulate the problem as restoration of the image base component. Based on the decomposition of a hazy image into the base and the detail components, haze removal (or dehazing) can be achieved by both of our multi-scale deep residual learning and our simplified U-Net learning only for mapping between hazy and haze-free base components, while the detail component is further enhanced via the other learned convolutional neural network (CNN). Moreover, benefited by the basic building block of our deep residual CNN architecture and our simplified U-Net structure, the feature maps (produced by extracting structural and statistical features), and each previous layer can be fully preserved and fed into the next layer. Therefore, possible color distortion in the recovered image would be avoided. As a result, the final haze-removed (or dehazed) image is obtained by integrating the haze-removed base and the enhanced detail image components. Experimental results have demonstrated good effectiveness of the proposed framework, compared with state-of-the-art approaches.
Moiré patterns caused by aliasing between the camera's sensor and the monitor can severely degrade image quality. Image demoiréing is a multi-task image restoration method that includes texture and ...color restoration. This paper proposes a new multibranch wavelet-based image demoiréing network (MBWDN) for moiré pattern removal. Moiré images are separated into sub-band images using wavelet decomposition, and demoiréing can be achieved using the different learning strategies of two networks: moiré removal network (MRN) and detail-enhanced moiré removal network (DMRN). MRN removes moiré patterns from low-frequency images while preserving the structure of smooth areas. DMRN simultaneously removes high-frequency moiré patterns and enhances fine details in images. Wavelet decomposition is used to replace traditional upsampling, and max pooling effectively increases the receptive field of the network without losing the spatial information. Through decomposing the moiré image into different levels using wavelet transform, the feature learning results of each branch can be fully preserved and fed into the next branch; therefore, possible distortions in the recovered image are avoided. Thanks to the separation of high- and low-frequency images during feature training, the proposed two networks achieve impressive moiré removal effects. Based on extensive experiments conducted using public datasets, the proposed method shows good demoiréing validity both quantitatively and qualitatively when compared with the state-of-the-art approaches.
To improve the desalination performance, the coconut shell-based activated carbon electrodes were prepared by using a two-stage activation method. Both the specific surface area and the ratio of ...mesopore to micropore can be successfully manipulated by the activation process of KOH etching plus CO2 gasification. The results showed that the activated carbon electrodes with controlled mesoporosity exhibited higher specific capacitance and better rate capability as compared to the commercial one. The coexistence of mesopores and micropores can provide large surface area for ions to form an electrical double layer, while the enlarged mesoporosity can not only facilitate the ion transport but also improve the accessible surface area, suggesting the improved capacity of capacitive ion storage. From the desalination experiments at 1.0V, the activated carbon electrode, associated with a specific surface area of 2105m2g−1 and a 70.7% ratio of mesopore to total pore volume, presented an electrosorption capacity of 9.72mgg−1 and electrosorption rate constant of 0.060min−1, which were considerably higher than the micropore-dominant carbon electrodes. Therefore, the significantly improved desalination performance can be ascribed to the high surface area and the high ratio of mesoporosity in the activated carbon-based capacitive deionization.
•A tunable ratio of mesopore to micropore can be achieved by combined chemical/physical activation process.•A coconut shell-based activated carbon electrode was prepared for capacitive deionization.•Enhanced desalination performance is ascribed to high specific surface area and high mesoporosity.
A highly compressed image is usually not only of low resolution, but also suffers from compression artifacts (blocking artifact is treated as an example in this paper). Directly performing image ...super-resolution (SR) to a highly compressed image would also simultaneously magnify the blocking artifacts, resulting in an unpleasing visual experience. In this paper, we propose a novel learning-based framework to achieve joint single-image SR and deblocking for a highly-compressed image. We argue that individually performing deblocking and SR (i.e., deblocking followed by SR, or SR followed by deblocking) on a highly compressed image usually cannot achieve a satisfactory visual quality. In our method, we propose to learn image sparse representations for modeling the relationship between low- and high-resolution image patches in terms of the learned dictionaries for image patches with and without blocking artifacts, respectively . As a result, image SR and deblocking can be simultaneously achieved via sparse representation and morphological component analysis (MCA)-based image decomposition. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm.
Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display has been widely used for mobile devices due to its features of wide color range and high contrast. However, display systems dominate the significant power ...consumption of mobile devices that limit its usage time. Hence, this paper proposes a visual-attention-based pixel dimming (VAB-PD) technique to achieve power saving for real-time video displaying on OLED mobile devices. First, the proposed method extracts motion vector (MV) array from the bitstream. Next, considering the perception of human vision to moving objects, a saliency map is calculated from the MV array. Finally, a pixel dimming function is designed to reduce the brightness of the pixels lying in the unnoticeable parts of the video frames, thereby elevating the energy efficiency without deteriorating the visual quality. In addition, an absolute category rating 11-grade scale (ACR11) subjective visual quality test is conducted to determine the optimal coefficient for the dimming function. The experimental results demonstrate that VAB-PD can accomplish 13% of power reduction on average while maintaining acceptable visual quality.
SARS-CoV-2 began spreading in December 2019 and has since become a pandemic that has impacted many aspects of human society. Several issues concerning the origin, time of introduction to humans, ...evolutionary patterns, and underlying force driving the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak remain unclear.
Genetic variation in 137 SARS-CoV-2 genomes and related coronaviruses as of 2/23/2020 was analyzed.
After correcting for mutational bias, the excess of low frequency mutations on both synonymous and nonsynonymous sites was revealed which is consistent with the recent outbreak of the virus. In contrast to adaptive evolution previously reported for SARS-CoV during its brief epidemic in 2003, our analysis of SARS-CoV-2 genomes shows signs of relaxation. The sequence similarity in the spike receptor binding domain between SARS-CoV-2 and a sequence from pangolin is probably due to an ancient intergenomic introgression that occurred approximately 40 years ago. The current outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 was estimated to have originated on 12/11/2019 (95% HPD 11/13/2019-12/23/2019). The effective population size of the virus showed an approximately 20-fold increase from the onset of the outbreak to the lockdown of Wuhan (1/23/2020) and ceased to increase afterwards, demonstrating the effectiveness of social distancing in preventing its spread. Two mutations, 84S in orf8 protein and 251 V in orf3 protein, occurred coincidentally with human intervention. The former first appeared on 1/5/2020 and plateaued around 1/23/2020. The latter rapidly increased in frequency after 1/23/2020. Thus, the roles of these mutations on infectivity need to be elucidated. Genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 collected from China is two times higher than those derived from the rest of the world. A network analysis found that haplotypes collected from Wuhan were interior and had more mutational connections, both of which are consistent with the observation that the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak originated in China.
SARS-CoV-2 might have cryptically circulated within humans for years before being discovered. Data from the early outbreak and hospital archives are needed to trace its evolutionary path and determine the critical steps required for effective spreading.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this paper, an artificial neural network is applied for enhancing the resolution of images from an optical microscope based on a network trained with the images acquired from a scanning electron ...microscope. The resolution of microscopic images is important in various fields, especially for microfluidics because the measurements, such as the dimension of channels and cells, largely rely on visual information. The proposed method is experimentally validated with microfluidic structure. The images of structural edges from the optical microscope are blurred due to optical effects while the images from the scanning electron microscope are sharp and clear. Intensity profiles perpendicular to the edges and the corresponding edge positions determined by the scanning electron microscope images are plugged in a neural network as the input features and the output target, respectively. According to the results, the blurry edges of the microstructure in optical images can be successfully enhanced. The average error between the predicted channel position and ground truth is around 328 nanometers. The effects of the feature length are discussed. The proposed method is expected to significantly contribute to microfluidic applications, such as on-chip cell evaluation.
The therapeutic effect of low-voltage area (LVA)-guided left atrial (LA) linear ablation for non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (non-PAF) is uncertain. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of LA ...linear ablation based on the preexisting LVA and its effects on LA reverse remodeling in non-PAF patients.
We retrospectively evaluated 145 consecutive patients who underwent radiofrequency catheter ablation for drug-refractory non-PAF. CARTO-guided bipolar voltage mapping was performed in atrial fibrillation (AF). LVA was defined as sites with voltage ≤ 0.5 mV. If circumferential pulmonary vein isolation couldn't convert AF into sinus rhythm, additional LA linear ablation was performed preferentially at sites within LVA.
After a mean follow-up duration of 48 ± 33 months, 29 of 145 patients had drugs-refractory AF/LA tachycardia recurrence. Low LA emptying fraction, large LA size and high extent of LVA were associated with AF recurrence. There were 136 patients undergoing LA linear ablation. The rate of linear block at the mitral isthmus was significantly higher via LVA-guided than non-LVA-guided linear ablation. Patients undergoing LVA-guided linear ablation had larger LA size and higher extent of LVA, but the long-term AF/LA tachycardia-free survival rate was higher than the non-LVA-guided group. The LA reverse remodeling effects by resuming sinus rhythm were noted even in patients with a diseased left atrium undergoing extensive LA linear ablation.
LVA-guided linear ablation through targeting the arrhythmogenic LVA and reducing LA mass provides a better clinical outcome than non-LVA guided linear ablation, and outweighs the harmful effects of iatrogenic scaring in non-PAF patients.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Control of plant viruses by cross‐protection is limited by the availability of effective protective strains. Incorporation of an NIa‐protease processing site in the extreme N‐terminal region of the ...helper component protease (HC‐Pro) of turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) resulted in a mutant virus TuHNDI that induced highly attenuated symptoms. Recombination analysis verified that two variations, F7I mutation and amino acid 7‐upstream‐deletion, in HC‐Pro co‐determined TuHNDI attenuation. TuHNDI provided complete protection to Nicotiana benthamiana and Brassica campestris subsp. chinensis plants against infection by the severe parental strain. Aphid transmission tests revealed that TuHNDI was not aphid‐transmissible. An RNA silencing suppression (RSS) assay by agroinfiltration suggested the RSS‐defective nature of the mutant HC‐Pro. In the context (amino acids 3–17) encompassing the two variations of HC‐Pro, we uncovered an FWKG−α‐helix 1 (αH1) element that influenced the functions of aphid transmission and RSS, whose motifs were located far downstream. We further demonstrated that HC‐Pro F7 was a critical residue on αH1 for HC‐Pro functions and that reinstating αH1 in the RSS‐defective HC‐Pro of TuHNDI restored the protein's RSS function. Yeast two‐hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays indicated the FWKG−αH1 element as an integral part of the HC‐Pro self‐interaction domain. The possibility of regulation of the mechanistically independent functions of RSS and aphid transmission by the FWKG−αH1 element is discussed. Extension of TuMV HC‐Pro FWKG−αH1 variations to another potyvirus, zucchini yellow mosaic virus, also generated nonaphid‐transmissible cross‐protective mutant viruses. Hence, the modification of the FWKG−αH1 element can generate effective attenuated viruses for the control of potyviruses by cross‐protection.
The HC‐Pro extreme N‐terminal region FWKG−αH1 element, an integral part of the HC‐Pro self‐interaction domain, influences multiple functions of HC‐Pro: symptom expression, RNA silencing suppression, and aphid transmission.
PDF
