TOWARDS UNBIASED COVID-19 LESION LOCALISATION AND SEGMENTATION VIA WEAKLY SUPERVISED LEARNING

Despite tremendous efforts, it is very challenging to generate a robust model to assist in the accurate quantification assessment of COVID-19 on chest CT images. Due to the nature of blurred boundaries, the supervised segmentation methods usually suffer from annotation biases. To support unbiased lesion localisation and to minimise the labelling costs, we propose a data-driven framework supervised by only image level labels. The framework can explicitly separate potential lesions from original images, with the help of an generative adversarial network and a lesion-specific decoder. Experiments on two COVID-19 datasets demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed framework and its superior performance to several existing methods.

The effect of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education: a quasi-experiment

Purpose During the current global epidemic, e-learning and mobile learning have been rapidly developed in the field of entrepreneurship education. The effect of these learning methods remains to be confirmed. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education. Design/methodology/approach From May 2020 to July 2020, the authors adopted a quasi-experimental design to explore the effect of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education. The authors set up an experimental group to participate in mobile business simulation games, with a total of 105 students, and set up a control group of 100 students. At the beginning and end of the experiment, data on entrepreneurial attitude, self-efficacy, entrepreneurial intention and other related variables were collected. Paired sample T-test and regression analysis were used to analyze the results. Findings The authors found that mobile business simulation games can improve entrepreneurial attitudes and self-efficacy, but cannot change entrepreneurial intentions. The paired sample T-test in the experimental group showed that the entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial self-efficacy of the participants were significantly improved, but the entrepreneurial intention did not change significantly. The above three variables did not change significantly in the control group. The research results also show that flow experience is very important in mobile business simulation games, which can improve entrepreneurial attitude and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Originality/value The authors' findings confirm the positive effects of mobile business simulation games in entrepreneurship education, which can improve entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial self-efficacy. But the disadvantage of mobile business simulation games is that they cannot increase entrepreneurial intention. In addition, the flow experience needs to be valued in mobile business simulation games. The research in this paper has implications for how mobile learning can be used in entrepreneurship education during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, research is of great value on how mobile business simulation games can be improved.

Intersectionality in cancer care: A systematic review of current research and future directions.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of the current review was to synthesize the literature on intersectionality relative to disparities across the cancer care continuum. A model to support future intersectional cancer research was proposed. METHODS: Web-based discovery services and discipline-specific databases were queried for both peer-reviewed and gray literature. Study screening and data extraction were facilitated through the Covidence software platform. RESULTS: Among 497 screened studies, 28 met study inclusion criteria. Most articles were peer-reviewed empirical studies (n = 22) that focused on pre-diagnosis/screening (n = 19) and included marginalized racial/ethnic (n = 22) identities. Pre-cancer diagnosis, sexual orientation and race influenced women's screening and vaccine behaviors. Sexual minority women, particularly individuals of color, were less likely to engage in cancer prevention behaviors prior to diagnosis. Race and socioeconomic status (SES) were important factors in patient care/survivorship with worse outcomes among non-white women of low SES. Emergent themes in qualitative results emphasized the importance of patient intersectional identities, as well as feelings of marginalization, fears of discrimination, and general discomfort with providers as barriers to seeking cancer care. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with intersectional identities often experience barriers to cancer care that adversely impact screening, diagnosis, treatment, as well as survivorship. The use of an "intersectional lens" as a future clinical and research framework will facilitate a more multidimensional and holistic approach to the care of cancer patients.

Bioinformatics analysis of high-throughput sequencing to identify key genes and signaling pathways in vero E6 cells infected by SARS-CoV-2

Background: In 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 began spreading widely across the world. We aim to study the biological changes of SARS-CoV-2 infected Vero cells using high-throughput sequencing data, which will be helpful for vaccine development and drug screening. Methods: The data GSE153940 was obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. R software was used to screen out differentially expressed genes and perform Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. The protein-protein interaction network was built by STRING. Cytoscape 3.7.2 was applied for the visualization of the protein-protein interaction network and the identification of the hub genes. GraphPad Prism 8.4.3 was used to perform the statistical analysis to verify the obtained central genes. Results: A total of 3640 differentially expressed genes were obtained. The most significant enrichment items of Gene Ontology in the biological process, cellular component, and molecular function were the regulation of mRNA metabolic process, organelle inner membrane, and cadherin binding respectively. Ten enrichment pathways were identified by the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analyses. A protein-protein interaction network with 328 nodes and 498 edges was established. Six hub genes were screened out, among which four genes (MRPS7, DAP3, CHCHD1 and MRPL3) were confirmed to be statistically significant. Conclusions: Our results suggest that mitochondrial activity has a significant role in the process of SARS-CoV-2 infecting Vero E6 cells. Further experimental studies are needed to obtain abundant data to verify the predicted results of the bioinformatics analysis.

Examining Violence Against Women at a Regional Level 1 Trauma Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

INTRODUCTION: There is a growing concern that certain public health restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) could result in more violence against women (VAW). We sought to determine if the rates and types of VAW changed during the COVID-19 pandemic at our level 1 trauma center (L1TC). METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of female patients who presented to our L1TC because of violence from 2019 through 2020. Patients were grouped into a pre-COVID or COVID period. The primary aim of this study was to compare rates of VAW between groups. Secondary aims sought to evaluate for any difference in traumatic mechanism between periods and to determine if a temporal relationship existed between COVID-19 and VAW rates. RESULTS: There was no difference in rates of VAW between the pre-COVID and COVID period (3.1% vs 3.6%, P = .6); however, rates of penetrating trauma were greater during the COVID period (38.2% vs 10.3%, P = .01). After controlling for patient age and race, the odds of penetrating trauma increased during the pandemic (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.6-28.5, P < .01). From February 2020 through October 2020, there was a direct relationship between rates of COVID-19 and VAW (r2 .78, P < .01). CONCLUSION: Rates of VAW were unchanged between the pre-COVID and COVID periods, yet the odds of penetrating VAW were 5 times greater during the pandemic. Moving forward, trauma surgeons must remain vigilant for signs of violence and ensure that support services are available during future crises.