ABSTRACT
Strong lensing is a powerful probe of the matter distribution in galaxies and clusters and a relevant tool for cosmography. Analyses of strong gravitational lenses with deep learning have ...become a popular approach due to these astronomical objects’ rarity and image complexity. Next-generation surveys will provide more opportunities to derive science from these objects and an increasing data volume to be analysed. However, finding strong lenses is challenging, as their number densities are orders of magnitude below those of galaxies. Therefore, specific strong lensing search algorithms are required to discover the highest number of systems possible with high purity and low false alarm rate. The need for better algorithms has prompted the development of an open community data science competition named strong gravitational lensing challenge (SGLC). This work presents the deep learning strategies and methodology used to design the highest scoring algorithm in the second SGLC (II SGLC). We discuss the approach used for this data set, the choice of a suitable architecture, particularly the use of a network with two branches to work with images in different resolutions, and its optimization. We also discuss the detectability limit, the lessons learned, and prospects for defining a tailor-made architecture in a survey in contrast to a general one. Finally, we release the models and discuss the best choice to easily adapt the model to a data set representing a survey with a different instrument. This work helps to take a step towards efficient, adaptable, and accurate analyses of strong lenses with deep learning frameworks.
This study aimed to assess the prevalence of neck pain and to identify associated occupational factors in Portuguese office workers.
There is still necessary to quantify the association of the use of ...new technologies with neck pain in office workers.
Six hundred-and-one office workers completed online questionnaires with questions related to anthropometric parameters, work-related variables, workstation setup, and musculoskeletal pain from the Portuguese version of the Standardized Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire.
The prevalence of neck pain was 56.1%. An average of 35.6% of the office workers with neck pain reported pain in more than three body segments. The significantly risk factors were “age between 50 and 65” OR: 1.92 (1.26–2.91) P = 0.002, “working without break for 2 h” OR: 1.82 (1.00–3.31) P = 0.05, “more than 3 h” OR: 2.41 (1.35–4.10) P = 0.003, screen localization not centered” OR: 2.01 (1.01–4.00) P = 0.045, and “use of computer mouse more than 50% of the worktime” OR: 2.05 (1.14–3.71) P = 0.017.
There was a high prevalence of neck pain and a considerable number of painful body segments in office workers. Age, working without break, screen localization and the use of computer mouse where the significant risk factors associated with the development of neck pain.
A high prevalence of neck pain and number of areas with pain in office workers require a detailed pain mechanism assessment. There were associated occupational risk factors for the development of neck pain. Call for concerted actions to explore optimal and efficient management plans.
•A high prevalence of neck pain and number of areas with pain in office workers.•A detailed pain mechanism assessment is an implication for practice.•There were associated occupational risk factors for the development of neck pain.•Call for concerted actions to explore optimal and efficient management plans.
Using the tight-binding model, we report a gap opening in the energy spectrum of the twisted bilayer graphene under the application of pressure, that can be further amplified by the presence of a ...perpendicular bias voltage. The valley edges are located along the K-Gamma path of the superlattice Brillouin Zone, with the bandgap reaching values up to 200 meV in the single-particle picture. Employing the formalism of the semiconductor Bloch equations, we observe an enhancement of the bandgap due to the electron-electron interaction, with a renormalization of the bandgap of about 160 meV. From the solution of the corresponding Bethe-Salpeter equation, we show that this system supports highly anisotropic bright excitons whose electrons and holes are strongly hybridized between the adjacent layers.
New experimental tools are urgently required to better understand the metastatic process. The importance of such tools is underscored by the fact that many anti-cancer therapies are generally ...ineffective against established metastases. This makes a major contribution to the fact that metastatic spread is responsible for over 90% of cancer patient deaths. It was therefore timely that the recent “Seed and Soil: In Vivo Models of Metastasis” conference held in Berlin, Germany (27–29 of November 2017) aimed to give an in-depth overview of the latest research models and tools for studying metastasis, and to showcase recent findings from world-leading metastasis researchers. This Meeting Report summarises the major themes of this ground-breaking conference.
The aim of this study was to compare the gas production profiles and nutrient degradability of two diets using automatic and semiautomatic in vitro gas production techniques. A randomized block ...design in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement was adopted, with two diets comprising different proportions of nonfiber carbohydrates (NFCs) (low-NFC vs. high-NFC diets), two gas production measurement techniques (automatic vs. semiautomatic) and four replicates. The blocks represent three in vitro runs. Gas production from the fermentation of fiber carbohydrates (Vf2) was 22% higher when measured with the automatic technique than with the semiautomatic technique. The Vt of the low-NFC diet differed between techniques and was 22.9% higher using the automatic technique. A highly positive correlation (r = 0.96) was observed between the techniques, with a high coefficient of determination between the techniques (R2 = 0.93). There was greater degradability of dry matter (DMD) and organic matter (OMD) with the automatic technique. In both diets, the degradability of crude protein (CPD) was greater with the semiautomatic technique (p < 0.0001). The high-NFC diet resulted in a lower pH and lower NH3-N in the incubation medium than in that of the low-NFC diet, whereas the degradability of DM, OM and CP increased. The automatic and semi-automatic techniques similarly estimated the kinetic parameters and the profiles of total gas production, demonstrating the potential of both techniques for assessing the nutritional value of diets with different proportions of NFCs.
Mucopolysaccharidosis type VI (MPS VI; Maroteaux‐Lamy syndrome) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the N‐acetylgalactosamine‐4‐sulfatase (arylsulfatase B, ARSB) gene. ARSB is a ...lysosomal enzyme involved in the degradation of the glycosaminoglycans (GAG) dermatan and chondroitin sulfate. ARSB mutations reduce enzyme function and GAG degradation, causing lysosomal storage and urinary excretion of these partially degraded substrates. Disease onset and rate of progression is variable, producing a spectrum of clinical presentation. In this study, 105 MPS VI patients—representing about 10% of the world MPS VI population—were studied for molecular genetic and biochemical parameters. Direct sequencing of patient genomic DNA was used to identify ARSB mutations. In total, 83 different disease‐causing mutations were found, 62 of which were previously unknown. The novel sequence changes included: 38 missense mutations, five nonsense mutations, 11 deletions, one insertion, seven splice‐site mutations, and four polymorphisms. ARSB mutant protein and residual activity were determined on fibroblast extracts for each patient. The identification of many novel mutations unique to individuals/their families highlighted the genetic heterogeneity of the disorder and provided an appropriate cohort to study the MPS VI phenotypic spectrum. This mutation analysis has identified a clear correlation between genotype and urinary GAG that can be used to predict clinical outcome. Hum Mutat 28(9), 897–903, 2007. Published 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
People at risk of suicide tend to be isolated and cannot share their thoughts. For this reason, suicidal ideation monitoring becomes a hard task. Therefore, people at risk of suicide need to be ...monitored in a manner capable of identifying if and when they have a suicidal ideation, enabling professionals to perform timely interventions. This study aimed to develop the
tool, a solution that collects textual data from users' smartphones and identifies the existence of suicidal ideation. The solution has a virtual keyboard mobile application that passively collects user texts and sends them to a web platform to be processed. The platform classifies texts using natural language processing and a deep learning model to recognize suicidal ideation, and the results are presented to mental health professionals in dashboards. Text classification for sentiment analysis was implemented with different machine/deep learning algorithms. A validation study was conducted to identify the model with the best performance results. The BERTimbau Large model performed better, reaching a recall of 0.953 (accuracy: 0.955; precision: 0.961; F-score: 0.954; AUC: 0.954). The proposed tool demonstrated an ability to identify suicidal ideation from user texts, which enabled it to be experimented with in studies with professionals and their patients.
Brain abnormalities and congenital malformations have been linked to the circulating strain of Zika virus (ZIKV) in Brazil since 2016 during the microcephaly outbreak; however, the molecular ...mechanisms behind several of these alterations and differential viral molecular targets have not been fully elucidated. Here we explore the proteomic alterations induced by ZIKV by comparing the Brazilian (Br ZIKV) and the African (MR766) viral strains, in addition to comparing them to the molecular responses to the Dengue virus type 2 (DENV). Neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from induced pluripotent stem (iPSCs) were cultured both as monolayers and in suspension (resulting in neurospheres), which were then infected with ZIKV (Br ZIKV or ZIKV MR766) or DENV to assess alterations within neural cells. Large-scale proteomic analyses allowed the comparison not only between viral strains but also regarding the two- and three-dimensional cellular models of neural cells derived from iPSCs, and the effects on their interaction. Altered pathways and biological processes were observed related to cell death, cell cycle dysregulation, and neurogenesis. These results reinforce already published data and provide further information regarding the biological alterations induced by ZIKV and DENV in neural cells.
The first near‐global high‐resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the Earth has recently been released following the successful Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) of 2000. This data set ...will have applications in a wide range of fields and will be especially valuable in the Earth sciences. Prior to widespread dissemination and use, it is important to acquire knowledge regarding the accuracy characteristics. In this work a comprehensive analysis of the vertical errors present in the data set and the assessment of their effects on different hydrogeomorphic products is performed. In particular, the work consisted of (1) measuring the vertical accuracy of the data set in two areas with different topographic characteristics; (2) characterizing the error structure by comparing elevation residuals with terrain attributes; (3) assessing a wavelet‐based filter for removing speckle; and (4) assessing the effects of vertical errors on hydrogeomorphic products and on slope stability modeling. The results indicate that in the two sites, relief has a strong effect on the vertical accuracy of the SRTM DEM. In the high‐relief terrain, large errors and data voids are frequent, and their location is strongly influenced by topography, while in the low‐ to medium‐relief site, errors are smaller, although the hilly terrain still produces an effect on the sign of the errors. Speckling generates deviations in the drainage network in one of the investigated areas, but the application of a wavelet filter proved to be an effective tool for removing vertical noise, although further fine tuning is necessary. Vertical errors cause differences in automatically extracted hydrogeomorphic products that range between 4 and 1090.
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