Attention-Guided Sample-Based Feature Enhancement Network for Crowded Pedestrian Detection Using Vision Sensors.

Occlusion presents a major obstacle in the development of pedestrian detection technologies utilizing computer vision. This challenge includes both inter-class occlusion caused by environmental objects obscuring pedestrians, and intra-class occlusion resulting from interactions between pedestrians. In complex and variable urban settings, these compounded occlusion patterns critically limit the efficacy of both one-stage and two-stage pedestrian detectors, leading to suboptimal detection performance. To address this, we introduce a novel architecture termed the Attention-Guided Feature Enhancement Network (AGFEN), designed within the deep convolutional neural network framework. AGFEN improves the semantic information of high-level features by mapping it onto low-level feature details through sampling, creating an effect comparable to mask modulation. This technique enhances both channel-level and spatial-level features concurrently without incurring additional annotation costs. Furthermore, we transition from a traditional one-to-one correspondence between proposals and predictions to a one-to-multiple paradigm, facilitating non-maximum suppression using the prediction set as the fundamental unit. Additionally, we integrate these methodologies by aggregating local features between regions of interest (RoI) through the reuse of classification weights, effectively mitigating false positives. Our experimental evaluations on three widely used datasets demonstrate that AGFEN achieves a 2.38% improvement over the baseline detector on the CrowdHuman dataset, underscoring its effectiveness and potential for advancing pedestrian detection technologies.

LncRNA MFRL regulates the phenotypic switch of vascular smooth muscle cells to attenuate arterial remodeling by encoding a novel micropeptide MFRLP.

BACKGROUND: Arterial remodeling is a common pathophysiological change in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases in which the phenotypic switch of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) plays an important role. Recently, an increasing number of long non-coding RNAs(lncRNAs) have been shown to encode micropeptides that play biological roles and have great clinical transformation potential. However, the role of micropeptides encoded by lncRNAs in arterial remodeling has not been well studied and requires further exploration. METHODS AND RESULTS: Through bioinformatic analysis and experimental verification, we found that a new lncRNA, the mitochondrial function-related lncRNA (MFRL), encodes a 64-amino acid micropeptide, MFRLP. MFRL and MFRLP play important roles in the phenotypic switch of VSMC. Further experiments showed that MFRLP interacts with mitochondrial cytochrome b to reduce accumulation of reactive oxygen species, suppress mitophagy and inhibit the VSMC switch from contractile to synthetic phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: LncRNA MFRL encodes the micropeptide MFRLP, which interacts with mitochondrial cytochrome b to inhibit the VSMC switch from contractile to synthetic phenotype and improve arterial remodeling.

Robust Lidar-Inertial Odometry with Ground Condition Perception and Optimization Algorithm for UGV.

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) are making more and more progress in many application scenarios in recent years, such as exploring unknown wild terrain, working in precision agriculture and serving in emergency rescue. Due to the complex ground conditions and changeable surroundings of these unstructured environments, it is challenging for these UGVs to obtain robust and accurate state estimations by using sensor fusion odometry without prior perception and optimization for specific scenarios. In this paper, based on an error-state Kalman filter (ESKF) fusion model, we propose a robust lidar-inertial odometry with a novel ground condition perception and optimization algorithm specifically designed for UGVs. The probability distribution gained from the raw inertial measurement unit (IMU) measurements during a certain time period and the state estimation of ESKF were both utilized to evaluate the flatness of ground conditions in real-time; then, by analyzing the relationship between the current ground condition and the accuracy of the state estimation, the tightly coupled lidar-inertial odometry was dynamically optimized further by adjusting the related parameters of the processing algorithm of the lidar points to obtain robust and accurate ego-motion state estimations of UGVs. The method was validated in various types of environments with changeable ground conditions, and the robustness and accuracy are shown through the consistent accurate state estimation in different ground conditions compared with the state-of-art lidar-inertial odometry systems.

Knockdown of ubiquitin-like modifier-activating enzyme 2 promotes apoptosis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma cells.

Small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) proteins are involved in the development of tumors. Ubiquitin-like modifier-activating enzyme 2 (UBA2) is an important member of the SUMO modification system; however, its role in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is unclear. Therefore, we investigated the expression and function of UBA2 in ccRCC. Both mRNA and protein expression levels of UBA2 were found to be higher in ccRCC than in normal renal tissues and significantly related to the tumor size, Fuhrman grade, and tumor stage. UBA2 knockdown inhibited ccRCC cell growth, promoted apoptosis in vitro and in vivo, and decreased the abundance of a p53 mutant, c-Myc, and key enzymes of the SUMO modification system. Meanwhile, overexpression of UBA2 had the opposite effects. Overexpression of the p53 mutant or c-Myc alleviated the effects of UBA2 knockdown on ccRCC cell proliferation and apoptosis. In conclusion, targeting UBA2 may have a therapeutic potential against ccRCC.

Ciliary muscle morphology and accommodative lag in hyperopic anisometropic children.

PURPOSE: To investigate the cross-sectional area (CSA) and thickness of the ciliary muscle and their correlation with accommodative lag in hyperopic anisometropic children. METHODS: Forty children aged between 6 and 10 years with hyperopic anisometropia were recruited. The more hyperopic eye (mean refractive power of 3.51 ± 1.70 D) was compared with the less hyperopic eye (mean refractive power of 0.78 ± 1.41 D). The thickness and CSA of the ciliary muscle were measured with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) images at four meridians. The differences between the eyes and the correlations between CSA, thickness, axial length and accommodative lag were accessed. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in CSA between the two groups at any meridian, except at the inferior meridian (P < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in ciliary muscle thickness between eyes at any meridian, except on the temporal and the nasal meridians (P < 0.05). There was a significant difference in the ratio of CSA to axial length at all meridians between the two groups (all P < 0.05). Accommodative lag was 1.65 ± 0.55 D and 0.93 ± 0.45 D in the more and less hyperopic eyes, respectively, which was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between the CSA with the axial length and the accommodative lag. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated a greater degree of accommodative lag in the more hyperopic eye of anisometropic children. There was no correlation among accommodative lag, axial length and CSA of the ciliary muscle with the degree of hyperopia.

Plasma levels of receptor interacting protein kinase-3 correlated with coronary artery disease.

BACKGROUND: Necroptosis plays an important role in human atherosclerosis and atheroma development. Since receptor interacting protein kinase-3 (RIP3) acts as a key mediator of necroptosis, this study aimed to explore its relationship between plasma RIP3 levels and coronary artery disease (CAD) and discover a potential new biomarker for screening CAD subtypes and severity. METHODS: A total of 318 patients with CAD who had coronary angiography and 166 controls in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from September 2017 to January 2018 were enrolled in this study. Patients with CAD were divided into three subgroups: patients with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD), patients with unstable angina (UA), and patients with myocardial infarction (MI). The severity of atherosclerosis was determined by Gensini score (GSS). Logistic regression was used to determine the relationship between plasma RIP3 levels and CAD. The correlation between plasma RIP3 and GSS was calculated using multiple linear regression models. RESULTS: Overall, plasma RIP3 levels were significantly higher than serum RIP3 levels. Plasma RIP3 levels in patients with CAD were significantly higher than those in controls. Plasma RIP3 levels were strongly associated with CAD (odds ratio: 6.00, 95% confidence interval 3.04-11.81; P < 0.001). Plasma RIP3 levels increased linearly from controls to patients with SCAD, then patients with UA, and finally to patients with MI. We found a significantly positive correlation between proportion of cases of acute coronary syndrome in subjects and their plasma RIP3 level quartile. Plasma RIP3 levels were also associated with GSS (B 0.027; standard error 0.012; P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma RIP3 levels were independently associated with CAD. Plasma RIP3 levels could potentially supplement clinical assessment to screen CAD and determine CAD severity.

[Effects of acupuncture on lactoferrin content in tears and tear secretion in patients suffering from dry eyes: a randomized controlled trial].

BACKGROUND: With the understanding of the immune inflammatory response in the pathogenesis of dry eyes, and the limitations of widely used artificial tears and numerous pharmaceuticals and methods to promote tear secretion, clinicians pay more attention to the therapies that can promote tear secretion actively. Acupuncture treatment for dry eye may meet this requirement. OBJECTIVE: To observe the clinical efficacy of acupuncture treatment on dry eye and the effects on duration, and to examine the mechanisms of acupuncture in treating patients with dye eyes. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS: The study was performed at Department of Ophthalmology, Shuguang Hospital, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine from August 2010 to May 2011. Patients with the primary diagnosis of dry eye were enrolled. Sixty-five patients were randomly divided into treatment group and control group, and were given 3 weeks of acupuncture treatment or artificial tear therapy respectively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to detect the lactoferrin content of the tears before and after treatment. In order to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment methods, the Schirmer I test and break-up time were also measured. RESULTS: Compared with before treatment, the lactoferrin content in the tears of patients in the treatment group increased, break-up time was prolonged and the result of the Schirmer I test showed improvement after 3 weeks of treatment. The indexes mentioned above did not change in the control group after treatment. There were no significant differences in tear lactoferrin and Schirmer I test between one week after treatment and after 3-week treatment in the treatment group, but break-up time was significantly shortened. The result of Schirmer I test in the treatment group was significantly higher than that in the control group one week after treatment. CONCLUSION: Acupuncture can increase tear lactoferrin level, extend tear film break-up time and promote tear secretion in patients with dry eye in a time-limited trial. With the end of treatment, the effect decreased.