Fast-MFQE: A Fast Approach for Multi-Frame Quality Enhancement on Compressed Video.

For compressed images and videos, quality enhancement is essential. Though there have been remarkable achievements related to deep learning, deep learning models are too large to apply to real-time tasks. Therefore, a fast multi-frame quality enhancement method for compressed video, named Fast-MFQE, is proposed to meet the requirement of video-quality enhancement for real-time applications. There are three main modules in this method. One is the image pre-processing building module (IPPB), which is used to reduce redundant information of input images. The second one is the spatio-temporal fusion attention (STFA) module. It is introduced to effectively merge temporal and spatial information of input video frames. The third one is the feature reconstruction network (FRN), which is developed to effectively reconstruct and enhance the spatio-temporal information. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of lightweight parameters, inference speed, and quality enhancement performance. Even at a resolution of 1080p, the Fast-MFQE achieves a remarkable inference speed of over 25 frames per second, while providing a PSNR increase of 19.6% on average when QP = 37.

Association between alcohol dehydrogenase-2 gene polymorphism and esophageal cancer risk: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: It has been shown that gene polymorphisms may play an important role in the carcinogenesis of esophageal cancer. This study is to investigate the role of alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (ADH1B) gene Arg47His polymorphism in esophageal cancer susceptibility. METHODS: Case-control studies published between January 2000 and June 2015 were searched to retrieve relevant articles. The pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) were employed to calculate the strength of association. RESULTS: A total of 23 relevant articles were finally selected for the analysis, including 9338 esophageal cancer patients and 14,896 matched controls. Overall, we found that the 47His allele was significant associated with the decreased risk of esophageal cancer when compared with the 47Arg allele in total populations (A vs. G: OR = 0.67, 95 % CI = 0.59-0.76, P < 0.00001). This protective relationship was observed under other genetic models as well (P < 0.00001). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed that ADH1B Arg47His variant was associated with the decreased esophageal cancer risk under all the genetic models (P < 0.00001) among Asians, especially in Chinese and Japanese; while in non-Asians, no significant correlation was detected in any genetic models (P > 0.05). Furthermore, Arg/Arg genotype of ADH1B Arg47His variant combined with drinking, smoking and males appeared to show a high risk in patients with esophageal cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggested that ADH1B gene Arg47His variant was associated with the decreased esophageal cancer risk. Genetic-environmental interaction should be further considered in the future researches.

Influence of Melatonin on Behavioral and Neurological Function of Rats with Focal Cerebral Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury via the JNK/FoxO3a/Bim Pathway.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of melatonin on behavioral and neurological function of rats with focal cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury via the JNK/FoxO3a/Bim pathway. METHODS: One hundred and twenty healthy male SD rats were randomized into the model group (Model: the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) model was constructed and received an equal volume of normal saline containing 5% DMSO), sham operation group (Sham: received no treatment except normal feeding), and low, medium, and high dose of melatonin group (L-MT, M-MT, and H-MT intraperitoneally injected 10, 20, and 40 mg/kg melatonin 30 min after IR, respectively), with 24 rats in each group. Following 24 h of reperfusion, the rats in each of the above groups were tested for neurological deficit symptoms and behavioral changes to screen the rats included in the study. HE and TUNEL stainings were performed to observe pathological changes. Levels of oxidative stress-related indexes, inflammatory factor-related indexes, nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65), and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in the rat brain were measured by ELISA. The JNK/FoxO3a/Bim pathway-related proteins as well as Bcl-2, Caspase-3, and Bax were examined using Western blot. RESULTS: Detection of behavioral indicators showed that the MACO model was successfully constructed in rats. L-MT, M-MT, and L-MT groups presented reduced malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS), tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α, interleukin- (IL-) 6, IL-1ß, IFN-γ, NF-κB p65, and apoptosis compared with the Model group (P < 0.05), and the improvement degree was better in the M-MT group versus the L-HT group. Bcl-2 protein expression in the brain tissue of L-MT, M-MT, and H-MT groups increased significantly, while Bax, Caspase-3, p-JNK, p-FoxO3a, and Bim protein expression declined markedly, versus the Model group (P < 0.05). The changes of indexes were greater in the M-MT group compared with that in the L-MT group. No significant difference was observed in all the above indexes between the M-MT group and the H-MT group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In the MACO rat model, melatonin can effectively reduce Bax and Caspase-3 levels by modulating the JNK/FoxO3a/Bim pathway, inhibit neuronal apoptosis, and alleviate neurological deficits by reducing the release of proinflammatory mediators, with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. In addition, 20 mg/kg is the optimal melatonin concentration.

[Intraoperative methylene blue and (99m)Tc-sulfur colloid isotope tracing for sentinel node mapping in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the accuracy of intaoperative methylene blue alone and in combination with (99m)Tc-sulfur colloid isotopic tracing for detection of sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Sixty-one patients with operable NSCLC who did not receive previous radiotherapy or chemotherapy were enrolled. Methylene blue and (99m)Tc-sulfur colloid were injected into the subserosal layer adjacent to the tumor, and SLNs were defined as those with blue staining or those containing 3 times more radioactivity than the surrounding tissue detected with a gamma probe. The SLN were removed with systematic lymph node dissection. All the removed lymph nodes were examined histopathologically with HE staining and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: Methylene blue alone showed a low detection rate (60.0%) and sensitivity (58.33%) for SLNs compared with the combination of methylene blue and isotope tracing (96.15% and 92.86%, respectively). CONCLUSION: The combination of methylene blue and (99m)Tc-sulfur colloid isotopic tracing allows accurate detection of the SLNs in early-stage NSCLC.