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The global public health burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is intensified by Gram-negative bacteria, which have an additional membrane, the outer membrane (OM), outside of the peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall. Bacterial two-component systems (TCSs) aid in maintaining envelope integrity through a phosphorylation cascade by controlling gene expression through sensor kinases and response regulators. In Escherichia coli, the major TCSs defending cells from envelope stress and adaptation are Rcs and Cpx, which are aided by OM lipoproteins RcsF and NlpE as sensors, respectively. In this review, we focus on these two OM sensors. β-Barrel assembly machinery (BAM) inserts transmembrane OM proteins (OMPs) into the OM. BAM co-assembles RcsF, the Rcs sensor, with OMPs, forming the RcsF-OMP complex. Researchers have presented two models for stress sensing in the Rcs pathway. The first model suggests that LPS perturbation stress disassembles the RcsF-OMP complex, freeing RcsF to activate Rcs. The second model proposes that BAM cannot assemble RcsF into OMPs when the OM or PG is under specific stresses, and thus, the unassembled RcsF activates Rcs. These two models may not be mutually exclusive. Here, we evaluate these two models critically in order to elucidate the stress sensing mechanism. NlpE, the Cpx sensor, has an N-terminal (NTD) and a C-terminal domain (CTD). A defect in lipoprotein trafficking results in NlpE retention in the inner membrane, provoking the Cpx response. Signaling requires the NlpE NTD, but not the NlpE CTD; however, OM-anchored NlpE senses adherence to a hydrophobic surface, with the NlpE CTD playing a key role in this function.

We propose indoor network with THz-band wireless link for 6G application. In our proposed indoor network, an optical hub unit (OHU) that controls whole system is optically linked to THz remote nodes (RNs) over optical distribution fibers. The THz RN communicates with a user equipment through a THz wireless link. The function of the THz RN provides an interface between optical link and THz wireless link. For downlink transmission, photonics-based THz-band signal generation method is adopted to take advantage of broad-band characteristics of optical components. On the other hand, electronics-based THz mixer is also used for uplink transmission because of its cost-effectiveness and low-energy consumption property. Digital signal processor (DSP) is designed to recover the original transmitted baseband signal. The DSP provides a frequency offset compensation in wide frequency range and reduces a probability of cyclic slip. The performance of the proposed system is investigated by experiment with commercially available components. We demonstrate 100 Gb/s 2.5 m wireless transmission with 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) signal for configuring downlink. The optical transmission distance is set to 10 km, and the measured power penalty by the optical transmission is negligible. We also investigate the scalability and the tunability of the photonics-based THz transmitter to confirm the upgradability of our proposed indoor network for considering future capacity expansion. For establishing uplink, 25 Gb/s 1.5 m wireless transmission with quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) signal is shown. Directly modulated laser is used for cost-effective optical transmission. Unlike the downstream transmission, the measured bit error rate (BER) penalty caused by the optical transmission is observed. This is due to the interplay between frequency chirp of directly modulated laser and chromatic dispersion in fiber. Despite of this penalty, BERs less than the soft-decision forward error correction (FEC) threshold (2 10-2) is achieved. We discuss about remaining several technical challenges for real-field deployment. They are THz Tx power improvement, photonic integration, reducing form-factor, polarization insensitiveness, and automatic beam steering. Our recent efforts to solve these issues are also introduced and examined.

Gram-negative bacteria express structurally diverse lipoproteins in their cell envelope. Here, we find that approximately half of lipoproteins destined to the Escherichia coli outer membrane display an intrinsically disordered linker at their N terminus. Intrinsically disordered regions are common in proteins, but establishing their importance in vivo has remained challenging. As we sought to unravel how lipoproteins mature, we discovered that unstructured linkers are required for optimal trafficking by the Lol lipoprotein sorting system, whereby linker deletion re-routes three unrelated lipoproteins to the inner membrane. Focusing on the stress sensor RcsF, we found that replacing the linker with an artificial peptide restored normal outer-membrane targeting only when the peptide was of similar length and disordered. Overall, this study reveals the role played by intrinsic disorder in lipoprotein sorting, providing mechanistic insight into the biogenesis of these proteins and suggesting that evolution can select for intrinsic disorder that supports protein function. Approximately half of lipoproteins destined to the Escherichia coli outer membrane display intrinsically disordered linker peptides at their N termini, which are required for optimal trafficking by the Lol lipoprotein sorting system.

Purpose: We analyzed the safety and feasibility of preoperative short-course radiotherapy (SCRT) followed by consolidation chemotherapy for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC).Methods: From April 2018 to May 2019, 19 patients with LACR were treated with SCRT followed by three cycles of consolidation chemotherapy with leucovorin, fluorouracil, and oxaliplatin (FOLFOX6) before surgery. Adjuvant chemotherapy relied on oxaliplatin. Tumor response, patient compliance, and toxicities were analyzed.Results: The median age was 60 years (range 44–71), and 16 of the patients were male. The median tumor height was 5 cm (range 0–9) from anal verge. All patients received a total dose of 25 Gy in five fractions. The number of cycles of FOLFOX6 before surgery was three in 17, four in one, five in one. Five patients required dose reductions in consolidation chemotherapy. The median interval between initiation of SCRT and surgery was 10.6 weeks (range 8.6–16.4). A pathologic complete response was seen in two patients (11%). Grade III toxicities to the preoperative treatment were seen in five patients (26%): diarrhea in two, a decreased white blood cell count in one, and anemia in two. Postoperative complications arising within 30 days developed in five patients (26%). During the median follow-up period of 20.4 months, there was no tumor recurrence. Conclusion: Preoperative SCRT followed by oxaliplatin-based consolidation chemotherapy showed acceptable toxicity and feasibility in patients with LARC. Prospective randomized trials are warranted to verify the efficacy and safety of this treatment strategy compared with conventional long-course concurrent chemoradiotherapy.

Although fixed ambient air monitoring stations provide data regarding ambient PM2.5 concentrations within a given community, they present limitations in terms of assessing the actual exposure to individuals and populations using time-activity patterns. The population exposure of a community may be estimated by classifying the population according to the time-activity pattern and modeling their exposure. In this study, we provide a possible methodology to assess the population exposure to PM2.5 in a given community. Five field technicians conducted exposure simulations for similar time-activity groups of preschool children, school students, homemakers, office workers, and elderly, with PM2.5 personal exposure monitoring (PEM) equipment, in Guro-gu, Seoul, Korea. The PM2.5 exposure concentrations were modeled by interpolation (point in polygon, inverse distance weighted, and ordinary kriging methods) and regression models using GPS data and a sensor-based air monitoring instrument network, and were compared with the PEM data. The population exposure to PM2.5 was estimated using the population-weighted average through Monte–Carlo simulation. Elderly presented the highest average PM2.5 exposure concentration followed by office workers, homemakers, preschool children, and school students. The correlation between the measured and modeled exposure was good, in the order of ordinary kriging (R2 = 0.822), inverse distance weighted (R2 = 0.747), and point in polygon methods (R2 = 0.721). Thirty-seven percent of the population in a community was exposed to PM2.5 concentrations higher than 35 μg/m3, which is the Korean Atmospheric Environmental Standard for PM2.5 (24-h average). It is suggested that this methodology could be applied to assess the real-time and long-term cumulative exposures of a given community. It is expected that an exposure surveillance system can be developed based on these results.

In Eastern cultures, particularly in South Korea, caregiving for dementia patients at home is common, yet even after facility placement, families may experience ongoing burden due to cultural factors. The aim of this study was to examine the burden experienced by caregivers of dementia patients, considering cultural factors influencing in-home care and facility-based care. Using a cross-sectional study design, we compared the quality of life, depression, subjective happiness, and subjective health of family caregivers providing in-home care (FCHC) and informal family caregivers (IFCGs). Data from the 2019 Community Health Survey conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) that met the study criteria were selected and statistically analyzed. The results showed that psychological/emotional and economic burdens were the primary burden factors for both FCHC and IFCGs. Statistically significant differences were found between the two groups in terms of quality of life, depression, subjective happiness, and subjective health. Specifically, FCHC demonstrated a lower quality of life, and both groups experienced moderate to severe depression, indicating the need for mental health management for caregivers of individuals with dementia. As not all FCHC can be transitioned to IFCGs, interventions tailored to specific caregiving types should be developed to improve the quality of life, depression, subjective happiness, and subjective health of caregivers of individuals with dementia.

Coherent terahertz (THz) wireless communication using silicon photonics technology provides critical solutions for achieving high-capacity wireless transmission beyond 5G and 6G networks and seamless connectivity with fiber-based backbone networks. However, high-quality THz signal generation and noise-robust signal detection remain challenging owing to the presence of inter-channel crosstalk and additive noise in THz wireless environments. Here, we report coherent THz wireless communication using a silicon photonic integrated circuit that includes a dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and advanced digital signal processing (DSP). The structure and fabrication of the dual-parallel MZM-based silicon photonic integrated circuit are systematically optimized using the figure of merit (FOM) method to improve the modulation efficiency while reducing the overall optical loss. The advanced DSP compensates for in-phase and quadrature (IQ) imbalance as well as phase noise by orthogonally decoupling the IQ components in the frequency domain after adaptive signal equalization and carrier phase estimation. The experimental results show a reduction in phase noise that induces degradation of transmission performance, successfully demonstrating error-free 1-m THz wireless transmission with bit-error rates of 10−6 or less at a data rate of 50 Gbps.

The telecommunication society is paving the way toward ultra-high frequency regions, including the millimeter wave (mmWave) and sub-terahertz (sub-THz) bands. Such high-frequency electromagnetic waves induce a variety of physical constraints when they are used in wireless communications. Inevitably, the fiber-optic network is deeply embedded in the mobile network to resolve such challenges. In particular, the radio-over-fiber (RoF)-based distributed antenna system (DAS) can enhance the accessibility of next-generation mobile networks. The inherent benefits of RoF technology enhance the DAS network in terms of practicality and transmission performance by enabling it to support the 5G mmWave and 6G THz services simultaneously in a single optical transport link. Furthermore, the RoF allows the indoor network to be built based on the cascade architecture; thus, a service zone can be easily added on request. This study presents an RoF-based multi-service DAS network and experimentally investigates the feasibility of the proposed system.

As part of the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study, children 3 to 5 years of age participated in a personal PM2.5 exposure study. This paper characterizes the personal PM2.5 exposure and protocol compliance measured with a wearable sensor. The MicroPEM™ collected personal continuous and integrated measures of PM2.5 exposure and compliance data on 272 children. PM2.5, black carbon (BC), and brown carbon tobacco smoke (BrC-ETS) exposure was measured from the filters. We performed a multivariate analysis of woodstove presence and other factors that influenced PM2.5, BC, and BrC exposures. We collected valid exposure data from 258 of the 272 participants (95%). Children wore the MicroPEM for an average of 46% of the 72-h period, and over 80% for a 2-day, 1-night period (with sleep hours counted as non-compliance for this study). Elevated PM2.5 exposures occurred in the morning, evening, and overnight. Median PM2.5, BC, and BrC-ETS concentrations were 8.1 μg/m3, 3.6 μg/m3, and 2.4 μg/m3. The combined BC and BrC-ETS mass comprised 72% of the PM2.5. Woodstove presence, hours used per day, and the primary heating source were associated with the children’s PM2.5 exposure and air filters were associated with reduced PM2.5 concentrations. Our findings suggest that woodstove smoke contributed significantly to this cohort’s PM2.5 exposure. The high sample validity and compliance rate demonstrated that the MicroPEM can be worn by young children in epidemiologic studies to measure their PM2.5 exposure, inform interventions to reduce the exposures, and improve children’s health.

BACKGROUND/AIM The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of preoperative ultrasound (US) in the assessment of synchronous thyroid nodules in patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) for determination of surgical extent. PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 210 consecutive patients who were surgically diagnosed with PTC were included in this study. Synchronous nodules, divided into probably benign and suspicious nodules based on US findings, were correlated with pathologic results using a nodule-by-nodule analysis. RESULTS Among the 302 synchronous nodules in 129 patients, 83 (27.5%) synchronous nodules in 73 patients were diagnosed as malignant after surgery. Ipsilateral probably benign nodules on US were more likely to be malignant than contralateral probably benign nodules (ipsilateral, 10.6%; contralateral, 2.0%, p=0.015). The presence of suspicious contralateral nodules on US and the number of synchronous nodules were significant factors related to contralateral cancer (p

In this paper, we propose a novel Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based video coding technique using a video prediction network (VPN) to support enhanced motion prediction in High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC). Specifically, we design a CNN VPN to generate a virtual reference frame (VRF), which is synthesized using previously coded frames, to improve coding efficiency. The proposed VPN uses two sub-VPN architectures in cascade to predict the current frame in the same time instance. The VRF is expected to have higher temporal correlation than a conventional reference frame, and, thus it is substituted for a conventional reference frame. The proposed technique is incorporated into the HEVC inter-coding framework. Particularly, the VRF is managed in a HEVC reference picture list, so that each prediction unit (PU) can choose a better prediction signal through Rate-Distortion optimization without any additional side information. Furthermore, we modify the HEVC inter-prediction mechanisms of Advanced Motion Vector Prediction and Merge modes adaptively when the current PU uses the VRF as a reference frame. In this manner, the proposed technique can exploit the PU-wise multi-hypothesis prediction techniques in HEVC. Since the proposed VPN can perform both the video interpolation and extrapolation, it can be used for Random Access (RA) and Low Delay B (LD) coding configurations. It is shown in experimental results that the proposed technique provides −2.9% and −5.7% coding gains, respectively, in RA and LD coding configurations as compared to the HEVC reference software, HM 16.6 version.

We propose and demonstrate a cascaded distributed antenna system (DAS) for efficiently extending the coverage of the mmWave-based 5G indoor network. For this, we exploit the radio-over-fiber (RoF) system based on the intermediate-frequency-over-fiber (IFoF) transmission technique that is enabled to add/drop the specific wavelength to the designated remote antenna unit (RAU) with using optical splitters and coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) filters. Moreover, the IFoF transceivers (TRx) perform the subcarrier multiplexing (SCM) in order to transmit $2\times 8$ frequency allocation (FA) 5G signals per a single optical carrier, where each FA has 100 MHz bandwidth, leading each RAU to support $2\times 2$ MIMO operation. Consequently, the cascaded structure allows for the adaptive and flexible configuration of the order of MIMO in accordance of the required data throughput at the specific indoor area. We introduce the cascaded IFoF link structure that can support up-to 13.5 dB optical power budget with following error-vector-magnitude (EVM) performance characterizations. And then we experimentally demonstrate the RoF-based cascaded DAS network, showing that more than 1 Gb/s total throughput can be achieved per a single antenna. Furthermore, we examine the use of avalanche photodiode (APD) to further increase the optical power budget (i.e., the coverage) based on experiment as well as simulation.

Modern management of rectal cancer highly depends on the interpretation of high-spatial-resolution MRI, which determines the benefits from preoperative chemoradiotherapy or surgery alone. Accordingly, the baseline MRI report plays a pivotal role in planning the treatment. Although several structured reporting templates for rectal cancer staging on MRI are available, many radiologists still use the free-text format. In this review, we discuss the essential items for reporting rectal cancer on MRI before treatment to guide general radiologists in preparing a qualified report.

Extramedullary (extraosseous) plasmacytoma (EMP) of the small intestine is a rare plasma cell neoplasm (PCN) that presents with abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, etc. We describe 2 cases of EMP of the small intestine that presented with ileus.A 78-year-old woman and 68-year-old man visited our clinic with complaints of abdominal discomfort and obstruction. Abdominal computed tomography (CT) revealed a thickened lesion with multiple enlarged mesenteric lymph nodes (LNs) in the ileum and duodenum. The female patient underwent segmental resection in the ileum. The male patient underwent Whipple's operation in the duodenum.Histopathological examination and immunohistochemical staining of resected specimens from the 2 patients confirmed a PCN. In the surgical specimens of 2 cases, immunoglobulin heavy-chain rearrangement was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction amplification, but no Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected cells were found by EBV-in situ hybridization. Bone marrow aspirate and trephine biopsies were negative for the type of PCN. Bone marrow cytogenetics and fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed no abnormalities. Serum β2-microglobulin levels were within normal limits. Additionally, none of the patients showed an M-spike in serum or urine protein electrophoresis. Therefore, the patients were diagnosed with a solitary EMP of the small intestine. The female patient refused treatment. At follow-up 3 months postoperatively, her disease progressed and she newly developed multiple LNs and nodular lesions in the right pelvic side wall. She was treated with dexamethasone. The male patient experienced back pain 25 days after Whipple's operation. Spine series magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intermediate signal intensity mass in the posterior epidural space from T8/9 to T10. The mass was removed, and the same histologic features were identified as duodenal masses. He was treated with dexamethasone and radiotherapy.EMPs of the small intestine are easy to overlook because they rarely occur in the small intestine. Although surgery is not required for diagnosis, surgical resection can be a good option for EMPs of the small intestine, instead of local radiation therapy. However, close follow-up is required due to the possibility of relapse or progression to plasma cell myeloma.

We compared the radiation dose and image quality between the 2nd generation and the 3rd generation dual-source single-energy (DSSE) and dual-source dual-energy (DSDE) CT of the abdomen.We included patients undergoing follow-up abdominal CT after partial or radical nephrectomy in the first 10 months of 2019 (2nd generation DS CT) and the first 10 months of 2020 (3rd generation DS CT). We divided the 320 patients into 4 groups (A, 2nd generation DSSE CT; B, 2nd generation DSDE CT; C, 3rd generation DSSE CT; and D, 3rd generation DSDE CT) (The mean size-specific dose estimation of 3rd generation DSDE CT group was significantly lower than that of the 2nd generation DSSE CT (42.5%,Our results showed a considerable reduction in the radiation dose while maintaining high image quality with 3rd generation DSDE CT as compared to the 2nd generation DSDE CT and 2nd generation DSSE CT.2세대 및 3세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지와 이중 소스 이중 에너지를 이용한 복부 CT의 방사선량과 영상 품질을 비교하였다.부분 또는 근치적 신절제술 후 2019년 첫 10개월(2세대 이중 소스 CT)과 2020년 첫 10개월(3세대 이중 소스 CT)에 추적관찰 복부 CT를 시행한 환자들을 대상으로 하였다. 총 320명의 환자를 성별과 체질량지수에 따라 각각 80명씩 4개 그룹으로 나누었다(A, 2세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT; B, 2세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT; C, 3세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT 및 D, 3세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT). 각 그룹 간 방사선량과 영상 품질(객관적, 주관적 품질)을 비교하였다.3세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT의 평균 신체 크기 특이적 선량 추정값은 2세대 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT (42.5%,3세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT는 2세대 이중 소스 이중 에너지 CT 및 이중 소스 단일 에너지 CT와 비교하여 높은 영상 품질을 유지하면서 방사선량을 상당히 감소시킨 결과를 보여주었다.

Background Demographic, work environmental, and psychosocial features are associated with mental health of healthcare professionals at pandemic frontline. The current study aimed to find predictors of mental health for public health doctors from working experiences at frontline of COVID-19 pandemic. Methods With first-come and first-served manner, 350 public health doctors with experiences of work at COVID-19 frontline participated online survey on August 2020. Mental health was defined using the total scores of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Stanford Presenteeism Scale-6. Multivariate logistic regression models of mental health with lowest Akaike Information Criterion were determined among all combinations of working environments, perceived threats and satisfaction at frontline, and demographics that were significant (P Results Perceived distress, lowered self-efficacy at work, anxiety, and depressive mood were reported by 45.7, 34.6, 11.4, and 15.1% of respondents, respectively. Predictors of poor mental health found in the multivariate logistic regression analyses were environmental (insufficient personal protective equipment, workplace of screening center, prolonged workhours) and psychosocial (fear of infection and death, social stigma and rejection) aspects of working experiences at frontline. Satisfaction of monetary compensation and proactive coping (acceptance and willingness to volunteer at frontline) were predictive of better mental health. Conclusions Sufficient supply of personal protective equipment and training on infection prevention at frontline, proper workhours and satisfactory monetary compensation, and psychological supports are required for better mental health of public health doctors at frontline of COVID-19 pandemic.

We thank Asma Boujtat for technical help. We are indebted to the members of the Collet laboratory and to Nassos Typas (EMBL, Heidelberg) for helpful suggestions and discussions and to Tom Silhavy (Princeton) for providing bacterial strains. J.S. was a research fellow of the FRIA and J.F.C. is an Investigator of the FRFS-WELBIO. This work was funded by the WELBIO, by grants from the F.R.S.-FNRS, from the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (ARC 17/22-087), from the European Commission via the International Training Network Train2Target (721484), and from the EOS Excellence in Research Program of the FWO and FRS-FNRS (G0G0818N).; Gram-negative bacteria express structurally diverse lipoproteins in their envelope. Here we found that approximately half of lipoproteins destined to the Escherichia coli outer membrane display an intrinsically disordered linker at their N-terminus. Intrinsically disordered regions are common in proteins, but establishing their importance in vivo has remained challenging. Here, as we sought to unravel how lipoproteins mature, we discovered that unstructured linkers are required for optimal trafficking by the Lol lipoprotein sorting system: linker deletion re-routes three unrelated lipoproteins to the inner membrane. Focusing on the stress sensor RcsF, we found that replacing the linker with an artificial peptide restored normal outer membrane targeting only when the peptide was of similar length and disordered. Overall, this study reveals the role played by intrinsic disorder in lipoprotein sorting, providing mechanistic insight into the biogenesis of these proteins and suggesting that evolution can select for intrinsic disorder that supports protein function.

We experimentally demonstrate the use of silicon photonics circuit (SPC) in the simple and cost-effective photonics-aided Terahertz (THz) wireless transmission system. We perform theoretical investigation (with experimental confirmation) to understand that the system performance is more sensitive to the free space path loss (FSPL) at the THz wireless link than the SPC’s insertion loss. The SPC, we design and fabricate, combines two incident optical carriers at different wavelengths and modulates one of two optical carriers with data to transfer, consequently reducing the system footprint that is indeed one of the key challenges that must be tackled for better practicability of the THz communication system. We perform experimental verification to show the feasibility of 40 Gb/s non-return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off-keying (OOK) signal transmission over 1.4 m wireless link for possibly its application in short-reach indoor wireless communication systems utilizing (sub-)THz frequency band such as, e.g., indoor WiFi, distributed antenna/radio systems, rack-to-rack data delivery, etc. The SPC could be further integrated with various photonic elements such as semiconductor optical amplifiers, laser diodes, and photo-mixers, which will enable the path towards all-photonic THz-wave synthesizers.

Air pollution particulate matter 100 genes), which included transcriptional drivers of mucus metaplasia (SPDEF and FOXA3). Exposure to a higher OE dose modified the expression of 1,240 genes and further exacerbated expression responses observed at the moderate dose, including the mucus secretory program. Moreover, the higher OE dose significantly increased the MUC5AC/MUC5B gel-forming mucin expression ratio and strongly downregulated ciliated cell expression programs, including key ciliating cell transcription factors (e.g., FOXJ1 and MCIDAS). Chronic OE stimulation induced mucus metaplasia–like remodeling characterized by increases in MUC5AC(+) secretory cells and MUC5AC mucus secretions. This epithelial remodeling may underlie poor respiratory outcomes associated with high PM(2.5) exposure.

Background: We monitored exposure to fine particulates (PM2.5), ozone, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ambient temperature for pregnant women with and without asthma. Methods: Women (n = 40) from the Breathe&mdash, Well-Being, Environment, Lifestyle, and Lung Function Study (2015&ndash, 2018) were enrolled during pregnancy and monitored for 2&ndash, 4 days. Daily pollutants were measured using personal air monitors, indoor air monitors, and nearest Environmental Protection Agency&rsquo, s stationary monitors based on GPS tracking and home address. Results: Personal-monitor measurements of PM2.5, ozone, and NO2 did not vary by asthma status but exposure profiles significantly differed by assessment methods. EPA stationary monitor-based methods appeared to underestimate PM2.5 and temperature exposure and overestimate ozone and NO2 exposure. Higher indoor-monitored PM2.5 exposures were associated with smoking and the use of gas appliances. The proportion of waking-time during which personal monitors were worn was ~56%. Lower compliance was associated with exercise, smoking, being around a smoker, and the use of a prescription drug. Conclusions: Exposure did not vary by asthma status but was influenced by daily activities and assessment methods. Personal monitors may better capture exposures but non-compliance merits attention. Meanwhile, larger monitoring studies are warranted to further understand exposure profiles and the health effects of air pollution during pregnancy.

In this article, versatile video coding, the next-generation video coding standard, is combined with a deep convolutional neural network to achieve state-of-the-art image compression efficiency. The proposed hierarchical grouped residual dense network exhaustively exploits hierarchical features in each architectural level to maximize the image quality enhancement capability. The basic building block employed for hierarchical grouped residual dense network is residual dense block which exploits hierarchical features from internal convolutional layers. Residual dense blocks are then combined into a grouped residual dense block exploiting hierarchical features from residual dense blocks. Finally, grouped residual dense blocks are connected to comprise a hierarchical grouped residual dense block so that hierarchical features from grouped residual dense blocks can also be exploited for quality enhancement of versatile video coding intra-coded images. Various non-architectural and architectural aspects affecting the training efficiency and performance of hierarchical grouped residual dense network are explored. The proposed hierarchical grouped residual dense network respectively obtained 10.72% and 14.3% of Bjøntegaard-delta-rate gains against versatile video coding in the experiments conducted on two public image datasets with different characteristics to verify the image compression efficiency.

In recent years, deep neural networks have been utilized in a wide variety of applications including image generation. In particular, generative adversarial networks (GANs) are able to produce highly realistic pictures as part of tasks such as image compression. As with standard compression, it is desirable to be able to automatically assess the perceptual quality of generative images to monitor and control the encode process. However, existing image quality algorithms are ineffective on GAN generated content, especially on textured regions and at high compressions. Here we propose a new naturalness-based image quality predictor for generative images. Our new GAN picture quality predictor is built using a multi-stage parallel boosting system based on structural similarity features and measurements of statistical similarity. To enable model development and testing, we also constructed a subjective GAN image quality database containing (distorted) GAN images and collected human opinions of them. Our experimental results indicate that our proposed GAN IQA model delivers superior quality predictions on the generative image datasets, as well as on traditional image quality datasets., Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Image Processing