Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dual Dynamic PTZ Tracking Using Cooperating Cameras

This paper presents a real-time, dynamic system that uses high resolution gimbals and motorized lenses with position encoders on their zoom and focus elements to “recalibrate” the system as needed to track a target. Systems that initially calibrate for a mapping between pixels of a wide field of view (FOV) master camera and the pan-tilt (PT) settings of a steerable narrow FOV slave camera assume that the target is travelling on a plane. As the target travels through the FOV of the master camera, the slave cameras PT settings are then adjusted to keep the target centered within its FOV. In this paper, we describe a system we have developed that allows both cameras to move and extract the 3D coordinates of the target. This is done with only a single initial calibration between pairs of cameras and high-resolution pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) platforms. Using the information from the PT settings of the PTZ platform as well as the precalibrated settings from a preset zoom lens, the 3D coordinates of the target are extracted and compared to those of a laser range finder and static-dynamic camera pair accuracies.
Epithelial-type systemic breast carcinoma cells with a restricted mesenchymal transition are a major source of metastasis

Association of epithelial-mesenchymal transition with the metastatic potential of disseminated cells in breast cancer was studied. Carcinoma cells undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT); however, contributions of EMT heterogeneity to disease progression remain a matter of debate. Here, we addressed the EMT status of ex vivo cultured circulating and disseminated tumor cells (CTCs/DTCs) in a syngeneic mouse model of metastatic breast cancer (MBC). Epithelial-type CTCs with a restricted mesenchymal transition had the strongest lung metastases formation ability, whereas mesenchymal-type CTCs showed limited metastatic ability. EpCAM expression served as a surrogate marker to evaluate the EMT heterogeneity of clinical samples from MBC, including metastases, CTCs, and DTCs. The proportion of epithelial-type CTCs, and especially DTCs, correlated with distant metastases and poorer outcome of patients with MBC. This study fosters our understanding of EMT in metastasis and underpins heterogeneous EMT phenotypes as important parameters for tumor prognosis and treatment. We further suggest that EpCAM-dependent CTC isolation systems will underestimate CTC numbers but will quantify clinically relevant metastatic cells.
Cellular Bioeffect Investigations on Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound and Sonoporation: Platform Design and Flow Cytometry Protocol

At low-intensity levels, ultrasound can potentially generate therapeutic effects on living cells, and it can trigger sonoporation when microbubbles (MBs) are present to facilitate drug delivery. Yet, our foundational knowledge of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) and sonoporation remains to be critically weak because the pertinent cellular bioeffects have not been rigorously studied. In this article, we present a population-based experimental protocol that can effectively foster investigations on the mechanistic bioeffects of LIPUS and sonoporation over a cell population. Walkthroughs of different methodological details are presented, including the fabrication of the ultrasound exposure platform and its calibration, as well as the design of a bioassay procedure that uses fluorescent tracers and flow cytometry to isolate sonicated cells with similar characteristics. An application example is also presented to illustrate how our protocol can be used to investigate the downstream cellular bioeffects of leukemia cells. We show that, with 1-MHz LIPUS exposure (with 29.1 J/cm2 delivered acoustic energy density), variations in viability and morphology would be found among different types of sonicated leukemia cells (HL-60, Molt-4) in the absence and presence of MBs. Taken altogether, this article provides a reference on how cellular bioeffect experiments on LIPUS and sonoporation can be planned meticulously to acquire strong observations that are critical to establish the biological foundations for therapeutic applications.
Protein–Protein Interaction Network Analysis Reveals Several Diseases Highly Associated with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Based on clinical observations, women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are prone to developing several other diseases, such as metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. However, the molecular association between PCOS and these diseases remains poorly understood. Recent studies showed that the information from protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis are useful in understanding the disease association in detail. This study utilized this approach to deepen the knowledge on the association between PCOS and other diseases. A PPI network for PCOS was constructed using PCOS-related proteins (PCOSrp) obtained from PCOSBase. MCODE was used to identify highly connected regions in the PCOS network, known as subnetworks. These subnetworks represent protein families, where their molecular information is used to explain the association between PCOS and other diseases. Fisher’s exact test and comorbidity data were used to identify PCOS–disease subnetworks. Pathway enrichment analysis was performed on the PCOS–disease subnetworks to identify significant pathways that are highly involved in the PCOS–disease associations. Migraine, schizophrenia, depressive disorder, obesity, and hypertension, along with twelve other diseases, were identified to be highly associated with PCOS. The identification of significant pathways, such as ribosome biogenesis, antigen processing and presentation, and mitophagy, suggest their involvement in the association between PCOS and migraine, schizophrenia, and hypertension.
Root dentine demineralisation according to frequency of sucrose exposure using high-fluoride dentifrice.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate root dentine demineralisation, biomass and loosely bound fluoride (CaF2 ) concentration according to different frequencies of sucrose exposure using a high-fluoride dentifrice. BACKGROUND Although high-fluoride dentifrice has been recommended to arrest root dentine lesions, it is not clear whether it can protect dentine from increased frequencies of sucrose exposure. METHODS An in situ, crossover, split-mouth study was conducted in 3 phases with 7 days each, in which 10 volunteers used a palatal device containing 4 bovine root dentine slabs (2 on each side) with predetermined initial hardness. Cariogenic challenge consisted in dripping a 20% sucrose solution 0 (control), 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 times/d in each block. Volunteers used high-fluoride dentifrice (NaF, 5000 µg F/g) 3 times/d. After each phase, final hardness was measured and the percentage of surface hardness loss (%SHL) calculated. Also, biomass and CaF2 concentration on dentine were determined. The data were processed and analysed by ANOVA and Tukey test with significance level set at 5%. The relationship between the variables was analysed by linear regression and Pearson correlation (r). RESULTS %SHL and biomass were significantly greater than control for sucrose frequencies higher than 6 times/d (P < 0.001), while CaF2 concentration decreased from sucrose frequency higher than 2 times/d (P < 0.001). Regression analysis data showed a significant linear fit between sucrose exposure frequency and the studied variables with a strong correlation (r) for %SHL and CaF2 and moderate for biomass (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION High-fluoride dentifrice is able to reduce root dentine demineralisation if sucrose consumption is not higher than 6 times/d.
An Aesthetic View of Poetic Sentences via Functional Grammar (伊藤典子教授 定年退職記念号)

Poetic sentences often behave freely from grammatical constraint while maintaining almost full linguistic message transmitting power. This is at first consideration somewhat mysterious language phenomenon, which further dexterously gives full play to their attractive power on reader’s soul. In this paper we take HAIKU, classical Japanese short poetic sentence as a typical example of beautiful sentence. By using the concept of functional grammar and season-word ontology, we try to approach the secret of taciturn beauty in poetic sentences. The beauty of HAIKU is often said to exist in ellipses, abbreviation and suggestions; eloquent mutism. Various events and situation that suggests tacitly the deep emotion and feelings of writer are described in a very short and simple sentence which is composed of 5-7-5 letters words or phrases. In this paper we will introduce a Functional Grammar as a device for analyzing the meaning and construction of HAIKU. The Functional Grammar claims that every sentence is composed of two categories: kernel sentence and meta-sentence. We show typical examples of meta-sentences and kernel sentences obtained from HAIKU, and try to reveal the secrets of aesthetic beauty of ultimately simple sentence, HAIKU.
The relationship between Cormic Index and uterine contractions’ pattern in the active phase of the first stage of labour

Abstract Uterine contractions are indicators of labour progress. The relationship between anthropometric indices and types of childbirth has been investigated. One of these indices is referred to as the Cormic Index, which provides an estimation of the sitting height and leg length. This cross-sectional study was performed to determine the relationship between the Cormic Index and the uterine contractions’ pattern in the active phase of the first stage of labour. The standing and sitting heights of 150 pregnant women were measured to calculate the Cormic Index. Then, two Cardiotocographic traces were recorded during the 3 to 5 and 6 to 8 centimetres’ dilations, by which the uterine contractions’ pattern were determined. The mean Cormic Index was 51.84 ± 2.62. The results indicated that the Cormic Index had a positive linear correlation with MTIME (frequency of contractions) in the first monitoring episode and SDTIME (regularity of contractions) in the first and the second monitoring episode, which was significant (p < .05). However, there was no significant correlation between the Cormic Index and F:R ratio (shape of contractions) in both monitoring episodes. With the rise of the mother’s Cormic Index, the frequency of contractions in the acceleration phase, and also their regularity in the acceleration phase and the phase of the maximum slope, were decreased during the active phase of labour. IMPACT STATEMENT What is already known on this subject? Uterine Contraction as an indicator of labour progress enforces cervical dilation. If uterine activity is analysed through electronic methods, one could assess labour outcome through some patterns of the contractions. Anthropometry provides a quick determination of the body proportions. The Cormic Index provides an estimation of the upper and lower body length. Several studies have investigated the relationship between the anthropometric indices and the types of childbirth. Despite the various approaches available, there is no objective means of precisely distinguishing the fact that whether labour can be successful in effecting vaginal delivery or not and diagnosis of dystocia still relies on the trial of labour. What do the results of this study add? The results of this study add to the growing body of research on the progression of labour that Cormic Index has a positive linear correlation with the frequency of contractions in acceleration phase, and with the regularity of contractions in the acceleration phase and the phase of maximum slope. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The results can help professionals to evaluate the progress of labour based on the type of uterine contractions in the latent phase or the early active phase of labour using the Cormic Index.
EV-Associated miRNAs from Peritoneal Lavage are a Source of Biomarkers in Endometrial Cancer

Endometrial cancer (EC) is the sixth most common cancer in women worldwide and is responsible for more than 89,000 deaths every year. Mortality is associated with presence of poor prognostic factors at diagnosis, i.e., diagnosis at an advanced stage, with a high grade and/or an aggressive histology. Development of novel approaches that would permit us to improve the clinical management of EC patients is an unmet need. In this study, we investigate a novel approach to identify highly sensitive and specific biomarkers of EC using extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolated from the peritoneal lavage of EC patients. EVs of peritoneal lavages of 25 EC patients were isolated and their miRNA content was compared with miRNAs of EVs isolated from the ascitic fluid of 25 control patients. Expression of the EV-associated miRNAs was measured using the Taqman OpenArray technology that allowed us to detect 371 miRNAs. The analysis showed that 114 miRNAs were significantly dysregulated in EC patients, among which eight miRNAs, miRNA-383-5p, miRNA-10b-5p, miRNA-34c-3p, miRNA-449b-5p, miRNA-34c-5p, miRNA-200b-3p, miRNA-2110, and miRNA-34b-3p, demonstrated a classification performance at area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values above 0.9. This finding opens an avenue for the use of EV-associated miRNAs of peritoneal lavages as an untapped source of biomarkers for EC.
Enhancement of LIN28B-induced hematopoietic reprogramming by IGF2BP3

In this study, Wang et al. address the differences between fetal and adult hematopoiesis. By single-cell RNA-seq analysis, the authors show that RNA-binding protein Lin28b alone is insufficient but together with the cytoplasmic RNA-binding protein Igf2bp3 reprograms adult blood cell progenitors to a fetal-like state. Taken together, these observations indicate that Lin28b–Igf2bp3 are developmental regulators that mediate the fetal–adult hematopoietic switch.
Interlaboratory study to validate a STR profiling method for intraspecies identification of mouse cell lines

The Consortium for Mouse Cell Line Authentication was formed to validate Short Tandem Repeat (STR) markers for intraspecies identification of mouse cell lines. The STR profiling method is a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay comprised of primers targeting 19 mouse STR markers and two human STR markers (for interspecies contamination screening). The goals of the Consortium were to perform an interlaboratory study to–(1) validate the mouse STR markers to uniquely identify mouse cell lines (intraspecies identification), (2) to provide a public database of mouse cell lines with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-validated mouse STR profiles, and (3) to publish the results of the interlaboratory study. The interlaboratory study was an international effort that consisted of 12 participating laboratories representing institutions from academia, industry, biological resource centers, and government. The study was based on 50 of the most commonly used mouse cell lines obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Of the 50 mouse cell lines, 18 had unique STR profiles that were 100% concordant (match) among all Consortium laboratory members, and the remaining 32 cell lines had discordance that was resolved readily and led to improvement of the assay. The discordance was due to low signal and interpretation issues involving artifacts and genotyping errors. Although the total number of discordant STR profiles was relatively high in this study, the percent of labs agreeing on allele calls among the discordant samples was above 92%. The STR profiles, including electropherogram images, for NIST-validated mouse cell lines will be published on the NCBI BioSample Database (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/biosample/). Overall, the interlaboratory study showed that the multiplex PCR method using 18 of the 19 mouse STR markers is capable of discriminating at the intraspecies level between mouse cell lines. Further studies are ongoing to refine the assay including (1) development of an allelic ladder for improving the accuracy of allele calling and (2) integration of stutter filters to identify true stutter.
Color-matching between pollen and corolla: hiding pollen via visual crypsis?

Visual signals attractive to friends may also attract enemies. The bright colors of anthers and pollen have generally been thought to attract pollinators. Here we hypothesize that visual crypsis of anthers, and particularly pollen, should be favored in flowering plants because protection from pollen collectors reduces the loss of male gametes. To understand adaptive strategies relating to the color of pollen, we measured the color of pollen, undehisced anther sacs and its background, the corolla, with a spectrometer in 104 insect-pollinated flowering species from a natural community in Hengduan Mountains, southwest China. The colors of anthers, pollen and corollas were diverse in these species. The color diversity of exposed pollen was significantly higher than that of concealed pollen, in which anthers are enclosed or shielded by corollas. The color contrast between pollen and corolla was significantly smaller in species with exposed pollen than in those with concealed pollen. Unlike anther color, exposed pollen color tended to match its background corolla color. Our phylogenetic comparative analysis showed contrasting effects of pollen color pattern in flowers with exposed or concealed pollen, revealing a strategy giving protection from pollen thieves by hiding pollen via visual crypsis. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Does pain, psychological distress and deteriorated family economy follow traumatic amputation among war casualties? A retrospective, cross-sectional study from Gaza

Objectives The aim of this study was to explore determinants of psychosocial distress and pain in patients who have survived severe extremity amputation in Gaza. Setting This study was conducted in a secondary care rehabilitation centre in Gaza, Palestine. The clinic is Gaza’s sole provider of artificial limbs. Participants We included 254 civilian Palestinians who had survived but lost one or more limb(s) during military incursions from 2006 to 2016. We included patients with surgically treated amputation injuries who attended physical rehabilitation at a specialist prosthesis centre in Gaza. Amputees with injuries prior to 2006 or non-military related injuries were excluded. We assessed their pain and psychological stress using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). We used income, amputation severity scored by proximity to torso, current employment status, loss of family members and loss of home as independent variables. Results The amputees median age was 23 years at the time of trauma, while a median of 4.3 years had passed from trauma to study inclusion. Nine of 10 were male, while 43 were children when they were amputated (17%≤18 years). One hundred and ninety-one (75%) were unemployed and 112 (44%) reported unemployment caused by being amputated. Pain was the most frequent problem, and 80 amputees (32%) reported to suffer from daily pain. Family income was significantly correlated with the physical pain (OR=0.54, CI 0.36 to 0.80, p=0.002). Psychological distress was higher among unemployed amputees (OR=1.36, CI 1.07 to 1.72, p=0.011). We found no association between psychological distress (GHQ-scores) and the extent of the initial amputation. Conclusion Pain and psychological distress following war-related extremity amputation of one or more limbs correlated stronger with deteriorated family economy and being unemployed than with the anatomical and medical severity of extremity amputations.
Tunable Hybrid Biopolymeric Hydrogel Scaffolds Based on Atomic Force Microscopy Characterizations for Tissue Engineering

Developing adequate biomaterials to engineer cell-scaffold interactions has become a promising way for physically regulating the biological behaviors of cells in the field of tissue engineering. Biopolymeric hydrogels have shown great merits as cellular scaffolds due to their biocompatible and biodegradable characteristics. In particular, the advent of atomic force microscopy (AFM) provides a powerful tool for characterizing native specimens at the micro/nanoscale, but utilizing AFM to investigate the detailed structures and properties of hydrogel scaffolds has been still scarce. In this paper, hybrid natural biopolymers are used to form hydrogel scaffolds which exhibit tunable structural and mechanical properties characterized by AFM peak force tapping imaging, and the applications of the formed hydrogel scaffolds in tissue engineering are studied. AFM morphological images showed that the cross-linking reactions of sodium alginate and gum arabic via calcium cations yielded the porous hydrogel scaffolds. By altering the component ratios, AFM mechanical images showed that the porous and mechanical properties (Young’s modulus and adhesion force) of the hydrogel scaffolds were tunable. Next, the nanoscale structural and mechanical dynamics of the fabricated hydrogel scaffolds during the degradation process were revealed by AFM peak force tapping imaging. The experimental results on three different types of cells showed that the fabricated hydrogel scaffolds facilitate the formation of cellular spheroids. The research provides a novel idea to design tunable hydrogel scaffolds based on AFM characterizations for investigating cell-scaffold interactions, which will have potential impacts on tissue engineering.