SPTS v2: Single-Point Scene Text Spotting.

End-to-end scene text spotting has made significant progress due to its intrinsic synergy between text detection and recognition. Previous methods commonly regard manual annotations such as horizontal rectangles, rotated rectangles, quadrangles, and polygons as a prerequisite, which are much more expensive than using single-point. Our new framework, SPTS v2, allows us to train high-performing text-spotting models using a single-point annotation. SPTS v2 reserves the advantage of the auto-regressive Transformer with an Instance Assignment Decoder (IAD) through sequentially predicting the center points of all text instances inside the same predicting sequence, while with a Parallel Recognition Decoder (PRD) for text recognition in parallel, which significantly reduces the requirement of the length of the sequence. These two decoders share the same parameters and are interactively connected with a simple but effective information transmission process to pass the gradient and information. Comprehensive experiments on various existing benchmark datasets demonstrate the SPTS v2 can outperform previous state-of-the-art single-point text spotters with fewer parameters while achieving 19× faster inference speed. Within the context of our SPTS v2 framework, our experiments suggest a potential preference for single-point representation in scene text spotting when compared to other representations. Such an attempt provides a significant opportunity for scene text spotting applications beyond the realms of existing paradigms.

SLOGAN: Handwriting Style Synthesis for Arbitrary-Length and Out-of-Vocabulary Text.

Large amounts of labeled data are urgently required for the training of robust text recognizers. However, collecting handwriting data of diverse styles, along with an immense lexicon, is considerably expensive. Although data synthesis is a promising way to relieve data hunger, two key issues of handwriting synthesis, namely, style representation and content embedding, remain unsolved. To this end, we propose a novel method that can synthesize parameterized and controllable handwriting S tyles for arbitrary-Length and O ut-of-vocabulary text based on a G enerative A dversarial N etwork (GAN), termed SLOGAN. Specifically, we propose a style bank to parameterize specific handwriting styles as latent vectors, which are input to a generator as style priors to achieve the corresponding handwritten styles. The training of the style bank requires only writer identification of the source images, rather than attribute annotations. Moreover, we embed the text content by providing an easily obtainable printed style image, so that the diversity of the content can be flexibly achieved by changing the input printed image. Finally, the generator is guided by dual discriminators to handle both the handwriting characteristics that appear as separated characters and in a series of cursive joins. Our method can synthesize words that are not included in the training vocabulary and with various new styles. Extensive experiments have shown that high-quality text images with great style diversity and rich vocabulary can be synthesized using our method, thereby enhancing the robustness of the recognizer.

Sugarcane mosaic virus orchestrates the lactate fermentation pathway to support its successful infection.

Viruses often establish their own infection by altering host metabolism. How viruses co-opt plant metabolism to support their successful infection remains an open question. Here, we used untargeted metabolomics to reveal that lactate accumulates immediately before and after robust sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) infection. Induction of lactate-involved anaerobic glycolysis is beneficial to SCMV infection. The enzyme activity and transcriptional levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were up-regulated by SCMV infection, and LDH is essential for robust SCMV infection. Moreover, LDH relocates in viral replicase complexes (VRCs) by interacting with SCMV-encoded 6K2 protein, a key protein responsible for inducing VRCs. Additionally, lactate could promote SCMV infection by suppressing plant defense responses. Taken together, we have revealed a viral strategy to manipulate host metabolism to support replication compartment but also depress the defense response during the process of infection.

Development and implementation of an LIS-based validation system for autoverification toward zero defects in the automated reporting of laboratory test results.

BACKGROUND: Validation of the autoverification function is one of the critical steps to confirm its effectiveness before use. It is crucial to verify whether the programmed algorithm follows the expected logic and produces the expected results. This process has always relied on the assessment of human-machine consistency and is mostly a manually recorded and time-consuming activity with inherent subjectivity and arbitrariness that cannot guarantee a comprehensive, timely and continuous effectiveness evaluation of the autoverification function. To overcome these inherent limitations, we independently developed and implemented a laboratory information system (LIS)-based validation system for autoverification. METHODS: We developed a correctness verification and integrity validation method (hereinafter referred to as the "new method") in the form of a human-machine dialog. The system records personnel review steps and determines whether the human-machine review results are consistent. Laboratory personnel then analyze the reasons for any inconsistency according to system prompts, add to or modify rules, reverify, and finally improve the accuracy of autoverification. RESULTS: The validation system was successfully established and implemented. For a dataset consisting of 833 rules for 30 assays, 782 rules (93.87%) were successfully verified in the correctness verification phase, and 51 rules were deleted due to execution errors. In the integrity validation phase, 24 projects were easily verified, while the other 6 projects still required the additional rules or changes to the rule settings. Taking the Hepatitis B virus test as an example, from the setting of 65 rules to the automated releasing of 3000 reports, the validation time was reduced from 452 (manual verification) to 275 h (new method), a reduction in validation time of 177 h. Furthermore, 94.6% (168/182) of laboratory users believed the new method greatly reduced the workload, effectively controlled the report risk and felt satisfied. Since 2019, over 3.5 million reports have been automatically reviewed and issued without a single clinical complaint. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to realize autoverification validation as a human-machine interaction. The new method effectively controls the risks of autoverification, shortens time consumption, and improves the efficiency of laboratory verification.

Utility of process capability indices in assessment of quality control processes at a clinical laboratory chain.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the utility of the process capability indices Cp and Cpk for assessing the quality control processes at chain laboratory facilities. METHODS: In April 2020, the minimum Cp and Cpk values for 33 assays of a laboratory chain with 19 facilities were collected for further analysis and a total of 627 datasets (Cp and Cpk ) were compared. In addition, standard values for Cp and Cpk , defined as the lowest of the top 20%, were obtained for comparison and the indices were used to determine whether precision or trueness improvements were required for the corresponding assay. RESULTS: A total of 627 datasets of 33 assays from 19 laboratory facilities were collected for further analysis. Based on the Cp results, 329 (52.5%), 211 (33.7%), 65 (10.3%), and 22 (3.5%) were rated as excellent, good, marginal, and poor, respectively. While the corresponding results for Cpk were 300 (47.8%), 216 (34.4%), 79 (12.6%), and 32 (5.1%). In addition, it was noteworthy that eight (Cp criteria) and six assays (Cpk criteria) were rated as excellent or good at all 19 facilities. Comparison of the process capability indices at the Jinan KingMed Center with the standard values revealed that total protein, albumin, and urea showed trueness individual improvement, precision individual improvement, and precision common improvement, respectively, while the results of other assays were stable. CONCLUSION: Process capability indices are useful for evaluating the quality control procedures in laboratory facilities and can help improve the precision and trueness of laboratory tests.

Outcomes of prior cervical cytology and HR-HPV testing in women subsequently diagnosed with CIN1, CIN2/3, and invasive cervical cancer: a 4-year routine clinical experience after implementation of systematic training and quality control programs.

BACKGROUND: In 2013, Jinan KingMed Diagnostics (JKD) first established a systematic cervical cytology training and quality control (QC) program in Shandong Province, China. We compared the efficacy of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) detection, cytology, and their combination in routine clinical practice after the implementation of the training and QC program to identify the optimal first-line screening method in this region. METHODS: The data of patients histologically diagnosed with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 1, CIN2/3, and invasive cervical cancer (ICC) between January 2014 and December 2017 were retrieved from the JKD database. Cytology and/or HR-HPV testing results within 3 months preceding the CIN1 diagnoses and 6 months preceding the CIN2/3 and ICC diagnoses were analyzed. RESULTS: Prior screening data were available for 1829 CIN1 patients, 2309 CIN2/3 patients, and 680 ICC patients. Cytology alone and HR-HPV testing alone had similar rates of positive results for CIN2/3 (97.2% [854/879] vs. 95.4% [864/906], P = 0.105) and ICC detection (89.1% [205/230] vs. 92.7% [204/220], P = 0.185). Compared with either method alone, co-testing slightly increased the screening sensitivity for CIN2/3 (99.8% [523/524], all P < 0.001) and ICC (99.6% [229/230], all P < 0.001) detection. In the CIN1 group, cervical cytology alone (92.9% [520/560]) was more sensitive than HR-HPV testing alone (79.9% [570/713], P < 0.001), and co-testing (95.3% [530/556]) did not significantly improve the screening sensitivity (P = 0.105). CONCLUSIONS: After the implementation of a systematic training and QC program, both cytology and HR-HPV testing may be adopted for primary cervical cancer screening in Shandong Province.

DDX23, an Evolutionary Conserved dsRNA Sensor, Participates in Innate Antiviral Responses by Pairing With TRIF or MAVS.

DExD/H-box helicases play essential roles in RNA metabolism, and emerging data suggests that they have additional functions in antiviral immunity across species. However, little is known about this evolutionarily conserved family in antiviral responses in lower species. Here, through isolation of poly(I:C)-binding proteins in amphioxus, an extant basal chordate, we found that DExD/H-box helicases DHX9, DHX15, and DDX23 are responsible for cytoplasmic dsRNA detection in amphioxus. Since the antiviral roles of DDX23 have not been characterized in mammals, we performed further poly(I:C) pull-down assays and found that human DDX23 binds to LMW poly(I:C) through its N-terminal region, suggesting that DDX23 is an evolutionarily conserved dsRNA sensor. Knockdown of human DDX23 enhanced the replication of VSV and reduced the activation of the NF-κB and IRF3. Moreover, when stimulated with poly(I:C) or VSV, human DDX23 translocated from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and formed complexes with TRIF or MAVS to initiate downstream signaling. Collectively, this comparative immunological study not only defined DDX23 as an emerging nuclear pattern recognition receptor (PRR) for the innate sensing of an RNA virus, but also extended the essential role of the DExD/H helicase family in viral RNA sensing from mammals to basal chordates.

Widespread introgression in Chinese indigenous chicken breeds from commercial broiler.

Chinese indigenous chickens (CICs) constitute world-renowned genetic resources due to their excellent traits, including early puberty, good meat quality and strong resistance to disease. Unfortunately, the introduction of a large number of commercial chickens in the past two decades has had an adverse effect on CICs. Using the chicken 60 K single nucleotide polymorphism chip, we assessed the genetic diversity and population structure of 1,187 chickens, representing eight Chinese indigenous chicken breeds, two hybrid chicken breeds, two ancestral chicken breeds, two commercial populations and additional red jungle fowl. By investigating haplotype similarity, we found extensive gene introgression from commercial broiler to almost all CICs. Approximately 15% of the genome, on average, of CICs was introgressed, ranging from 0.64% for Tibetan chicken to 21.52% for Huiyang Bearded chicken. Further analysis revealed signals consistent with positive selection in the introgression loci. For the first time, we systematically mapped and quantified introgression from commercial broiler to CICs at the whole genome level. Our data provided a usable resource for chicken genetic diversity, and our findings indicated a dire need for protecting the genetic resources of CICs.

HPV prevalence and genotype distribution among women in Shandong Province, China: Analysis of 94,489 HPV genotyping results from Shandong's largest independent pathology laboratory.

BACKGROUND: Data regarding human papillomavirus (HPV) prevalence and genotype distribution are limited in Shandong Province, China. Therefore, we investigated the recent HPV prevalence and genotype distribution among females in Shandong and aimed to provide comprehensive data to guide HPV-based cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination for this population of Chinese women. METHODS: HPV testing results of 94,489 females were retrospectively reviewed and extracted from the database of Jinan KingMed Diagnostics, the largest independent pathology laboratory in Shandong Province, China. HPV was detected by a HPV genotyping panel from January 2011 to June 2017. The overall prevalence, age-specific prevalence, and genotype distribution were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 26,839 cases (28.4%) were HPV-positive, with 4.3% positive for low- or undetermined-risk HPV (lr-/urHPV)-only, 18.1% positive for high-risk HPV (hrHPV)-only, and 6.1% positive for mixed lr-/urHPV and hrHPV infections. Single HPV infections accounted for 62.8%, while the rest were multiple HPV infections of two or more genotypes. HPV16 (5.8%), HPV52 (5.1%), HPV58 (3.5%), HPV51 (2.6%), and HPV56 (2.3%) were the five most common hrHPV genotypes; while HPV81 (2.8%), HPV53 (2.8%), and HPV6 (2.3%) were the three most common lr-/urHPV genotypes. HPV18 (1.7%) was only the ninth most common hrHPV genotype. HPV16 but not HPV52 was more common in single infections than in multiple infections. The distribution of both mixed lr-/urHPV and hrHPV as well as overall HPV infections demonstrated a bimodal pattern across age groups, of which the first peak appeared in the younger group and the second peak was found in older women. A similar age-specific distribution was observed in multiple infections of three or more subtypes as well. Moreover, the proportion of mixed lr-/urHPV and hrHPV infection significantly increased, while those of lr-/urHPV-only and hrHPV-only infections declined as the number of co-infections increased during the study period. CONCLUSION: This large daily clinical practice report shows that HPV prevalence and genotype distribution are different in this population, who had limited cervical cancer screening service, compared to those in developed countries. Therefore, different strategies should be developed for HPV-based cervical cancer screening and vaccine-based HPV prevention in Shandong Province.

Polygenic Basis and Variable Genetic Architectures Contribute to the Complex Nature of Body Weight -A Genome-Wide Study in Four Chinese Indigenous Chicken Breeds.

Body weight (BW) is one of the most important economic traits for animal production and breeding, and it has been studied extensively for its phenotype-genotype associations. While mapping studies have mostly aimed at finding as many loci as possible that contributed to the variation in BW, the role of other factors in its genetic architecture, including their frequencies in the population and their interactions, have been largely overlooked. To comprehensively characterized the genetic architecture of BW, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) both at the single-marker and haplotype level on birds from four indigenous Chinese chicken breeds (Chahua, Silkie, Langshan, and Beard), rather than studying crosses between two founder lines. Additionally, samples from two more breeds (Red Junglefowl and Recessive White) were included to better reflect variable genetic characteristics across populations. Six loci were mapped in this study, revealing the polygenic basis underlying BW. Moreover, by further examining the frequencies of the significantly associated haplotypes in each subpopulation and their effect sizes, most of the loci were found to affect BW in the Beard chicken breed alone. Two loci in GGA9 and GGA27, however, had a common effect on BW across subpopulations, showing that different underlying genetic mechanisms contribute to the phenotypic variability. These findings, particularly the variable genetic architectures found in different loci, improve our understanding of the overall genetic contributions to the large variability in BW among Chinese indigenous chicken breeds. These findings thus will have important implications for future chicken breeding.

Previous cervical cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus testing in a cohort of patients with invasive cervical carcinoma in Shandong Province, China.

BACKGROUND: Currently, available data regarding previous cervical cytology and high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) test results to detect invasive cervical cancer are limited and controversial in China. Therefore, this retrospective study in a population of Chinese women with invasive cervical carcinoma aimed to gain further insight into the roles of cytology and hrHPV testing in cervical cancer screening. METHODS: A total of 1214 cases with a histological diagnosis of invasive cervical cancer were retrieved from the Pathology Database of Jinan KingMed Diagnostics (JKD) over a 5-year period. Previous cytology and hrHPV test results of 469 patients carried out within the year before cancer diagnosis were documented. RESULTS: A higher percentage of patients who had undergone prior screening had micro-invasive cervical carcinoma than patients who had no prior screening (25.4% vs. 12.1%, P < 0.001). Of the 469 patients with available prior screening results, 170 had cytology alone, 161 had hrHPV testing alone, and 138 had both cytology and hrHPV testing. There was a significantly lower percentage of hrHPV-positive cases with adenocarcinoma than with squamous cell carcinoma (77.8% vs. 96.4%, P = 0.001). The hrHPV test showed a significantly higher sensitivity than cytology alone (94.4% vs. 85.3%, P = 0.006). The overall sensitivity of the combination of cytology and hrHPV testing (98.6%) was much higher than that of cytology alone (P < 0.001) but only marginally higher than that of hrHPV testing alone (P = 0.058). CONCLUSIONS: The results revealed that prior cervical screening can detect a significantly larger number of micro-invasive cervical cancers. The hrHPV test can provide a more sensitive and efficient strategy than cytology alone. As the addition of cytology to hrHPV testing can only marginally increase the efficiency of the hrHPV test, hrHPV testing should be used as the primary screening approach, especially in the low-resource settings of China.

Identification of sturgeon IgD bridges the evolutionary gap between elasmobranchs and teleosts.

IgD has been found in almost all jawed vertebrates, including cartilaginous and teleost fish. However, IgD is missing in acipenseriformes, a branch that is evolutionarily positioned between elasmobranchs and teleost fish. Here, by analyzing transcriptome data, we identified a transcriptionally active IgD-encoding gene in the Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baerii). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that it is orthologous to mammalian IgD and closely related to the IgD of other fish. The lengths of sturgeon membrane-bound IgD transcripts ranged from 1.2kb to 6.2kb, encoding 3-19 CH domains. As in teleosts, the first CH domain of the sturgeon IgD transcript is also derived from µCH1 by RNA splicing. However, the variable region of the expressed sturgeon IgD shows limited V(D)J usage. In addition to IgD, three IgM variants were also identified in this species, whereas no IgT/Z-encoding genes were observed. This study bridges the gap in Ig evolution between elasmobranchs and teleosts and provides significant insight into the early evolution of immunoglobulins.

Molecular cloning and expression analysis of porcine ghrelin o-acyltransferase.

The peptide hormone ghrelin is secreted in the stomach, with unique N-octanoylation at serine 3, which is a requirement for its functionality. These functions include growth hormone release, appetite stimulation, gastrointestinal motility, glucose regulation, and cell proliferation. The enzyme responsible for ghrelin acylation was recently identified as ghrelin O-acyltransferase (GOAT). In this study, porcine GOAT was cloned and characterized. A full-length cDNA of GOAT of 2013 bp was obtained, which included a 70-bp 5' UTR, a 635-bp 3' UTR, and a 1308-bp open reading frame encoding a protein of 415 amino acids. The GOAT and ghrelin mRNAs are co-expressed in stomach, pancreas, and duodenum at high levels. GOAT was also detected in liver, lung, brain, testis, spleen, kidney, heart, muscle, lipid, and ovary. Our results provide an important basis for further research on GOAT function and the relationship between ghrelin and GOAT.

[Evaluation of risk factors associated with cerebral palsy in children of Leshan Prefecture, Sichuan: a case control study on 308 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the risk factors associated with pathogenesis of cerebral palsy (CP) in young children. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey on the prevalence of CP was conducted in young children aged one to six years in Leshan area, Sichuan Province. Cluster sampling and a 1:2 case-control design were used to investigate the risk factors for pathogenesis of CP. RESULTS: Totally, 148,723 children were surveyed, in which 308 (2.07 per thousand ) were diagnosed as CP. Low birth weight, twins and premature birth were associated with significantly increased prevalence of CP, 16.32, 4.16 and 22.21 times as that in normal birth weight, single birth and full-term birth, respectively. Simple factor analysis showed varied factors involved in pathogenesis of CP. The multivariate analysis revealed that delivery at home, low Apgar score in five minutes, illness during the first month of life, maternal "cold" with fever in their early gestation, low protein (meat and egg) intake during pregnancy and lower education level of mother were risk factors for CP. CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence and clinical features of CP in Leshan was comparable to those in the developed countries. Relevant risk factors could be seen primarily in gestational and perinatal periods, which might involve in mothers, children, environment and heredity, etc. To attach more importance in gestational and perinatal care for mothers and babies will be crucial measures to reduce occurrence of CP in young children.