Five-Direction Occlusion Filling with Five Layer Parallel Two-Stage Pipeline for Stereo Matching with Sub-Pixel Disparity Map Estimation.

Binocular stereoscopic matching is an essential method in computer vision, imitating human binocular technology to obtain distance information. Among plentiful stereo matching algorithms, Semi-Global Matching (SGM) is recognized as one of the most popular vision algorithms due to its relatively low power consumption and high accuracy, resulting in many excellent SGM-based hardware accelerators. However, vision algorithms, including SGM, are still somewhat inaccurate in actual long-range applications. Therefore, this paper proposes a disparity improvement strategy based on subpixel interpolation and disparity optimization post-processing using an area optimization strategy, hardware-friendly divider, split look-up table, and the clock alignment multi-directional disparity occlusion filling, and depth acquisition based on floating-point operations. The hardware architecture based on optimization algorithms is on the Stratix-IV platform. It consumes about 5.6 K LUTs, 12.8 K registers, and 2.5 M bits of on-chip memory. Meanwhile, the non-occlusion error rate of only 4.61% is about 1% better than the state-of-the-art works in the KITTI2015 dataset. The maximum working frequency can reach up to 98.28 MHz for the 640 × 480 resolution video and 128 disparity range with the power dissipation of 1.459 W and 320 frames per second processing speed.

A Reconfigurable Visual-Inertial Odometry Accelerated Core with High Area and Energy Efficiency for Autonomous Mobile Robots.

With the wide application of autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), the visual inertial odometer (VIO) system that realizes the positioning function through the integration of a camera and inertial measurement unit (IMU) has developed rapidly, but it is still limited by the high complexity of the algorithm, the long development cycle of the dedicated accelerator, and the low power supply capacity of AMRs. This work designs a reconfigurable accelerated core that supports different VIO algorithms and has high area and energy efficiency, precision, and speed processing characteristics. Experimental results show that the loss of accuracy of the proposed accelerator is negligible on the most authoritative dataset. The on-chip memory usage of 70 KB is at least 10× smaller than the state-of-the-art works. Thus, the FPGA implementation's hardware-resource consumption, power dissipation, and synthesis in the 28 nm CMOS outperform the previous works with the same platform.

Correlation between the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and clinicopathological parameters in epithelial ovarian cancer patients and its effect on prognosis-a retrospective cohort study.

Background: Ovarian cancer is a common malignant tumor of the female reproductive system, and its mortality rate is high. In recent years, studies have found that the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has a correlation with the prognosis of patients with malignant tumors; however, its association with the prognosis of ovarian cancer patients has not been studied. Therefore, we designed this study to investigate the correlation between the NLR and clinicopathological parameters in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer and its effect on prognosis. Methods: A total of 168 ovarian cancer patients (received operation in our hospital and age ≥18 years) admitted to the Pu Ren Hospital in Wuhan City and Shandong Qingdao Hospital of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine from January 2015 to January 2017 were retrospectively included. The patients were equally divided into high NLR (n=84) and low NLR (n=84) groups according to their preoperative NLR levels (under preoperative fasting conditions, 5 mL venous blood was taken and immediately sent for examination), and the clinical characteristics and prognoses of the two groups were compared. All patients were followed up for 5 years to study the 5 years progression-free survival and 5-year mortality rate. Results: Preoperative NLR levels were associated with Federation International of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging, ascites, and lymph node metastasis in patients with ovarian cancer (P<0.05). The area under the curve (AUC) of NLR in predicting recurrence or metastasis in ovarian cancer patients within 5 years after surgery was 0.675 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.594-0.757, P=0.000]. Furthermore, the AUC of NLR in predicting death in ovarian cancer patients within 5 years after surgery was 0.785 (95% CI: 0.717-0.853, P=0.000). Patients in the high NLR group had a significant reduction in 5-year progression-free survival and an increased mortality rate (P=0.000). Conclusions: High NLR in patients with ovarian cancer is related to clinicopathological parameters and poor prognosis in ovarian cancer patients.

The Efficacy of Double-Heart Nursing in Combination with Seaweed Polysaccharide for Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Complicated with Diabetes: A Pilot, Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objective: To study and explore the effect of double-heart nursing combined with seaweed polysaccharide on improving the self-efficacy and quality of life of patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes. Methods: Eligible 214 patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes who were diagnosed and treated in our hospital between year 2017 and 2020 were randomized at a ratio of 1 : 1 to either control group (seaweed polysaccharide) or observation group (double-heart nursing combined with seaweed polysaccharide). The self-efficacy and quality of life of the two groups of patients after treatment were compared. Results: The observation group reported a lower blood glucose level after treatment vs. the control group [(6.28 ± 4.49/8.24 ± 2.01) vs. (7.74 ± 4.18/11.41 ± 3.12)] (p < 0.05); a lower incidence of lesions in the observation group versus the control group after treatment (p < 0.05); and significantly lower SAS and SDS scores of the observation group vs. the control group was observed [(41.27 ± 4.08/43.81 ± 2.93) vs. (62.74 ± 3.48/61.58 ± 3.85)] (p < 0.05). Regarding the self-efficacy, the observation group was superior to the control group after treatment (p < 0.05). The treatment with double-heart nursing combined with seaweed polysaccharide was associated with the improvement of the quality of life with respect to social function, psychological function, and material life (each p < 0.05). The observation obtained a significantly higher satisfaction rate in comparison with the control group [107 (98.13%) vs.95 (88.80%)] (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Seaweed polysaccharide and double-heart nursing might be practical in improving the self-efficacy and quality of life of patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus, compared with conventional clinical treatment alone.

Lane Departure Assessment via Enhanced Single Lane-Marking.

Vision-based Lane departure warning system (LDWS) has been widely used in modern vehicles to improve drivability and safety. In this paper, a novel LDWS with precise positioning is proposed. Calibration strategy is first presented through a 3D camera imaging model with only three parallel and equally spaced lines, where the three angles of rotation for the transformation from the camera coordinate system to the world coordinate system are deduced. Then camera height is calculated compared to the previous works using a measured one with potential errors. A criterion for lane departure warning with only one of the two lane-markings is proposed to estimate both yaw angle and distance between the lane-markings and the vehicle. Experiments show that calibration strategy can be easily set up and achieve an average of 98.95% accuracy on the lane departure assessment.

A Multi-Core Object Detection Coprocessor for Multi-Scale/Type Classification Applicable to IoT Devices.

Power efficiency is becoming a critical aspect of IoT devices. In this paper, we present a compact object-detection coprocessor with multiple cores for multi-scale/type classification. This coprocessor is capable to process scalable block size for multi-shape detection-window and can be compatible with the frame-image sizes up to 2048 × 2048 for multi-scale classification. A memory-reuse strategy that requires only one dual-port SRAM for storing the feature-vector of one-row blocks is developed to save memory usage. Eventually, a prototype platform is implemented on the Intel DE4 development board with the Stratix IV device. The power consumption of each core in FPGA is only 80.98 mW.

In vivo and in vitro observation of nasal ciliary motion in a guinea pig model.

IMPACT STATEMENT: Cilia play an important role in the airway defense mechanism. So far, studies on ciliary function have mainly been based on in vitro methods. Images of in vivo ciliary motion are very difficult to capture. In this study, we describe a novel approach to observe and analyze nasal ciliary motion in living animals with comparison to in vitro observation. Such images of ciliary motion from living animals have not been reported to date. The result of the study indicates that in vivo ciliary physiological function differs from ex vivo and in vitro conditions in many ways, such as the stability over time and response to temperature variation. This is a good foundation for further in vivo analysis of airway ciliary physiological function in animals as well as humans.

Establishment of a Large Animal Model for Eustachian Tube Functional Study in Miniature Pigs.

This study was performed to investigate whether miniature pigs are a suitable animal model for studies of the Eustachian tube (ET). Sixteen Chinese experimental miniature pigs were used in this investigation. Ten animals were used for anatomical and morphometric analyses to obtain qualitative and quantitative information regarding the ET. Three animals were used for histological analysis to determine the fine structure of ET cross-sections. Three animals were used to investigate the feasibility of balloon dilation of the Eustachian tube (BDET). The anatomical study indicated that the pharyngeal orifice and tympanic orifice of the miniature pig ET are located at the posterior end of the nasal lateral wall and anterior wall of the middle ear cavity, respectively. The cartilaginous tube was seen to pass through the whole length of the ET, the length of the cartilaginous part of the ET and the diameter of the isthmus were similar between humans and miniature pigs. The inclination of the ET in miniature pigs was larger than that in humans. The gross histology seemed to be slightly different between miniature pig and human, but the fine structures were essentially the same in both species. BDET experiments verified that the miniature pig model is suitable as a model for clinical operations. The miniature pig ET corresponds very well to that of humans. In addition, the miniature pig ET is suitable as a model for clinical operations. Therefore, the miniature pig is a valid animal model for ET study. Anat Rec, 302:1024-1038, 2019. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Real-Time Straight-Line Detection for XGA-Size Videos by Hough Transform with Parallelized Voting Procedures.

The Hough Transform (HT) is a method for extracting straight lines from an edge image. The main limitations of the HT for usage in actual applications are computation time and storage requirements. This paper reports a hardware architecture for HT implementation on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with parallelized voting procedure. The 2-dimensional accumulator array, namely the Hough space in parametric form (ρ, θ), for computing the strength of each line by a voting mechanism is mapped on a 1-dimensional array with regular increments of θ. Then, this Hough space is divided into a number of parallel parts. The computation of (ρ, θ) for the edge pixels and the voting procedure for straight-line determination are therefore executable in parallel. In addition, a synchronized initialization for the Hough space further increases the speed of straight-line detection, so that XGA video processing becomes possible. The designed prototype system has been synthesized on a DE4 platform with a Stratix-IV FPGA device. In the application of road-lane detection, the average processing speed of this HT implementation is 5.4ms per XGA-frame at 200 MHz working frequency.

Functional analysis of the nasopharyngeal carcinoma primary tumor­associated gene interaction network.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular mechanism of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) primary tumor development through the identification of key genes using bioinformatics approaches. Using the GSE53819 microarray dataset, acquired from the Gene Expression Omnibus database, differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out between NPC primary tumor and control samples, followed by hierarchical clustering analysis. The Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes database was utilized to build a protein­protein interaction network to identify key node proteins. In total, 1,067 DEGs, including 326 upregulated genes and 741 downregulated genes, were identified between the NPC and control samples. The results of the hierarchical clustering analysis demonstrated that 95% of the DEGs were sample­specific. Furthermore, PDZ binding kinase (PBK), centromere protein F (CENPF), actin­binding protein anillin (ANLN), exonuclease 1 (EXO1) and chromosome 15 open reading frame 42 (C15ORF42) were included in the obtained network module, which was closely associated with the cell cycle and nucleic acid metabolic process GO functions. The results of the present study revealed that EXO1, CENPF, ANLN, PBK and C15ORF42 may be involved in the mechanism of NPC via modulating the cell cycle and nucleic acid metabolic processes, and may serve as molecular biomarkers for the diagnosis of this disease.

Subpath analysis of each subtype of head and neck cancer based on the regulatory relationship between miRNAs and biological pathways.

The aim of the present study was to explore the potential mechanisms involved in each subtype of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) via subpath analysis and to investigate their relevance in the prevention of HNSCC. Gene expression profiles of GSE6631 and GSE39366 containing 44 and 168 HNSCC samples, respectively, were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from samples in GSE6631 and GSE393666 were screened using the Detection of Imbalanced Differential Signal (DIDS) method respectively. DEGs in GSE39366 were matched with the DEGs in GSE6631 and were used to classify the subtypes of HNSCC based on hierarchical clustering analysis. Furthermore, DEGs were separated into different subtypes and then the pathway information was analyzed. The regulated miRNAs for the DEGs in each subtype were analyzed to select the significant subpaths. Totally, 1,095 DEGs from GSE6631 and 2,528 DEGs from GSE39366 were screened. Samples in GSE39366 were separated into four subtypes. Specific genes in each subtype and DEGs in the common gene set involved in a variety of pathways were identified. In addition, the significant miRNA-target-pathway subpath of each subtype of HNSCC and the common gene set of HNSCC were also enriched. Our data suggest that human papillomavirus (HPV) is positively correlated with HNSCC in subtype 2. Several miRNAs (miRLet-7A, miR-1, miR-206, miR-153, miR-519A and miR-506) and their target genes (CYP46A1, BPNT1, MCM7 and COL5A1) are crucial for HNSCC prevention via different pathways and may provide further knowledge of the mechanisms involved in the progression of HNSCC.

Effects of histamine on ciliary beat frequency of ciliated cells from guinea pigs nasal mucosa.

We aimed to investigate the effect of histamine on ciliary beat frequency (CBF) through combining high-speed digital microscopy and patch-clamp technology. Ciliated cells were obtained from septum and turbinate of 90-120-day-old healthy male guinea pigs. Tight seal was formed by applying negative pressure on the glass electrode after the drawing and pushing progress. Then, we enrolled high-speed digital microscopy to measure CBF before and after treatment with histamine of different concentrations ranging from 10(-6) to 10(-1) mol/L in Hank's solution and D-Hank's solution as well as after administrating adenosine triphosphate. One-way ANOVA, Student's t test or Kruskal-Wallis test was used for statistical comparisons. Glass electrode fix up ciliated cell is available at tip diameter of 2-5 µm and negative pressure of 10-20 cmH2O column. The baseline CBF in Hank's solution was higher than in D-Hank's solution. Treatment with 10(-6)-l0(-3) mol/L histamine of concentrations can stimulate a rise of CBF. Nevertheless, CBF in all groups decreased to baseline CBF within 20 min. Generally, 10(-2) mol/L histamine can stimulate a rise of CBF; meanwhile, the high concentration of histamine killed 50% ciliated cell. Histamine at 10(-1) mol/L killed all ciliated cells. Ciliary beating activity decreased in Ca(2+)-free solution. Moreover, adenosine triphosphate could increase CBF effectively after the stimulation effect of histamine. We construct an effective technology integrating patch-clamp technique with CBF measurements on ciliated cells. Extracellular histamine stimulation could increase CBF effectively.

[The treatment of benign positional paroxysmal vertigo of posterior semicircular canal by Epley maneuver combined with Semont maneuver].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the treatment of benign positional paroxysmal vertigo of posterior semi-circular canal by Epley maneuver combined with Semont maneuver. METHOD: One hundred and fifty patients with benign positional paroxysmal vertigo of posterior semicircular canal were randomly divided into three groups: group A, B and C. Patients in group A were treated by Epley maneuver and patients in group B were treated by Semont maneuver. Patients in group C were received the treatment of Epley maneuver combined with Semont ma- neuver. We recorded the times of treatments in different groups respectively. Statistics of treatment effects and follow-up studies with 3 months after the recovery were assessed. RESULT: The cure rate of the canalith repositioning on the primary, secondary and tertiary treatment in group A was respective 72% (38/53) and 81% (43/53) and 85% (45/53), in group B was 68% (30/44) and 80% (35/44) and 84% (37/44), in group C was 89% (47/53) and 94% (50/53) and 98% (52/53). The cure rate in group C is significantly higher than group A and group B (χ2 = 6.777, P < 0.05; χ2 = 6.647, P < 0.05). 3 months after recovery 6 patients in group A, 5 patients in group B and 1 patient in group C were relapsed. CONCLUSION: By the use of Epley maneuver combined with Semont maneuver in the treatment of benign positional paroxysmal vertigo of posterior semicircular canal, the primary cure rate was increased and the numbers of treatments were reduced and the relapse was decreased. It is suitable to use Epley maneuver combined with Semont maneuver in the clinic.