Semi-Autonomous Learning Algorithm for Remote Image Object Detection Based on Aggregation Area Instance Refinement

Semi-autonomous learning for object detection has attracted more and more attention in recent years, which usually tends to find only one object instance with the highest score in each image. However, this strategy usually highlights the most representative part of the object instead of the whole object, which may lead to the loss of a lot of important information. To solve this problem, a novel end-to-end aggregate-guided semi-autonomous learning residual network is proposed to perform object detection. Firstly, a progressive modified residual network (MRN) is applied to the backbone network to make the detector more sensitive to the boundary features of the object. Then, an aggregate-based region-merging strategy (ARMS) is designed to select high-quality instances by selecting aggregation areas and merging these regions. The ARMS selects the aggregation areas that are highly related to the object through association coefficient, and then evaluates the aggregation areas through a similarity coefficient and fuses them to obtain high-quality object instance areas. Finally, a regression-locating branch is further developed to refine the location of the object, which can be optimized jointly with regional classification. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method is superior to state-of-the-art methods.

Investigating the Relationships Between Public Health Literacy and Public Trust in Physicians in China's Control of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: Public trust in physicians and public health literacy (HL) are important factors that ensure the effectiveness of health-care delivery, particularly that provided during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This study investigates HL as a predictor of public trust in physicians in China's ongoing efforts to control COVID-19.Methods: Data were gathered in February 2020 during the peak of the disease in China. Based on Nutbeam's conceptualization of HL, we measure HL vis-à-vis COVID-19 by using a six-item scale that includes two items each for functional, interactive, and critical HL. Trust in physicians was measured by assessing physicians' capability to diagnose COVID-19. A rank-sum test and ordinal logit regression modeling were used to analyze the data.Results: Two key findings: (a) trust in physician handling of treatment for COVID-19 is reported by about 74% of respondents; and (b) five of the six HL measures are positive predictors of public trust in physician treatment of the disease, with functional HL1 having the highest level of such association (coefficient 0.285, odds ratio 1.33%, p < 0.01).Conclusions: Improving public HL is important for better public-physician relationships, as well as for nations' efforts to contain the pandemic, serving as a possible behavioral, non-clinical antidote to COVID-19. Being confronted with the unprecedented virus, humans need trust. Health education and risk communication can improve public compliance with physicians' requirements and build a solid foundation for collective responses.

A Vibrational Signal Fault Diagnosis Rule Extraction Method Based on DST-ACI Discriminant Criterion

A fault diagnosis rule extraction method oriented to machine foot signal based on dynamic support threshold and association coefficient interestingness (DST-ACI) discriminant criterion is proposed in this paper. The new method includes three main innovations. First, the feature state coding method based on K-means clustering fully takes into account the imbalanced distribution of signal feature values due to the noise interference, and divide the signal feature values into several range intervals to generate the feature state code. Second, the frequent feature pattern mining method based on dynamic support threshold (DST) discriminant criterion can dynamically adjust support threshold according to the frequency of the feature states in each candidate pattern. Third, the fault diagnosis rule extraction method based on the association coefficient interestingness (ACI) discriminant criterion introduces a new metrics called ACI to evaluate the correlation between the pattern and the fault. Four types of fault simulation experiments were carried out, and the performance of the DST-ACI method was tested using the collected vibration signal. The results show that compared with the coding method based on equal-width discretization or equal-density discretization, the accuracy of the transactional dataset generated by the feature state coding method based on K-means clustering is higher. Compared with the frequent feature pattern mining method based on the constant support threshold criterion, the pattern mined by the DST-based criterion has generally higher support. Compared with the existing confidence-lift-based and confidence-improint-based fault diagnosis rule extraction frameworks, the positive correlation between the feature states and the fault type of the rules extracted based on the DST-ACI framework is generally stronger.

Relationships between morphological indicators of the tibia and soft tissues lesions and some biochemical blood indicators in patients with traumatic osteomyelitis

Aim. Research aim was to find statistical differences of biochemical indicators of blood and morphometric indicators of crural tissue lesion and relationships between them in patients with traumatic osteomyelitis of the tibia with trophic disturbances in extremity. Material and methods. The work material includes data from 28 patients with traumatic osteomyelitis which was combined with trophic tissue disturbances of different manifestation degree. The levels of procalcitonin, lactate dehydrogenase and acetylcholinesterase of blood serum were estimated. In crural tissues quantitative biochemical, gradual morphometric indicators, frequencies of occurrence of different manifestation degree cases and relationships “clinic – biochemistry – pathomorphology” were defined histologically. Results. Average values of procalcitonin, lactate dehydrogenase and acetylcholinesterase in patients with traumatic osteomyelitis of the tibia, combined with trophic disturbances in crural tissues, are significantly higher, than average values of these indicators in intact donors. In the majority of the patients with chronic traumatic osteomyelitis in crural tissues pathological changes were found out, which by clinical estimations are considered as trophic disturbances. They represent a combination of discirculatory, ischemic-necro­tic, exsudative, productive-inflammatory, and also reparative processes which in total create a composite picture of complex lesion and can persist for many years. As closest relations, according to values of association coefficient, concerning certain biochemical indicators, can be noted such clinical indicators: “degree of bone fragments non-consolidation” and “severity of trophic disturbances in bone tissue (by clinical estimation)”, concerning defined morphometric indicators – such biochemical indicators: “level of procalcitonin” and “level of lactate dehydrogenase” in blood serum. Among morphometric lesion indicators the closest relations concerning biochemical indicators were revealed: in bones – “the form of the pathological focus of traumatic osteomyelitis” and “presence of sequesters”, in soft tissues – “exsudative inflammation in internal membrane of a focus capsule”. Conclusions. In chronic traumatic osteomyelitis combined with trophic disturbances of crural tissues, there are relationships between some clinical, biochemical and morphological indicators of the extremity tissues condition. A deviation of metabolism indicators from norm can serve as biochemical markers in definition of severity degree and efficiency of treatment in patients.

Serum symmetric dimethylarginine shows a relatively consistent long-term concentration in healthy dogs with a significant effect of increased body fat percentage

Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a promising renal marker that correlates well with the glomerular filtration rate and could allow earlier detection of impaired renal function. The main objectives of this study were to assess the long-term variability of SDMA in healthy dogs and examine the influence of an increased body fat percentage on the level of SDMA. Sixteen lean Beagles were randomly assigned to the control group or weight-change group in age- and gender-matched pairs. The energy intake of the control group (n = 8) was strictly regulated to maintain an ideal body weight for 83 weeks, while the weight-change group (n = 8) was fed to induce weight gain (week 0–47), to maintain stable excessive body weight (week 47–56) and to lose weight (week 56–83), consecutively. At 8 specified time points, the body condition score, body composition, glomerular filtration rate, serum concentration of SDMA and creatinine were analyzed. In the control group, the within-subject coefficient of variation, between-subject coefficient of variation, reference change value (type I error = 5%) and index of individuality were 0.16, 0.22, 0.43 and 0.73, respectively. The control group and weight-change group did not differ significantly in SDMA concentration. SDMA showed a significant negative association (coefficient = -0.07) with body fat percentage (p<0.01) in the weight-change group and a significant positive association (coefficient = 7.79) with serum creatinine (p<0.01) in the entire study population. In conclusion, SDMA concentration has high long-term stability in healthy adult dogs. For the evaluation of SDMA concentrations, subject-specific reference values are preferred over a population-based reference value seen their higher sensitivity. Moreover, an increased body fat percentage does seem to affect the serum SDMA concentration of otherwise healthy dogs, but its clinical relevance has to be clarified in further research.

Durian variety (Durio zibethinus L.) in Kota Bahagia District, South Aceh, Indonesia

Durian (Durio zibethinus L.) is one of tropical fruit grown in Southeast Asia and known as King of the fruit. Durian (D. zibethinus) has many varieties with distinctive of morphological characters. The study aim is to explore the diversity of durian varieties in Kota Bahagia sub-district, Aceh, Indonesia. This study was carried out in October-December 2020 in five villages, namely Jambo Keupok, Alur Duamas, Seneubok Alur Buloh, Seneubok Keranji and Beutong. Data collection on the morphological characteristics of durian varieties was carried out through direct field observation of morphology. The data were tabulated and the similarity index was calculated. A total of 18 varieties of durian were found in 5 villages in Kota Bahagia sub-district, i.e. Jantung, Semut, Nanas, Kunyit, Bintang, Tamago, Labu, Bingen, Patai, Jelatang, Jerat, Ampo, Toba, Lilin, Kondo, Limeng, Langsat, dan Gadang Tampok. The highest similarity index value was found in Limeng (Lm) and Patai (Pa) varieties with an association coefficient value of 63.04, while the lowest values were found in Nanas (Na) and Semut (Se) varieties and Kondo (Ko) and Nanas (Na) varieties with an association coefficient of 15.21.

Competition Experience, Relative Age Effect and Average Age of the Senior World Events’ Medal-Winning Basketball Players

"The International Basketball Federation (FIBA) has changed its youth competition system in 2004, and due to this regulation, many players had the chance to compete every year at youth level and later, to elevate to the top. The purpose of our study was to inspect those medal-winning European basketball players who competed in the past 19 senior basketball world events. We analysed the tendencies of selection by dissecting the set-up of successful senior national teams. We investigated each one of the 281 European basketball players who won a medal during the analysed period (2000-2019). We collected data from the archive page of FIBA. Our goal was to see whether there was a relation between the youth competition experience and the minutes spent in senior world events. We used the Cramer Association Coefficient, Relative Age Effect and average age were also inspected. We found that participation in the national youth tournaments is important but not the most exclusive factor of selection. There are opportunities for success in the adult national teams for players who have covered alternative sports careers – the factor of national youth experience is not exclusive. We suppose that head coaches utilize older and more experienced players on the Olympic Games, the average ages of successful Olympic medal-winner teams are higher than other world events’ medallists. Despite the fact that we were not able to find statistically proven and associative relationship between national youth recruitment eligibility and the minutes in game spent by successful adult players, further research could be gap fillers in exploring key factors in adulthood efficiency. Keywords: talent selection, competition experience, FIBA, basketball players, sport career."

The Influence of the Income Level on the Amount of Expenses for Purchase of Medicines by the Population in Older Age Groups

The purpose of the study based on the data of an anonymous survey is to assess the level of costs for purchasing medicines among the population aged 60 years and older and to analyze the interdependence between the level of material well-being and the level of costs for purchasing medicines. The study was conducted on the basis of a survey of 927 people aged 60 years and older living in Moscow. The questionnaire included questions about the amount of expenses for the purchase of medicines, expressed as a share of the monthly income of a family that was spent on the purchase of medicines. The term «family» is understood as a group of people who lead a common household, regardless of their degree of kinship. To study the impact of income on the cost of purchasing medicines, the questionnaire included a question about the amount of a family's monthly income per member. When analyzing dependencies, such characteristic properties as the Association coefficient (CA), information content (INF), and the Chi-square criterion were calculated. The study revealed that the relationship between the level of material well-being and the level of expenditure on the purchase of medicines is very complex and ambiguous, with pronounced gender differences. In the course of this study, no correlation between the level of disposable income and the share of the total monthly income of a family that is spent on the purchase of medicines was observed. However, there is a correlation between the share of the total monthly income of a family that is spent on food and the share that is spent on the purchase of medicines. The degree of the dependence increases with ageing, which indicates the possibility of purchasing a drug as the main factor in making a decision. The degree of dependence is less pronounced in men below 70 and older and is stronger in women starting from the age of 65 years. The strongest dependence was registered in women of the age group of 70 years and older.

CLINICAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CORRELATIONS AND HISTOPATHOLOGY OF JOINT DAMAGE IN PATIENTS WITH DIFFUSE-TYPE TENOSYNOVIAL GIANT CELL TUMOR

Introduction: Tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TSGCT) (synonym – pigmented villonodular synovitis) – is a rare benign proliferative lesion of the synovial sheath, localized in the joint capsule, bursa or tendon sheath and characterized by locally destructive growth. Depending on the prevalence within the joint elements, the presence of a capsule around the tumor, histophotographic features of cell structure and clinical behavior TSGCT can be divided to localized or diffuse type. The aim of the study was researching of histopathological properties of diffuse-type TSGCT, determine the parameters its morphological indicators and to find out the correlation between these morphological and clinical parameters. Materials and methods: The research material was used biopsy (resect) of pathological lesions from 50 patients who were diagnosed and histologically verified diffuse-type TSGCT. Microscopic examinations of the stained sections and their photo archiving were carried out with use of a Olympus-CX 41 light optical microscope. Group measurable parameters (mean values and Pearson tetrachoric index (association coefficient) were calculated in groups of comparison for morphological and clinical indices of TSGCT. The mean values were compared by Student’s test, P value of ≤0.1 was considered statistically significant. Results:Correlation analysis of indicators that accounted for the pairs of cases «clinic – morphology» revealed the relationships, that had the highest parameters of the association coefficient between such indicators: «presence of villous growths» - «severity of hemosiderosis» (if hypertrophied synovial villi available, with vascular injection and pronounced proliferation of synovial cells, there is also a significant accumulation of hemosiderin pigment); «presence of villous growths» - «type of predominant cellular proliferates» (if cells of TSGCT diffuse type consists of monotonous sheets of stromal cells, with uniform, oval to reniform nuclei, the proliferation of villi in synovial layer is non-distinctive); «presence of nodes» - «kind of stroma» (if nodes predominate, their histological structure is mainly represented by polymorphic clusters of synovitis cells in the form of cells, strands, chains, solid formations, among immature connective tissue with low hyalinosis); «cell size (area, cm²)» - «severity of haemosiderosis» and «cell size (area, cm²)» - «the number of multinucleated giant cells» (there is a pronounced deposition of pigment and accumulation of osteoclast-like multinucleated giant cells type, although usually their number is relatively small compared to the localized type of TSGCT). Conclusions: Morphological parameters, that we have identified, characterize pathological changes in the tissues of TSGCT; careful analysis of the frequency of their occurrence in the different comparison groups made it possible to establish intergroup differences and correlations between individual indicators, which were previously unknown or not obvious. Our study was determine to analyze of incidence rates and correlation relationships, revealed some previously unknown differences and dependencies that are important for understanding the pathogenesis, improvement of diagnosis and prognosis of diffuse-type TSGCT.