Abstract: Macrostructures are higher-level semantic or conceptual structures that organize the ‘local’ microstructures of discourse, interaction, and their cognitive processing. They are distinguished from other global structures of a more schematic nature, which we call superstructures. Originally published in 1980, the theory of macrostructures outlined in this book is the result of research carried out during the previous 10 years in the domains of literary theory, text grammar, the general theory of discourse, pragmatics, and the cognitive psychology of discourse processing. The presentation of the theory is systematic but informal and at this stage was not intended to be fully formalized.

Abstract: Humans can understand and produce new utterances effortlessly, thanks to their compositional skills. Once a person learns the meaning of a new verb "dax," he or she can immediately understand the meaning of "dax twice" or "sing and dax." In this paper, we introduce the SCAN domain, consisting of a set of simple compositional navigation commands paired with the corresponding action sequences. We then test the zero-shot generalization capabilities of a variety of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) trained on SCAN with sequence-to-sequence methods. We find that RNNs can make successful zero-shot generalizations when the differences between training and test commands are small, so that they can apply "mix-and-match" strategies to solve the task. However, when generalization requires systematic compositional skills (as in the "dax" example above), RNNs fail spectacularly. We conclude with a proof-of-concept experiment in neural machine translation, suggesting that lack of systematicity might be partially responsible for neural networks' notorious training data thirst.

Abstract: Fil: Diaz, Sandra Universidad Nacional de Cordoba Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biologia Vegetal; Argentina

Abstract: Spring leaf unfolding has been occurring earlier in the year because of rising temperatures; however, long-term evidence in the field from 7 European tree species studied in 1,245 sites shows that this early unfolding effect is being reduced in recent years, possibly because the reducing chilling and/or insolation render trees less responsive to warming. Spring leaf unfolding has been occurring earlier in the year because of rising temperatures, but some experimental evidence has suggested that the effect is becoming less marked because trees are not receiving the necessary chilling required to trigger leaf unfolding. Shilong Piao and colleagues present evidence based on long-term field observations of seven European tree species studied in 1,245 locations across Europe confirming that a weakening of temperature sensitivity of leaf unfolding is indeed occurring. The authors provide model-based evidence that the chilling effect is at least partially responsible. Earlier spring leaf unfolding is a frequently observed response of plants to climate warming1,2,3,4. Many deciduous tree species require chilling for dormancy release, and warming-related reductions in chilling may counteract the advance of leaf unfolding in response to warming5,6. Empirical evidence for this, however, is limited to saplings or twigs in climate-controlled chambers7,8. Using long-term in situ observations of leaf unfolding for seven dominant European tree species at 1,245 sites, here we show that the apparent response of leaf unfolding to climate warming (ST, expressed in days advance of leaf unfolding per °C warming) has significantly decreased from 1980 to 2013 in all monitored tree species. Averaged across all species and sites, ST decreased by 40% from 4.0 ± 1.8 days °C−1 during 1980–1994 to 2.3 ± 1.6 days °C−1 during 1999–2013. The declining ST was also simulated by chilling-based phenology models, albeit with a weaker decline (24–30%) than observed in situ. The reduction in ST is likely to be partly attributable to reduced chilling. Nonetheless, other mechanisms may also have a role, such as ‘photoperiod limitation’ mechanisms that may become ultimately limiting when leaf unfolding dates occur too early in the season. Our results provide empirical evidence for a declining ST, but also suggest that the predicted strong winter warming in the future may further reduce ST and therefore result in a slowdown in the advance of tree spring phenology.

Abstract: The use of flipped classroom approach has become increasingly popular in health professions education. However, no meta-analysis has been published that specifically examines the effect of flipped classroom versus traditional classroom on student learning. This study examined the findings of comparative articles through a meta-analysis in order to summarize the overall effects of teaching with the flipped classroom approach. We focused specifically on a set of flipped classroom studies in which pre-recorded videos were provided before face-to-face class meetings. These comparative articles focused on health care professionals including medical students, residents, doctors, nurses, or learners in other health care professions and disciplines (e.g., dental, pharmacy, environmental or occupational health). Using predefined study eligibility criteria, seven electronic databases were searched in mid-April 2017 for relevant articles. Methodological quality was graded using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI). Effect sizes, heterogeneity estimates, analysis of possible moderators, and publication bias were computed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. A meta-analysis of 28 eligible comparative studies (between-subject design) showed an overall significant effect in favor of flipped classrooms over traditional classrooms for health professions education (standardized mean difference, SMD = 0.33, 95% confidence interval, CI = 0.21–0.46, p < 0.001), with no evidence of publication bias. In addition, the flipped classroom approach was more effective when instructors used quizzes at the start of each in-class session. More respondents reported they preferred flipped to traditional classrooms. Current evidence suggests that the flipped classroom approach in health professions education yields a significant improvement in student learning compared with traditional teaching methods.

Abstract: We introduce FeUdal Networks (FuNs): a novel architecture for hierarchical reinforcement learning. Our approach is inspired by the feudal reinforcement learning proposal of Dayan and Hinton, and gains power and efficacy by decoupling end-to-end learning across multiple levels -- allowing it to utilise different resolutions of time. Our framework employs a Manager module and a Worker module. The Manager operates at a lower temporal resolution and sets abstract goals which are conveyed to and enacted by the Worker. The Worker generates primitive actions at every tick of the environment. The decoupled structure of FuN conveys several benefits -- in addition to facilitating very long timescale credit assignment it also encourages the emergence of sub-policies associated with different goals set by the Manager. These properties allow FuN to dramatically outperform a strong baseline agent on tasks that involve long-term credit assignment or memorisation. We demonstrate the performance of our proposed system on a range of tasks from the ATARI suite and also from a 3D DeepMind Lab environment.

Abstract: Patients with critical illness due to infection with the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) show rapid disease progression to acute respiratory failure. The study aimed to screen the most useful predictive factor for critical illness caused by COVID-19. The study prospectively involved 61 patients with COVID-19 infection as a derivation cohort, and 54 patients as a validation cohort. The predictive factor for critical illness was selected using LASSO regression analysis. A nomogram based on non-specific laboratory indicators was built to predict the probability of critical illness. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) was identified as an independent risk factor for critical illness in patients with COVID-19 infection. The NLR had an area under receiver operating characteristic of 0.849 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.707 to 0.991) in the derivation cohort and 0.867 (95% CI 0.747 to 0.944) in the validation cohort, the calibration curves fitted well, and the decision and clinical impact curves showed that the NLR had high standardized net benefit. In addition, the incidence of critical illness was 9.1% (1/11) for patients aged ≥ 50 and having an NLR < 3.13, and 50% (7/14) patients with age ≥ 50 and NLR ≥ 3.13 were predicted to develop critical illness. Based on the risk stratification of NLR according to age, this study has developed a COVID-19 pneumonia management process. We found that NLR is a predictive factor for early-stage prediction of patients infected with COVID-19 who are likely to develop critical illness. Patients aged ≥ 50 and having an NLR ≥ 3.13 are predicted to develop critical illness, and they should thus have rapid access to an intensive care unit if necessary.

Abstract: The recently introduced panoptic segmentation task has renewed our community's interest in unifying the tasks of instance segmentation (for thing classes) and semantic segmentation (for stuff classes). However, current state-of-the-art methods for this joint task use separate and dissimilar networks for instance and semantic segmentation, without performing any shared computation. In this work, we aim to unify these methods at the architectural level, designing a single network for both tasks. Our approach is to endow Mask R-CNN, a popular instance segmentation method, with a semantic segmentation branch using a shared Feature Pyramid Network (FPN) backbone. Surprisingly, this simple baseline not only remains effective for instance segmentation, but also yields a lightweight, top-performing method for semantic segmentation. In this work, we perform a detailed study of this minimally extended version of Mask R-CNN with FPN, which we refer to as Panoptic FPN, and show it is a robust and accurate baseline for both tasks. Given its effectiveness and conceptual simplicity, we hope our method can serve as a strong baseline and aid future research in panoptic segmentation.

Abstract: Disruptions in gut microbiota composition and function are increasingly implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The functional output of the gut microbiota, including short-chain fatty acids and amino acids, are thought to be important modulators underlying the development of these disorders. Gut bacteria can alter the bioavailability of amino acids by utilization of several amino acids originating from both alimentary and endogenous proteins. In turn, gut bacteria also provide amino acids to the host. This could have significant implications in the context of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus, conditions associated with elevated systemic concentrations of certain amino acids, in particular the aromatic and branched-chain amino acids. Moreover, several amino acids released by gut bacteria can serve as precursors for the synthesis of short-chain fatty acids, which also play a role in the development of obesity. In this review, we aim to compile the available evidence on the contribution of microbial amino acids to host amino acid homeostasis, and to assess the role of the gut microbiota as a determinant of amino acid and short-chain fatty acid perturbations in human obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Abstract: PURPOSEPreoperative chemoradiotherapy may improve the radical resection rate for resectable or borderline resectable pancreatic cancer, but the overall benefit is unproven.PATIENTS AND METHODSIn th...

Abstract: Retinal vascular diseases are important causes of vision loss. A detailed evaluation of the vascular abnormalities facilitates diagnosis and treatment in these diseases. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography using the highly efficient split-spectrum amplitude decorrelation angiography algorithm offers an alternative to conventional dye-based retinal angiography. OCT angiography has several advantages, including 3D visualization of retinal and choroidal circulations (including the choriocapillaris) and avoidance of dye injection-related complications. Results from six illustrative cases are reported. In diabetic retinopathy, OCT angiography can detect neovascularization and quantify ischemia. In age-related macular degeneration, choroidal neovascularization can be observed without the obscuration of details caused by dye leakage in conventional angiography. Choriocapillaris dysfunction can be detected in the nonneovascular form of the disease, furthering our understanding of pathogenesis. In choroideremia, OCT's ability to show choroidal and retinal vascular dysfunction separately may be valuable in predicting progression and assessing treatment response. OCT angiography shows promise as a noninvasive alternative to dye-based angiography for highly detailed, in vivo, 3D, quantitative evaluation of retinal vascular abnormalities.

Abstract: Morphological and functional parameters such as chamber size and function, aortic diameters and distensibility, flow and T1 and T2* relaxation time can be assessed and quantified by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). Knowledge of normal values for quantitative CMR is crucial to interpretation of results and to distinguish normal from disease. In this review, we present normal reference values for morphological and functional CMR parameters of the cardiovascular system based on the peer-reviewed literature and current CMR techniques and sequences.

Abstract: Sarcopenia, an age-related decline in muscle mass and function, is one of the most important health problems in elderly with a high rate of adverse outcomes. However, several studies have investigated the prevalence of sarcopenia in the world, the results have been inconsistent. The current systematic review and meta- analysis study was conducted to estimate the overall prevalence of sarcopenia in both genders in different regions of the world. Electronic databases, including MEDLINE (via PubMed), SCOPUS and Web of Science were searched between January 2009 and December 2016. The population- based studies that reported the prevalence of sarcopenia in healthy adults aged ≥ 60 years using the European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP), the International Working Group on Sarcopenia (IWGS) and Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) definitions, were selected. According to these consensual definitions, sarcopenia was defined by presence of low muscle mass (adjusted appendicular muscle mass for height) and muscle strength (handgrip strength) or physical performance (the usual gait speed). The random effect model was used for estimation the prevalence of sarcopenia. The sex-specific prevalence of sarcopenia and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated using the Binomial Exact Method. Heterogeneity was assessed by subgroup analysis. Thirty- five articles met our inclusion criteria, with a total of 58404 individuals. The overall estimates of prevalence was 10% (95% CI: 8-12%) in men and 10% (95% CI: 8-13%) in women, respectively. The prevalence was higher among non- Asian than Asian individuals in both genders especially, when the Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) was used to measure muscle mass (19% vs 10% in men; 20% vs 11% in women). Despite the differences encountered between the studies, regarding diagnostic tools used to measure of muscle mass and different regions of the world for estimating parameters of sarcopenia, present systematic review revealed that a substantial proportion of the old people has sarcopenia, even in healthy populations. However, sarcopenia is as a consequence of the aging progress, early diagnosis can prevent some adverse outcomes.

Abstract: There are several common conventions in use by the gravitational-wave community to describe the amplitude of sources and the sensitivity of detectors. These are frequently confused. We outline the merits of and differences between the various quantities used for parameterizing noise curves and characterizing gravitational-wave amplitudes. We conclude by producing plots that consistently compare different detectors. Similar figures can be generated on-line for general use at http://rhcole.com/apps/GWplotter.

Abstract: Recent leading approaches to semantic segmentation rely on deep convolutional networks trained with human-annotated, pixel-level segmentation masks. Such pixel-accurate supervision demands expensive labeling effort and limits the performance of deep networks that usually benefit from more training data. In this paper, we propose a method that achieves competitive accuracy but only requires easily obtained bounding box annotations. The basic idea is to iterate between automatically generating region proposals and training convolutional networks. These two steps gradually recover segmentation masks for improving the networks, and vise versa. Our method, called BoxSup, produces competitive results supervised by boxes only, on par with strong baselines fully supervised by masks under the same setting. By leveraging a large amount of bounding boxes, BoxSup further unleashes the power of deep convolutional networks and yields state-of-the-art results on PASCAL VOC 2012 and PASCAL-CONTEXT.

Abstract: The side effects of systemic chemotherapy used to treat cancer are often severe. For decades, oncologists have focused on treating the tumor, which may result in damage to the tumor-bearing host and its immune system. Recently, much attention has been paid to the immune system of patients and its activation via biological therapies. Biological therapies, including immunotherapy and oncolytic virus (OV) therapy, are often more physiological and well tolerated. The present review elucidated how these therapies work and why these therapies may be better tolerated: i) In contrast to chemotherapy, immunotherapies induce a memory function of the adaptive immunity system; ii) immunotherapies aim to specifically activate the immune system against cancer; side effects are low due to immune tolerance mechanisms, which maintain the integrity of the body in the presence of B and T lymphocytes with their antigen-receptor specificities and; iii) the type I interferon response, which is evoked by OVs, is an ancient innate immune defense system. Biological and physiological therapies, which support the immune system, may therefore benefit cancer treatment. The present review focused on immunotherapy, with the aim of reducing side effects and increasing long-lasting efficacy in cancer therapy.

Abstract: Classification and identification of the materials lying over or beneath the Earth's surface have long been a fundamental but challenging research topic in geoscience and remote sensing (RS) and have garnered a growing concern owing to the recent advancements of deep learning techniques. Although deep networks have been successfully applied in single-modality-dominated classification tasks, yet their performance inevitably meets the bottleneck in complex scenes that need to be finely classified, due to the limitation of information diversity. In this work, we provide a baseline solution to the aforementioned difficulty by developing a general multimodal deep learning (MDL) framework. In particular, we also investigate a special case of multi-modality learning (MML) -- cross-modality learning (CML) that exists widely in RS image classification applications. By focusing on "what", "where", and "how" to fuse, we show different fusion strategies as well as how to train deep networks and build the network architecture. Specifically, five fusion architectures are introduced and developed, further being unified in our MDL framework. More significantly, our framework is not only limited to pixel-wise classification tasks but also applicable to spatial information modeling with convolutional neural networks (CNNs). To validate the effectiveness and superiority of the MDL framework, extensive experiments related to the settings of MML and CML are conducted on two different multimodal RS datasets. Furthermore, the codes and datasets will be available at this https URL, contributing to the RS community.

Abstract: Majorana zero-modes - a type of localized quasiparticle - hold great promise for topological quantum computing. Tunnelling spectroscopy in electrical transport is the primary tool for identifying the presence of Majorana zero-modes, for instance as a zero-bias peak in differential conductance. The height of the Majorana zero-bias peak is predicted to be quantized at the universal conductance value of 2e 2 /h at zero temperature (where e is the charge of an electron and h is the Planck constant), as a direct consequence of the famous Majorana symmetry in which a particle is its own antiparticle. The Majorana symmetry protects the quantization against disorder, interactions and variations in the tunnel coupling. Previous experiments, however, have mostly shown zero-bias peaks much smaller than 2e 2 /h, with a recent observation of a peak height close to 2e 2 /h. Here we report a quantized conductance plateau at 2e 2 /h in the zero-bias conductance measured in indium antimonide semiconductor nanowires covered with an aluminium superconducting shell. The height of our zero-bias peak remains constant despite changing parameters such as the magnetic field and tunnel coupling, indicating that it is a quantized conductance plateau. We distinguish this quantized Majorana peak from possible non-Majorana origins by investigating its robustness to electric and magnetic fields as well as its temperature dependence. The observation of a quantized conductance plateau strongly supports the existence of Majorana zero-modes in the system, consequently paving the way for future braiding experiments that could lead to topological quantum computing.

Abstract: Background Numerous studies report an association between social support and protection from depression, but no systematic review or meta-analysis exists on this topic. Aims To review systematically the characteristics of social support (types and source) associated with protection from depression across life periods (childhood and adolescence; adulthood; older age) and by study design (cross-sectional v. cohort studies). Method A systematic literature search conducted in February 2015 yielded 100 eligible studies. Study quality was assessed using a critical appraisal checklist, followed by meta-analyses. Results Sources of support varied across life periods, with parental support being most important among children and adolescents, whereas adults and older adults relied more on spouses, followed by family and then friends. Significant heterogeneity in social support measurement was noted. Effects were weaker in both magnitude and significance in cohort studies. Conclusions Knowledge gaps remain due to social support measurement heterogeneity and to evidence of reverse causality bias.

Abstract: Oomycetes form a deep lineage of eukaryotic organisms that includes a large number of plant pathogens which threaten natural and managed ecosystems. We undertook a survey to query the community for their ranking of plant-pathogenic oomycete species based on scientific and economic importance. In total, we received 263 votes from 62 scientists in 15 countries for a total of 33 species. The Top 10 species and their ranking are: (1) Phytophthora infestans; (2, tied) Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis; (2, tied) Phytophthora ramorum; (4) Phytophthora sojae; (5) Phytophthora capsici; (6) Plasmopara viticola; (7) Phytophthora cinnamomi; (8, tied) Phytophthora parasitica; (8, tied) Pythium ultimum; and (10) Albugo candida. This article provides an introduction to these 10 taxa and a snapshot of current research. We hope that the list will serve as a benchmark for future trends in oomycete research.

Abstract: The extent of tumor heterogeneity is an emerging theme that researchers are only beginning to understand. How genetic and epigenetic heterogeneity affects tumor evolution and clinical progression is unknown. The precise nature of the environmental factors that influence this heterogeneity is also yet to be characterized. Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology and the Volkswagen Foundation organized a meeting focused on identifying the obstacles that need to be overcome to advance translational research in and tumor heterogeneity. Once these key questions were established, the attendees devised potential solutions. Their ideas are presented here.

Abstract: Previous studies suggest that COVID-19 is more likely to infect older adult men, particularly those with chronic comorbidities 2-4 Few infections in children have been reported We identified all infected infants in China and described demographic, epidemiologic, and clinical features

Abstract: Objective Previous meta-analyses have found that exercise prevents falls in older people. This study aimed to test whether this effect is still present when new trials are added, and it explores whether characteristics of the trial design, sample or intervention are associated with greater fall prevention effects. Design Update of a systematic review with random effects meta-analysis and meta-regression. Data sources Cochrane Library, CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PubMed, PEDro and SafetyLit were searched from January 2010 to January 2016. Study eligibility criteria We included randomised controlled trials that compared fall rates in older people randomised to receive exercise as a single intervention with fall rates in those randomised to a control group. Results 99 comparisons from 88 trials with 19 478 participants were available for meta-analysis. Overall, exercise reduced the rate of falls in community-dwelling older people by 21% (pooled rate ratio 0.79, 95% CI 0.73 to 0.85, p<0.001, I2 47%, 69 comparisons) with greater effects seen from exercise programmes that challenged balance and involved more than 3 hours/week of exercise. These variables explained 76% of the between-trial heterogeneity and in combination led to a 39% reduction in falls (incident rate ratio 0.61, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.72, p<0.001). Exercise also had a fall prevention effect in community-dwelling people with Parkinson's disease (pooled rate ratio 0.47, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.73, p=0.001, I2 65%, 6 comparisons) or cognitive impairment (pooled rate ratio 0.55, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.83, p=0.004, I2 21%, 3 comparisons). There was no evidence of a fall prevention effect of exercise in residential care settings or among stroke survivors or people recently discharged from hospital. Summary/conclusions Exercise as a single intervention can prevent falls in community-dwelling older people. Exercise programmes that challenge balance and are of a higher dose have larger effects. The impact of exercise as a single intervention in clinical groups and aged care facility residents requires further investigation, but promising results are evident for people with Parkinson's disease and cognitive impairment.

Abstract: Ultrashort pulses covering the 1–30 THz range are generated from a W/CoFeB/Pt trilayer and originate from photoinduced spin currents, the inverse spin Hall effect and a broadband Fabry–Perot resonance. The resultant peak fields are several 100 kV cm–1.