In the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) classification task, the data from the target and non-target classes are incredibly imbalanced. These class imbalance problems (CIPs) can hinder the ...classifier from achieving better performance, especially in deep learning. This paper proposed a novel data augmentation method called balanced Wasserstein generative adversarial network with gradient penalty (BWGAN-GP) to generate RSVP minority class data. The model learned useful features from majority classes and used them to generate minority-class artificial EEG data. It combines generative adversarial network (GAN) with autoencoder initialization strategy enables this method to learn an accurate class-conditioning in the latent space to drive the generation process towards the minority class. We used RSVP datasets from nine subjects to evaluate the classification performance of our proposed generated model and compare them with those of other methods. The average AUC obtained with BWGAN-GP on EEGNet was 94.43%, an increase of 3.7% over the original data. We also used different amounts of original data to investigate the effect of the generated EEG data on the calibration phase. Only 60% of original data were needed to achieve acceptable classification performance. These results show that the BWGAN-GP could effectively alleviate CIPs in the RSVP task and obtain the best performance when the two classes of data are balanced. The findings suggest that data augmentation techniques could generate artificial EEG to reduce calibration time in other brain-computer interfaces (BCI) paradigms similar to RSVP.
Abstract Purpose To compare the safety and efficacy of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and microwave ablation (MWA) in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) while conforming to the Milan criteria. ...Materials and methods The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board, and informed consent was waived due to the retrospective study design. One hundred ninety-eight patients met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Eighty-five patients with 98 lesions received RFA, and 113 patients with 131 lesions underwent MWA. Complete ablation rates, local recurrence rates, disease-free survival rates, cumulative survival rates, and major complications were compared between the two treatment groups. Results Complete ablation rates were 99.0% for RFA and 98.5% for MWA ( P = 1.000). Local recurrence rates were 5.2% for RFA and 10.9% for MWA ( P = 0.127). Disease-free survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 4 years were 80.3%, 61.8%, 39.5%, and 19.0% in the RFA group and 75.0%, 59.4%, 32.1%, and 16.1% in the MWA group, respectively ( P = 0.376). Cumulative survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 4 years were 98.7%, 92.3%, 82.7%, and 77.8% in the RFA group and 98.0%, 90.7%, 77.6%, and 77.6% in the MWA group, respectively ( P = 0.729). Major complication rates were 2.4% and 2.7% in the RFA group and the MWA group, respectively ( P = 1.000). There were no patient deaths due to treatment. Conclusion RFA and MWA have the same clinical value in treating HCC conforming to the Milan criteria. RFA and MWA are both safe and effective techniques for HCC as clinical application.
Theanine, a unique bioactive constituent from tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves, is widely used as a functional ingredient and dietary supplement. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective ...effects of theanine and its molecular mechanism, the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation mouse model was employed in this study. The survival rate of mice in the theanine-treated group increased significantly compared with that of LPS-only group mice. Furthermore, ICR male mice were randomly divided into three or four groups: control, LPS (LPS treatment only), LPS + theanine (20 mg/kg/day), and theanine (theanine treatment only). The results showed that compared with the LPS group, the liver damage and oxidative stress of the theanine-treated group decreased significantly, based on plasma alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) concentrations, hepatic total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, and histological scores and apoptosis terminal deoxynucleotide transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labeling (TUNEL) staining and caspase-3 activity in the liver tissues. Furthermore, compared with no treatment, pretreatment with theanine significantly decreased the release of interleukin (IL)-1β and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, inhibited the expression of several inflammatory factors (including IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6), and increased the IL-10/interferon (IFN)-γ ratio in the hepatic tissues. In the LPS-induced inflammation model, theanine inhibited the expression of proinflammatory mediators involved in the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3), and attenuated the phosphorylation of NF-κB in the hepatic tissues. Moreover, theanine suppressed the acute-phase response (elevated nitric oxide and C-reactive protein levels). Furthermore, theanine suppressed the LPS-induced inflammatory state by normalizing hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis hyperactivity. Taken together, the results suggest that theanine potentially ameliorates LPS-induced inflammation and acute liver injury; molecular mechanism of action may involve normalization of HPA axis hyperactivity and inactivation of the NF-κB signaling pathway.
The changes in hormones, diet, and hygiene associated with pregnancy are associated with oral diseases. There is insufficient awareness of the importance of oral health during pregnancy. This study ...investigated the oral health status and knowledge amongst pregnant women in Shanghai.
This cross-sectional study enrolled pregnant women at the Shanghai Red House Obstetrics & Gynecology Hospital in December 2020. The Fourth National Oral Health Questionnaire was used to evaluate the oral health status. Decayed/missing/filled teeth (DMFT) were the sum of the number of decayed, missing due to caries, and filled teeth. The chi-square test and Kruskal–Wallis test were used to compare the groups.
A total of 224 pregnant women were enrolled. The rates of dental caries were 69.8%, periodontal health was 1.8%, calculus detection was 95.6%, shallow periodontal pocket was 51.1%, deep periodontal pocket was 4.9%, regular oral examination was 22.8%, correct brushing was 49.6%, and prepregnancy oral examination was 20.1%. DMFT was 2.27, and the caries filling ratio was 45.4%. The number of missing teeth increased with age (P < .001). Only 26.3% used dental floss more than once a day, 47.3% rinsed the mouth more than twice a day, and 46.9% cleaned their tongue coating every week. In addition, 99% of the pregnant women agreed that “oral health was vital to their lives” and 97.7% agreed that “regular oral examination was necessary.”
The oral health status amongst pregnant women in Shanghai was poor, but oral health awareness and attitudes were relatively high.
This paper reports a benchmark dataset acquired with a brain-computer interface (BCI) system based on the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) paradigm. The dataset consists of 64-channel ...Electroencephalogram (EEG) data from 64 healthy subjects (sub1, …, sub64) while they performed a target images detection task. For each subject, the data contained 2 groups (‘A’ and ‘B’). Each group contained 2 blocks and each block included 40 trials which corresponded to 40 stimuli sequences. Each sequence contained 100 images presented at 10 Hz (10 images per second). The stimuli images were street view images of two categories: target images with human and non-target images without human. Target images were presented randomly in the stimulus sequence with a probability of 1~4%. During the stimulus presentation, subjects were asked to search for the target images and ignore the non-target images in a subjective manner. To keep all original information, the dataset was the raw continuous data without any processing. On one hand, the dataset can be used as a benchmark dataset to compare the algorithms for target identification in RSVP-based BCIs. On the other hand, the dataset can be used to design new system diagrams and evaluate their BCI performance without collecting any new data through offline simulation. Furthermore, the dataset also provides high-quality data for characterizing and modeling event-related potentials (ERPs) and steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) in RSVP-based BCIs. The dataset is freely available from http://bci.med.tsinghua.edu.cn/download.html.
The tetracyclic diterpenoid carboxylic acids, gibberellins (GAs), orchestrate a broad spectrum of biological programs. In nature, GAs or GA-like substance is produced in bacteria, fungi, and plants. ...The function of GAs in microorganisms remains largely unknown. Phytohormones GAs mediate diverse growth and developmental processes through the life cycle of plants. The GA biosynthetic and metabolic pathways in bacteria, fungi, and plants are remarkably divergent. In vascular plants, phytohormone GA, receptor GID1, and repressor DELLA shape the GA–GID1–DELLA module in GA signaling cascade. Sequence reshuffling, functional divergence, and adaptive selection are main driving forces during the evolution of GA pathway components. The GA–GID1–DELLA complex interacts with second messengers and other plant hormones to integrate environmental and endogenous cues, which is beneficial to phytohormones homeostasis and other biological events. In this review, we first briefly describe GA metabolism pathway, signaling perception, and its second messengers. Then, we examine the evolution of GA pathway genes. Finally, we focus on reviewing the crosstalk between GA–GID1–DELLA module and phytohormones. Deciphering mechanisms underlying plant hormonal interactions are not only beneficial to addressing basic biological questions, but also have practical implications for developing crops with ideotypes to meet the future demand.
p62/SQSTM1 is a selective autophagy receptor that drives ubiquitinated cargos towards autophagic degradation. This receptor is also a stress-induced scaffold protein that helps cells to cope with ...oxidative stress through activation of the Nrf2 pathway. Functional disorders of p62 are closely associated with multiple neurodegenerative diseases and cancers. The gene encoding the E3 ubiquitin ligase substrate-binding adapter SPOP is frequently mutated in prostate cancer (PCa), but the molecular mechanisms underlying how SPOP mutations contribute to PCa tumorigenesis remain poorly understood. Here, we report that cytoplasmic SPOP binds and induces the non-degradative ubiquitination of p62 at residue K420 within the UBA domain. This protein modification decreases p62 puncta formation, liquid phase condensation, dimerization, and ubiquitin-binding capacity, thereby suppressing p62-dependent autophagy. Moreover, we show that SPOP relieves p62-mediated Keap1 sequestration, which ultimately decreases Nrf2-mediated transcriptional activation of antioxidant genes. We further show that PCa-associated SPOP mutants lose the capacity to ubiquitinate p62 and instead promote autophagy and the redox response in a dominant-negative manner. Thus, our findings indicate oncogenic roles of autophagy and Nrf2 activation in the tumorigenesis of SPOP-mutated PCa.
The diffusion coefficients of both ferrocene (Fc) and ferrocenium (Fc
+) in acetonitrile containing 0.1 M tetra-
n-butylammoniumperchlorate (TBAP) or 0.1 M tetra-
n-butylammoniumhexafluorophosphate ...(TBAPF
6) are reported, determined using the technique of double potential step chronoamperometry at a microdisk electrode. Activation energies of diffusion,
E
a,
D
are calculated for both redox species in each system. Diffusion coefficient ratios of the diffusion coefficients of Fc compared to that of Fc
+ in each case were found to be very close to 1. Activation energies of diffusion,
E
a,
D
, for ferrocene and ferrocenium in the acetonitrile/perchlorate system were determined as 6.5 (±0.2) and 7.2 (±0.5)
kJ
mol
−1, respectively. Similar values were determined for the acetonitrile/hexafluorophosphate system: 7.1 (±0.1)
kJ
mol
−1 for Fc and 7.4 (±0.3)
kJ mol
−1 for Fc
+. Cyclic voltammograms were recorded for ferrocene oxidation in both acetonitrile/electrolyte systems and it was observed that the
E
1
2
values were similar and independent of the electrolyte used.
We aimed to examine the association of oxidative stress, programmed cell death, smoking, and the
gene in the risk of lung carcinogenesis. The two-step Mendelian randomization will reveal evidence ...supporting the association of the exposure and mediators with the resulting outcome.
In step 1, we estimated the impact of smoking exposure on lung carcinogenesis and programmed cell death. Our study involved a total of 500,000 patients of European ancestry, from whom we obtained genotype imputation information. Specifically, we genotyped two arrays: the UK Biobank Axiom (UKBB) which accounted for 95% of marker content, and the UK BiLIEVE Axiom (UKBL). This allowed us to unmask the association between smoking exposure and the incidence of lung carcinogenesis. In step 2, we further examined the effects of smoking on oxidative stress, programmed cell death, and the incidence of lung carcinogenesis.
Different outcomes emerged from the two-step Mendelian randomization. The GSTM1 gene variant was found to be critical in the development of lung carcinogenesis, as its deletion or deficiency can induce the condition. A GWAS study on participant information obtained from the UK Biobank revealed that smoking interferes with the GSTM1 gene, causing programmed cell death in the lungs and ultimately leading to lung carcinogenesis. The relative risk of developing lung carcinogenesis associated with oxidative stress was significantly high among current smokers (a hazard ratio of 17.8, 95% confidence interval of 12.2-26.0) and heavy smokers (a hazard ratio of 16.6 and a 95% confidence interval of 13.6-20.3) compared to individuals who never smoked. The GSTM1 gene polymorphism was found to be 0.006 among participants who have never smoked, <0.001 among ever-smokers, and 0.002 and <0.001 among current and former smokers, respectively. We compared the effect of smoking within two particular time frames, 6 years and 55 years, and found that smoking's impact on the GSTM1 gene was highest among participants who were 55 years old. The genetic risk peaked among individuals aged 50 years and above (PRS of at least 80%).
Exposure to smoking is a significant factor in developing lung carcinogenesis, as it is associated with programmed cell death and other mediators involved in the condition. Oxidative stress caused by smoking is also a key mechanism in lung carcinogenesis. The results of the present study highlight the association between oxidative stress, programmed cell death, and the GSTM1 gene in the development of lung carcinogenesis.
Objective: The tradeoff between calibration effort and model performance still hinders the user experience for steady-state visual evoked brain-computer interfaces (SSVEP-BCI). To address this issue ...and improve model generalizability, this work investigated the adaptation from the cross-dataset model to avoid the training process, while maintaining high prediction ability. Methods: When a new subject enrolls, a group of user-independent (UI) models is recommended as the representative from a multi-source data pool. The representative model is then augmented with online adaptation and transfer learning techniques based on user-dependent (UD) data. The proposed method is validated on both offline (N=55) and online (N=12) experiments. Results: Compared with the UD adaptation, the recommended representative model relieved approximately 160 trials of calibration efforts for a new user. In the online experiment, the time window decreased from 2 s to 0.56±0.2 s, while maintaining high prediction accuracy of 0.89-0.96. Finally, the proposed method achieved the average information transfer rate (ITR) of 243.49 bits/min, which is the highest ITR ever reported in a complete calibration-free setting. The results of the offline result were consistent with the online experiment. Conclusion: Representatives can be recommended even in a cross-subject/device/session situation. With the help of represented UI data, the proposed method can achieve sustained high performance without a training process. Significance: This work provides an adaptive approach to the transferable model for SSVEP-BCIs, enabling a more generalized, plug-and-play and high-performance BCI free of calibrations.
PDF
