Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust 3D Shape Reconstruction from a Single Image Based on Color Structured Light

Reconstructing 3D shapes from 2D images based on structured light is becoming an increasingly important topic in computer vision. However, low resolution and sensitive to environment illumination are the main restriction of this technology for practical application. This paper proposes a new color coded structured light technique for reconstructing object shape from a single image. This technique works by projecting a pattern of color stripes with white gaps and assigning the projected stripe color by color classification. The method can enhance the robustness with respect to uncontrolled environment illumination and color cross-talk. The stripe boundary is located accurately by local searching method. Additionally, we propose a technique to achieve dense shape reconstruction by shifting the same patterns. Practical experimental results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the proposed methods. Furthermore, 3D models with high quality and resolution were produced under uncontrolled light condition.
OX1 Orexin Receptors Couple to Adenylyl Cyclase Regulation via Multiple Mechanisms*

In this study, the mechanism of OX1 orexin receptors to regulate adenylyl cyclase activity when recombinantly expressed in Chinese hamster ovary cells was investigated. In intact cells, stimulation with orexin-A led to two responses, a weak (21%), high potency (EC50 ≈ 1nm) inhibition and a strong (4-fold), low potency (EC50 = ≈300 nm) stimulation. The inhibition was reversed by pertussis toxin, suggesting the involvement of Gi/o proteins. Orexin-B was, surprisingly, almost equally as potent as orexin-A in elevating cAMP (pEC50 = ≈500 nm). cAMP elevation was not caused by Ca2+ elevation or by Gβγ. In contrast, it relied in part on a novel protein kinase C (PKC) isoform, PKCδ, as determined using pharmacological inhibitors. Yet, PKC stimulation alone only very weakly stimulated cAMP production (1.1-fold). In the presence of Gs activity, orexins still elevated cAMP; however, the potencies were greatly increased (EC50 of orexin-A = ≈10 nm and EC50 of orexin-B = ≈100 nm), and the response was fully dependent on PKCδ. In permeabilized cells, only a PKC-independent low potency component was seen. This component was sensitive to anti-Gαs antibodies. We conclude that OX1 receptors stimulate adenylyl cyclase via a low potency Gs coupling and a high potency phospholipase C → PKC coupling. The former or some exogenous Gs activation is essentially required for the PKC to significantly activate adenylyl cyclase. The results also suggest that orexin-B-activated OX1 receptors couple to Gs almost as efficiently as the orexin-A-activated receptors, in contrast to Ca2+ elevation and phospholipase C activation, for which orexin-A is 10-fold more potent.
Structural basis for segmental gene conversion in generation of Anaplasma marginale outer membrane protein variants

Bacterial pathogens in the genus Anaplasma generate surface coat variants by gene conversion of chromosomal pseudogenes into single‐expression sites. These pseudogenes encode unique surface‐exposed hypervariable regions flanked by conserved domains, which are identical to the expression site flanking domains. In addition, Anaplasma marginale generates variants by recombination of oligonucleotide segments derived from the pseudogenes into the existing expression site copy, resulting in a combinatorial increase in variant diversity. Using the A. marginale genome sequence to track the origin of sequences recombined into the msp2 expression site, we demonstrated that the complexity of the expressed msp2 increases during infection, reflecting a shift from recombination of the complete hypervariable region of a given pseudogene to complex mosaics with segments derived from hypervariable regions of different pseudogenes. Examination of the complete set of 1183 variants with segmental changes revealed that 99% could be explained by one of the recombination sites occurring in the conserved flanking domains and the other within the hypervariable region. Consequently, we propose an ‘anchoring’ model for segmental gene conversion whereby the conserved flanking sequences tightly align and anchor the expression site sequence to the pseudogene. Associated with the recombination sites were deletions, insertions and substitutions; however, these are a relatively minor contribution to variant generation as these occurred in less than 2% of the variants. Importantly, the anchoring model, which can account for more variants than a strict segmental sequence identity mechanism, is consistent with the number of msp2 variants predicted and empirically identified during persistent infection.
Low Power Hardware Architecture for VBSME Using Pixel Truncation

This paper presents an efficient architecture to implement low power variable block size motion estimation (VBSME) using full search. Power reduction is achieved by performing the search in two steps: low pixel resolution and full pixel resolution. We analysed the computation and memory units needed to support these two search modes. The proposed architecture reduces the total energy consumption by 50% with 6% additional area compared to the conventional architecture.
In vivo detection of acute rat renal allograft rejection by MRI with USPIO particles.

BACKGROUND Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for non-invasively detecting renal rejection was developed by monitoring the accumulation of macrophages labeled with dextran-coated ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) particles at the rat renal allografts during acute rejection. METHODS Five groups of male rats with DA-->BN renal allografts and one group with BN-->BN renal isografts were investigated by MRI before, immediately after, and 24 hr after intravenous infusion with different doses of USPIO particles. All infusions were done on post-operative day 4. MRI experiments were carried out in a 4.7-Tesla instrument using a gradient echo sequence. RESULTS MR signal intensity (MRSI) of the cortex was found to decrease with higher dosages of USPIO particles. In the absence of USPIO infusion, a decrease in MRSI was seen in the medulla region, presumably due to hemorrhage associated with renal graft rejection, while no significant change was observed in the cortex. The optimal dose of USPIO particles for visualizing rejection-associated changes in our rat kidney model appears to be 6 mg Fe/kg body weight. Iron staining results correlated with the MRSI data, indicating that the signal reduction in the MR images was due to the presence of iron. Immunohistochemical results indicated that USPIO particles were mostly taken up by infiltrating macrophages in the rejecting grafts. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that MRI with intravenous administration of dextran-coated USPIO particles appears to be a valuable and promising tool that can be used as a non-invasive and sensitive method to detect graft rejection in renal transplantation.
Quantitative trait locus mapping for age-related cataract severity and synechia prevalence using four-way cross mice.

PURPOSE The goal of this study was to map mouse quantitative trait loci (QTL) that influence the development of murine age-related cataract and synechia, by using a genetically heterogeneous mouse population bred by a four-way cross. METHODS The test population consisted initially of 510 mice bred as the progeny of (BALB/cJ x C57BL/6J)F1 females and (C3H/HeJ x DBA/2J)F1 males. Each mouse was examined by slit lamp at 18 and 24 months of age and scored for degree of lens opacity on a 0 to 4+ scale, and the presence or absence of additional anterior chamber disease was noted. The presence of synechia was confirmed by histology. Each mouse was genotyped at 96 maternal and 92 paternal loci, and the significance of association between genotype and eye lesions was tested by permutation analysis. RESULTS Significant QTL with effects on lens opacity at 24 months were detected on mouse chromosomes 4, 11, and 12. The effects were additive, and severe cataracts were seen in 80% of the mice with all three high-risk alleles, but in only 28% of the mice with all three low-risk alleles. The risk of synechia was associated with paternal chromosome 1 and on both the maternal and paternally inherited chromosome 4. Mice with all three high-risk alleles had a 68% risk of synechia, compared with a 0% incidence in mice with all three counteralleles. CONCLUSIONS A four-way cross population of mice can be used to map polymorphic loci that influence cataract severity and synechia prevalence in late life. The results provide a first step toward identification of the individual genes involved and may help to guide the search for homologous human genes.
Study and fabrication of bioinspired Octopus arm mockups tested on a multipurpose platform

This paper illustrates a robotic approach to the study of the Octopus vulgaris arm. On the base of the embodied intelligence theory, a study on the interaction among materials, mechanisms and actuation systems has been conducted. Starting from the observation of the performances of the octopus and drawing inspiration by its functional anatomy, several mock-ups, made by different materials and actuated by different cable arrangements have been tested. For this purpose a versatile platform has been designed and built, where the various solutions have been mounted and compared. The final aim of the work is to replicate the main complex movements of the octopus in a robotic platform. In particular the reaching movement, which best represents the stereotyped motion pattern of the octopus arm, has been reproduced.
Variation of mechanical properties along the length of the aorta in C57bl/6 mice.

The objective of the present study is to obtain a systematic set of data on the mechanical properties along the entire length of the mouse aorta. The ascending aorta of seven mice was cannulated near the aortic valve, and the aorta was preconditioned with several cyclic changes in pressure. The perfusion pressure was then increased in 30-mmHg increments from 0 to 150 mmHg. Cab-O-Sil, colloidal silica, was mixed into the perfusate to prevent flow through the microvessels and hence attain zero-flow distensions. Our results show that the residual circumferential strain leads to a uniformity of transmural strain of the aorta in the loaded state along the entire length of the aorta. This uniformity is attained in the range of 60-120 mmHg. At pressures <60 mmHg, the outer strain is greater than the inner strain, whereas at pressures >120 mmHg, the converse is true. Furthermore, we found that the circumferential and longitudinal stress-strain relationships are linear in the pressure range of 30-120 mmHg. Finally, the circumferential modulus is greatest (most rigid) near the diaphragm, and the majority of volume compliance (85%) is in the thoracic compared with the abdominal aorta. These findings are important for an understanding of the hemodynamics of the cardiovascular system of the normal mouse and will serve as a reference state for the study of various diseases in knock-in and knock-out models of this species.
MicroRNA-214 Promotes Apoptosis in Canine Hemangiosarcoma by Targeting the COP1-p53 Axis

MicroRNA-214 regulates both angiogenic function in endothelial cells and apoptosis in various cancers. However, the regulation and function of miR-214 is unclear in canine hemangiosarcoma, which is a spontaneous model of human angiosarcoma. The expression and functional roles of miR-214 in canine hemangiosarcoma were presently explored by performing miRNA TaqMan qRT-PCR and transfecting cells with synthetic microRNA. Here, we report that miR-214 was significantly down-regulated in the cell lines used and in clinical samples of canine hemangiosarcoma. Restoration of miR-214 expression reduced cell growth and induced apoptosis in canine hemangiosarcoma cell lines through transcriptional activation of p53-regulated genes although miR-214 had a slight effect of growth inhibition on normal endothelial cells. We identified COP1, which is a critical negative regulator of p53, as a novel direct target of miR-214. COP1 was overexpressed and the specific COP1 knockdown induced apoptosis through transcriptional activation of p53-regulated genes as well as did miR-214-transfection in HSA cell lines. Furthermore, p53 knockdown abolished the miR-214-COP1-mediated apoptosis; thus, miR-214 and COP1 regulated apoptosis through controlling p53 in HSA. In conclusion, miR-214 functioned as a tumor suppressor in canine hemangiosarcoma by inducing apoptosis through recovering the function of p53. miR-214 down-regulation and COP1 overexpression is likely to contribute to tumorigenesis of HSA. Therefore, targeting miR-214-COP1-p53 axis would possibly be a novel effective strategy for treatment of canine hemangiosarcoma and capable of being applied to the development of novel therapeutics for human angiosarcoma.
How to Design Crowdsourcing Contest : A Structural Empirical Analysis

In the past few years several firms have undertaken crowdsourcing initiatives to benefit from wisdom as well as labor of the consumer crowds. In particular, crowdsourcing contests where, individuals, typically unaffiliated with the firm, compete with each other to solve firms' problems to gain a monetary reward have become very popular. A key challenge faced by the firms that undertake crowdsourcing contests is to design an incentive structure which helps attract high quality solutions. Theoretical literature on tournaments, which are similar to crowdsourcing contests, suggests a high monetary reward could affect the quality of solutions in two opposite ways. On the one hand a higher reward would encourage individuals to put in more effort as there is higher return on winning increasing the quality of solutions. On the other hand, a higher reward could encourage a lot of individuals to participate increasing the competition and reducing the chances of winning for everyone. As a result each individual may put in lower effort reducing the quality of solutions. In this study, we present the first empirical evidence on how incentive structures could affect the quality of the solutions produced in crowdsourcing contests. Specifically, we develop a dynamic structural model of user participation in crowdsourcing contests. Our model captures two important characteristics of users' behavior: 1) competition among users for the award; 2) experience based learning. We also explicitly model how users make decisions on how much effort they will exert when facing the tradeoff between increasing the probability of winning and incurring higher cost. The structural model allows us to conduct several policy simulations to understand how incentive structure may affect quality of solutions produced by the crowd. Using data from Threadless.com, we find that participants put in less effort as competition for the award increases. This may indicate that increasing the reward may adversely affect the quality of the solutions produced by the crowd as it will invariably increase the competition. However, counter-intuitively the policy simulations indicate that increasing the award would increase not only the quantity but also the quality of the solutions. This is because under the new policy of higher reward, individual equilibrium behavior is different. Our policy simulations suggest that when the firm increases the award and if the additional utility from the increase in the award can offset the reduction in the probability of winning resulting from intensified competition, such that the expected payoff will …
Parent–child interaction therapy emotion development: a novel treatment for depression in preschool children

Background: Psychotherapies with known efficacy in adolescent depression have been adapted for prepubertal children; however, none have been empirically validated for use with depressed very young children. Due to the centrality of the parent–child relationship to the emotional well being of the young child, with caregiver support shown to mediate the risk for depression severity, we created an Emotional Development (ED) module to address emotion development impairments identified in preschool onset depression. The new module was integrated with an established intervention for preschool disruptive disorders, Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Preliminary findings of an open trial of this novel intervention, PCIT‐ED, with depressed preschool children are reported. Methods: PCIT was adapted for the treatment of preschool depression by incorporating a novel emotional development module, focused on teaching the parent to facilitate the child's emotional development and enhance emotion regulation. Eight parent–child dyads with depressed preschoolers participated in 14 sessions of the treatment. Depression severity, internalizing and externalizing symptoms, functional impairment, and emotion recognition/discrimination were measured pre‐ and posttreatment. Results: Depression severity scores significantly decreased with a large effect size (1.28). Internalizing and externalizing symptoms as well as functional impairment were also significantly decreased pre‐ to posttreatment. Conclusions: PCIT‐ED seems to be a promising treatment for preschoolers with depression, and the large effect sizes observed in this open trial suggest early intervention may provide a window of opportunity for more effective treatment. A randomized controlled trial of PCIT‐ED in preschool depression is currently underway. Depression and Anxiety, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Multi-centre Randomized Control Group Trial on the Use of Art Therapy for Older People with Dementia

The principal aim of this study is to evaluate the immediate and long-term effects of art therapy for older people with dementia, specifically to test the premise that participation in art therapy groups effects significant positive changes in mood and cognition both immediately within sessions and later outside the sessions to impact behaviour in the day care/residential care setting. The broader aim is to provide an evidence-based evaluation about the use of art therapy for older people with dementia. In order to isolate the impact of art therapy we compared art therapy groups with activity groups that do not have emotional expression as a central purpose.
Dynamics of Collective Decision Making of Honeybees in Complex Temperature Fields

Endothermic heat production is a crucial evolutionary adaptation that is, amongst others, responsible for the great success of honeybees. Endothermy ensures the survival of the colonies in harsh environments and is involved in the maintenance of the brood nest temperature, which is fundamental for the breeding and further development of healthy individuals and thus the foraging and reproduction success of this species. Freshly emerged honeybees are not yet able to produce heat endothermically and thus developed behavioural patterns that result in the location of these young bees within the warm brood nest where they further develop and perform tasks for the colony. Previous studies showed that groups of young ectothermic honeybees exposed to a temperature gradient collectively aggregate at the optimal place with their preferred temperature of 36°C but most single bees do not locate themselves at the optimum. In this work we further investigate the behavioural patterns that lead to this collective thermotaxis. We tested single and groups of young bees concerning their ability to discriminate a local from a global temperature optimum and, for groups of bees, analysed the speed of the decision making process as well as density dependent effects by varying group sizes. We found that the majority of tested single bees do not locate themselves at the optimum whereas sufficiently large groups of bees are able to collectively discriminate a suboptimal temperature spot and aggregate at 36°C. Larger groups decide faster than smaller ones, but in larger groups a higher percentage of bees may switch to the sub-optimum due to crowding effects. We show that the collective thermotaxis is a simple but well evolved, scalable and robust social behaviour that enables the collective of bees to perform complex tasks despite the limited abilities of each individual.
Determinants of JNC VI Guideline Adherence, Intensity of Drug Therapy, and Blood Pressure Control by Race and Ethnicity

The relationship between blood pressure control and racial differences in the processes of hypertension care have not been well examined. We reviewed medical records of 15 768 visits to 12 general internal medicine clinics during July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002 to determine whether visits were adherent to the Sixth Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC VI) by identifying medications selected for hypertension therapy. We compared JNC adherence, blood pressure control, and intensification of therapy by patient characteristics. Using repeated measures logistic regression, we determined the adjusted odds of obtaining blood pressure control when therapy was intensified the visit before, and tested the interaction of intensification of therapy and patient race/ethnicity in predicting blood pressure control. JNC adherence was more frequent among blacks (83.7%) and Hispanics (83%) than whites (78.4%) (P<0.001). Blood pressure was controlled most often among whites (38.7% versus 34.8% for blacks and 33.3% for Hispanics; P<0.001). Blacks (81.5%) and whites (80.9%) were more likely than Hispanics (70.8%) to have therapy intensified (P=0.02). After adjustment for baseline blood pressure, intensifying therapy was associated with higher odds of subsequent blood pressure control (odds ratio, 1.55; P<0.001). There were no significant interactions between race/ethnicity and intensification in predicting control. We found that therapy intensification is associated with subsequent blood pressure control in all racial/ethnic groups and that Hispanics were least likely to have their therapy intensified. Interventions to reduce disparities in cardiovascular outcomes should consider the need to intensify drug therapy more aggressively among all high-risk populations.