YOLSO: You Only Look Small Object

Small object detection is challenging and far from satisfactory. Most general object detectors suffer from two critical issues with small objects: (1) Feature extractor based on classification network cannot express the characteristics of small objects reasonably due to insufficient appearance information of targets and a large amount of background interference around them. (2) The detector requires a much higher location accuracy for small objects than for general objects. This paper proposes an effective and efficient small object detector YOLSO to address the above problems. For feature representation, we analyze the drawbacks in previous backbones and present a Half-Space Shortcut(HSSC) module to build a background-aware backbone. Furthermore, a coarse-to-fine Feature Pyramid Enhancement(FPE) module is introduced for layer-wise aggregation at a granular level to enhance the semantic discriminability. For loss function, we propose an exponential L1 loss to promote the convergence of regression, and a focal IOU loss to focus on prime samples with high classification confidence and high IOU. Both of them significantly improves the location accuracy of small objects. The proposed YOLSO sets state-of-the-art results on two typical small object datasets, MOCOD and VeDAI, at a speed of over 200 FPS. In the meantime, it also outperforms the baseline YOLOv3 by a wide margin on the common COCO dataset.     

A Role for Human Renal Tubular Epithelial Cells in Direct Allo-Recognition by CD4+ T-Cells and the Effect of Ischemia-Reperfusion

Direct allorecognition is the earliest and most potent immune response against a kidney allograft. Currently, it is thought that passenger donor professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) are responsible. Further, many studies support that graft ischemia-reperfusion injury increases the probability of acute rejection. We evaluated the possible role of primary human proximal renal tubular epithelial cells (RPTECs) in direct allorecognition by CD4+ T-cells and the effect of anoxia-reoxygenation. In cell culture, we detected that RPTECs express all the required molecules for CD4+ T-cell activation (HLA-DR, CD80, and ICAM-1). Anoxia-reoxygenation decreased HLA-DR and CD80 but increased ICAM-1. Following this, RPTECs were co-cultured with alloreactive CD4+ T-cells. In T-cells, zeta chain phosphorylation and c-Myc increased, indicating activation of T-cell receptor and co-stimulation signal transduction pathways, respectively. T-cell proliferation assessed with bromodeoxyuridine assay and with the marker Ki-67 increased. Previous culture of RPTECs under anoxia raised all the above parameters in T-cells. FOXP3 remained unaffected in all cases, signifying that proliferating T-cells were not differentiated towards a regulatory phenotype. Our results support that direct allorecognition may be mediated by RPTECs even in the absence of donor-derived professional APCs. Also, ischemia-reperfusion injury of the graft may enhance the above capacity of RPTECs, increasing the possibility of acute rejection.     

Update on the Roles of Rice MAPK Cascades

The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades have been validated playing critical roles in diverse aspects of plant biology, from growth and developmental regulation, biotic and abiotic stress responses, to phytohormone signal transduction or responses. A classical MAPK cascade consists of a MAPK kinase kinase (MAPKKK), a MAPK kinase (MAPKK), and a MAPK. From the 75 MAPKKKs, eight MAPKKs, and 15 MAPKs of rice, a number of them have been functionally deciphered. Here, we update recent advances in knowledge of the roles of rice MAPK cascades, including their components and complicated action modes, their diversified functions controlling rice growth and developmental responses, coordinating resistance to biotic and abiotic stress, and conducting phytohormone signal transduction. Moreover, we summarize several complete MAPK cascades that harbor OsMAPKKK-OsMAPKK-OsMAPK, their interaction with different upstream components and their phosphorylation of diverse downstream substrates to fulfill their multiple roles. Furthermore, we state a comparison of networks of rice MAPK cascades from signal transduction crosstalk to the precise selection of downstream substrates. Additionally, we discuss putative concerns for elucidating the underlying molecular mechanisms and molecular functions of rice MAPK cascades in the future.     

贵长猕猴桃皮HPLC指纹图谱及抗氧化谱效关系研究

目的:研究贵长猕猴桃皮HPLC指纹图谱与抗氧化活性的关系。方法:采用高效液相色谱法建立10批不同来源地贵长猕猴桃皮的指纹图谱,采用SPSS 13.0进行样品聚类分析和主成分分析;并通过DPPH和ABTS法测定其抗氧化活性,以EC50与共有峰峰面积数据为基础,应用皮尔逊相关分析法和逐步回归分析法研究谱效关系。结果:建立了10批贵长猕猴桃皮HPLC指纹图谱,确定了14个共有峰,相似度均>0.90。采用对照品比对方法指认了其中6个峰:2号峰没食子酸,5号峰原儿茶酸,9号峰表儿茶素,10号峰二氢槲皮素,11号峰4-香豆酸,12号峰落新妇苷,样本可聚为3类。皮尔逊相关分析与逐步回归分析结果显示:5号峰(原儿茶酸)和9号峰(表儿茶素)峰面积变化与贵长猕猴桃皮抗氧化活性呈显著正相关,对其抗氧化活性贡献度较大。结论:贵长猕猴桃皮具有较高的体外抗氧化活性,抗氧化活性的物质基础初步确定为贵长猕猴桃皮开发利用、质量评价提供依据。     

Novel measurement system for respiratory aerosols and droplets in indoor environments

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has created a great demand for a better understanding of the spread of viruses in indoor environments. A novel measurement system consisting of one portable aerosol-emitting mannequin (emitter) and a number of portable aerosol-absorbing mannequins (recipients) was developed that can measure the spread of aerosols and droplets that potentially contain infectious viruses. The emission of the virus from a human is simulated by using tracer particles solved in water. The recipients inhale the aerosols and droplets and quantify the level of solved tracer particles in their artificial lungs simultaneously over time. The mobile system can be arranged in a large variety of spreading scenarios in indoor environments and allows for quantification of the infection probability due to airborne virus spreading. This study shows the accuracy of the new measurement system and its ability to compare aerosol reduction measures such as regular ventilation or the use of a room air purifier.     

环境中污染源废气检测方法及影响因素分析

对污染源废气监测原理进行了简单分析,阐述了当前我国常用的环境中污染源废气检测方法,并对废气检测影响因素及质量控制进行了深入探究。     

Detection of 5-HMF in apple juice with artificial sensing systems

5-HMF (5-hydroxymethyl-furfural) is a product of thermal treatment and is increasingly considered a food contaminant. Here, different concentrations of 5-HMF were measured in apple juice to evaluate the performance of the electronic nose (EN) and electronic tongue (ET) as rapid detection techniques for 5-HMF when coupled with chemometric analysis. Principal component analysis (PCA) and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) evaluated the discrimination capacity of EN and ET for 5-HMF. Loading analysis examined the discrimination contribution of the EN sensors. Partial least square (PLS) regression analysis established a quantitative prediction model for different concentrations of 5-HMF based on EN and ET data set. The optimal models had a coefficient of determination (R²) of 0.926 and a root-mean-square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.4168 in EN; there were R² of 0.914 and RMSEP of 0.5836 in ET. These results demonstrate that EN and ET coupled with chemometric analysis are two promising approaches for the rapid and online detection of 5-HMF in apple juice.     

基于柠檬酸-铕纳米配位聚合物构建荧光探针快速检测汤煲中5’-肌苷酸含量

基于柠檬酸-铕金属有机纳米配体聚合物（citrate/europium lanthanide coordination polymer nanoparticles，Cit/Eu LCP NPs）构建快速检测肉品汤煲中5’-肌苷酸（inosine-5’-monophosphate，5’-IMP）的荧光探针。研究结果表明，5’-IMP对Cit/Eu?LCP?NPs有良好的荧光猝灭作用。在最佳条件下，该荧光探针在5’-IMP?2.5～200?μg/mL的质量浓度范围内呈现出良好的线性关系，检出限为0.17?μg/mL，且具备良好的抗干扰、稳定性和重复性。为了验证方法可行性，将该方法应用于实际鸡汤样品中的5’-IMP检测，测得加标回收率为97.85%～103.95%，可为快速检测肉品汤煲中5’-IMP提供新的思路和方法。