bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pannexin 1 and pannexin 3 differentially regulate the cancer cell properties of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma
Authors: O'Donnell Brooke L. , Johnston Danielle , Bhatt Ayushi , Kardan Zahra , Stefan Dan , Bysice Andrew , Sayedyahossein Samar , Dagnino Lina , Cecchini Matthew , Loganathan Sampath Kumar , Roth Kathryn , Penuela Silvia
Published: November 2024

Pannexin (PANX) channels are present in skin and facilitate the movement of signalling molecules during cellular communication. PANX1 and PANX3 function in skin homeostasis and keratinocyte differentiation but were previously reduced in a small cohort of human cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) tumours compared to normal epidermis. In our study we used SCC‐13 cells, limited publicly available RNA‐seq data and a larger cohort of cSCC patient‐matched samples to analyse PANX1 and PANX3 expression and determine the association between their dysregulation and the malignant properties of cSCC. In a bioinformatics analysis, PANX1 transcripts were increased in cSCC and head and neck SCC tumours compared to normal tissues, but PANX3 mRNA showed no differences. However, in our own cohort PANX3 transcripts were decreased in cSCC compared to patient‐matched aged skin, whereas PANX1 protein was upregulated in cSCC. PANX1 localized to all regions within the cSCC tumour microenvironment, and increased levels were associated with larger tumour dimensions. To investigate PANX1 function in SCC‐13 cells, we deleted PANX1 via CRISPR/Cas9 and treated with PANX1 inhibitors, which markedly reduced cell growth and migration. To assess PANX3 function in cutaneous carcinogenesis, we employed the 7,12‐dimethylbenz(a)anthracene/12‐otetradecanoylphorbol‐13‐acetate (DMBA/TPA) model using our global Panx3 knockout (KO) mice, where 60% of wild‐type and 100% of KO mice formed precancerous papillomas. Average papilloma volumes at endpoint were significantly increased in KO mice and showed moderate evidence of increases in KO mice over time. Collectively, these findings suggest PANX1 and PANX3 dysregulation may have potential tumour‐promoting and tumour‐suppressive effects for keratinocyte transformation, respectively.

image

Key points

Pannexin 1 (PANX1) and pannexin 3 (PANX3) are channel‐forming proteins which are critical in the normal maintenance and function of keratinocytes in the skin but may become altered in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) tumours.

In this study we used a combination of culture models, mouse models and patient‐derived tissues. We found PANX1 levels are increased in cSCC tumours and present in all tumour regions, functioning to promote cSCC cell growth and migration.

Conversely, PANX3 levels are decreased in cSCC tumours, and this protein reduces the incidence and growth of precancerous lesions.

Taken together our data indicate that in cSCC these pannexin family members seem to have opposite effects, in either promoting or restricting cancer cell properties.

These results help us to better understand the mechanisms of malignant transformation of keratinocytes and offer a new potential therapeutic target for the treatment of advanced cSCC.
Orbitofrontal control of the olfactory cortex regulates olfactory discrimination learning
Authors: Wang Ding , Zhang Ying , Li Shan , Liu Penglai , Li Xiang , Liu Zhiqiu , Li Anan , Wang Dejuan
Published: November 2024

Serving as an integral node for cognitive processing and value‐based decision‐making, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) plays a multifaceted role in associative learning and reward‐driven behaviours through its widespread synaptic integration with both subcortical structures and sensory cortices. Despite the OFC's robust innervation of the olfactory cortex, the functional implications and underlying mechanisms of this top‐down influence remain largely unexplored. In this study, we demonstrated that the OFC formed both direct excitatory and indirect inhibitory synaptic connections with pyramidal neurons in the anterior piriform cortex (aPC). OFC projection predominantly regulated spontaneous and odour‐evoked excitatory activity in the aPC of awake mice. Importantly, suppression of this OFC–aPC projection disrupted olfactory discrimination learning, potentially due to a consequent decrease in the excitability of aPC principal output neurons following inhibition of this projection. Whole‐cell recordings revealed that olfactory learning increased the intrinsic excitability of aPC neurons while concurrently decreasing OFC input to these neurons. These findings underscore the pivotal influence of orbitofrontal modulation over the olfactory cortex in the context of olfactory learning and provide insight into the associated neurophysiological mechanisms.

image

Key points

The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) densely innervates the anterior piriform cortex (aPC) through direct excitatory synaptic connections.

The OFC regulates both spontaneous and odour‐evoked excitatory activities in the aPC of awake mice.

Inhibition of OFC projections disrupts olfactory discrimination learning, probably due to reduced excitability of aPC main output neurons.

Following olfactory learning, the intrinsic excitability of aPC neurons increases while the OFC–aPC input decreases, highlighting the importance of adaptable OFC input for olfactory learning.

These results provide new perspectives on how the OFC's top‐down control modulates sensory integration and associative learning.
Late‐gestation maternal undernutrition induces circulatory redistribution while preserving uteroplacental function independent of fetal glycaemic state
Authors: Cho Steven K.S. , Darby Jack R.T. , Saini Brahmdeep S. , Holman Stacey L. , Lock Mitchell C. , Perumal Sunthara Rajan , Williams Georgia K. , Macgowan Christopher K. , Seed Mike , Morrison Janna L.
Published: November 2024

Programming effects of maternal undernutrition on fetal metabolic and cardiovascular systems are well elucidated, yet a detailed characterization of maternal haemodynamics is not available. This study used comprehensive cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging to quantify maternal haemodynamics after 29 days (111–140 days) of late‐gestation undernutrition (LGUN) in pregnant sheep. Control ewes received 100% of metabolizable energy requirements (MERs, n = 15), whereas LGUN ewes were globally nutrient restricted to 50% MER (n = 18), with a subset of fetuses undergoing continuous glucose infusion (LGUN + G, n = 6/18). Ewes underwent CMR (138–140 days’ gestation), and placental tissue was collected the next day. Ewes in both LGUN groups had reduced body weight and mean blood glucose concentration across gestation. Ventricular dimensions were lower in both LGUN groups. Uterine artery blood flow (QUtA) was elevated in the LGUN group compared with controls, whereas peripheral blood flow was reduced and further diminished in LGUN + G. Maternal weight change correlated with all haemodynamic parameters across all groups. Uteroplacental oxygen and glucose delivery were increased in LGUN compared to control ewes, whereas uteroplacental oxygen consumption was preserved. LGUN did not impact placental or fetal weight, and markers of brain‐sparing physiology were absent. Placental expression of insulin‐like growth factors (IGF‐1 and IGF‐2) and their receptors, glucose, fatty acid (FA) or amino acid transporters and markers of angiogenesis was not impacted. FA transporter expression was positively correlated with QUtA, and FA binding protein correlated negatively with maternal weight change. Maternal cardiovascular adaptations in response to LGUN manifest as preservation of placental growth and function, thereby preserving fetal growth.

image

Key points

Maternal undernutrition during pregnancy alters fetal metabolic and cardiovascular physiology, but little is known about alterations in maternal haemodynamics.

Late‐gestation undernutrition (LGUN) and LGUN + G redirected maternal blood flow from the periphery to the uteroplacental unit, concomitantly increasing the delivery of glucose and oxygen to the uteroplacental unit.

Substrate transporter expression and uteroplacental oxygen consumption were preserved in LGUN and LGUN + G, suggesting prioritization of the placenta.

This study is the first to report detailed maternal haemodynamics in the setting of maternal undernutrition, where placental growth and function were maintained, ultimately preserving fetal oxygen metabolism and growth.
NU-NeRF: Neural Reconstruction of Nested Transparent Objects with Uncontrolled Capture Environment
Authors: Sun Jia-Mu , Wu Tong , Yan Ling-Qi , Gao Lin
Published: November 2024

The geometry reconstruction of transparent objects is a challenging problem due to the highly noncontinuous and rapidly changing surface color caused by refraction. Existing methods rely on special capture devices, dedicated backgrounds, or ground-truth object masks to provide more priors and reduce the ambiguity of the problem. However, it is hard to apply methods with these special requirements to real-life reconstruction tasks, like scenes captured in the wild using mobile devices. Moreover, these methods can only cope with solid and homogeneous materials, greatly limiting the scope of the application. To solve the problems above, we propose NU-NeRF to reconstruct nested transparent objects without requiring a dedicated capture environment or additional input. NU-NeRF is built upon a neural signed distance field formulation and leverages neural rendering techniques. It consists of two main stages. In Stage I, the surface color is separated into reflection and refraction. The reflection is decomposed using physically based material and rendering. The refraction is modeled using a single MLP given the refraction and view directions, which is a simple yet effective solution of refraction modeling. This step produces high-fidelity geometry of the outer surface. In stage II, we use explicit ray tracing on the reconstructed outer surface for accurate light transport simulation. The surface reconstruction is executed again inside the outer geometry to obtain any inner surface geometry. In this process, a novel transparent interface formulation is used to cope with different types of transparent surfaces. Experiments conducted on synthetic scenes and real captured scenes show that NU-NeRF is capable of producing better reconstruction results than previous methods and achieves accurate nested surface reconstruction under an uncontrolled capture environment.
ToonCrafter: Generative Cartoon Interpolation
Authors: Xing Jinbo , Liu Hanyuan , Xia Menghan , Zhang Yong , Wang Xintao , Shan Ying , Wong Tien-Tsin
Published: November 2024

We introduce ToonCrafter, a novel approach that transcends traditional correspondence-based cartoon video interpolation, paving the way for generative interpolation. Traditional methods, that implicitly assume linear motion and the absence of complicated phenomena like dis-occlusion, often struggle with the exaggerated non-linear and large motions with occlusion commonly found in cartoons, resulting in implausible or even failed interpolation results. To overcome these limitations, we explore the potential of adapting live-action video priors to better suit cartoon interpolation within a generative framework. ToonCrafter effectively addresses the challenges faced when applying live-action video motion priors to generative cartoon interpolation. First, we design a toon rectification learning strategy that seamlessly adapts live-action video priors to the cartoon domain, resolving the domain gap and content leakage issues. Next, we introduce a dual-reference-based 3D decoder to compensate for lost details due to the highly compressed latent prior spaces, ensuring the preservation of fine details in interpolation results. Finally, we design a flexible sketch encoder that empowers users with interactive control over the interpolation results. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method not only produces visually convincing and more natural dynamics, but also effectively handles dis-occlusion. The comparative evaluation demonstrates the notable superiority of our approach over existing competitors. Code and model weights are available at https://doubiiu.github.io/projects/ToonCrafter
Look Ma, no markers: holistic performance capture without the hassle
Authors: Hewitt Charlie , Saleh Fatemeh , Aliakbarian Sadegh , Petikam Lohit , Rezaeifar Shideh , Florentin Louis , Hosenie Zafiirah , Cashman Thomas J. , Valentin Julien , Cosker Darren , Baltrusaitis Tadas
Published: November 2024

We tackle the problem of highly-accurate, holistic performance capture for the face, body and hands simultaneously. Motion-capture technologies used in film and game production typically focus only on face, body or hand capture independently, involve complex and expensive hardware and a high degree of manual intervention from skilled operators. While machine-learning-based approaches exist to overcome these problems, they usually only support a single camera, often operate on a single part of the body, do not produce precise world-space results, and rarely generalize outside specific contexts. In this work, we introduce the first technique for markerfree, high-quality reconstruction of the complete human body, including eyes and tongue, without requiring any calibration, manual intervention or custom hardware. Our approach produces stable world-space results from arbitrary camera rigs as well as supporting varied capture environments and clothing. We achieve this through a hybrid approach that leverages machine learning models trained exclusively on synthetic data and powerful parametric models of human shape and motion. We evaluate our method on a number of body, face and hand reconstruction benchmarks and demonstrate state-of-the-art results that generalize on diverse datasets.
Neural Differential Appearance Equations
Authors: Liu Chen , Ritschel Tobias
Published: November 2024

We propose a method to reproduce dynamic appearance textures with space-stationary but time-varying visual statistics. While most previous work decomposes dynamic textures into static appearance and motion, we focus on dynamic appearance that results not from motion but variations of fundamental properties, such as rusting, decaying, melting, and weathering. To this end, we adopt the neural ordinary differential equation (ODE) to learn the underlying dynamics of appearance from a target exemplar. We simulate the ODE in two phases. At the "warm-up" phase, the ODE diffuses a random noise to an initial state. We then constrain the further evolution of this ODE to replicate the evolution of visual feature statistics in the exemplar during the generation phase. The particular innovation of this work is the neural ODE achieving both denoising and evolution for dynamics synthesis, with a proposed temporal training scheme. We study both relightable (BRDF) and non-relightable (RGB) appearance models. For both we introduce new pilot datasets, allowing, for the first time, to study such phenomena: For RGB we provide 22 dynamic textures acquired from free online sources; For BRDFs, we further acquire a dataset of 21 flash-lit videos of time-varying materials, enabled by a simple-to-construct setup. Our experiments show that our method consistently yields realistic and coherent results, whereas prior works falter under pronounced temporal appearance variations. A user study confirms our approach is preferred to previous work for such exemplars.
A Flexible Mold for Facade Panel Fabrication
Authors: Rist Florian , Wang Zhecheng , Pellis Davide , Palma Marco , Liu Daoming , Grinspun Eitan , Michels Dominik L.
Published: November 2024

Architectural surface panelling often requires fabricating molds for panels, a process that can be cost-inefficient and material-wasteful when using traditional methods such as CNC milling. In this paper, we introduce a novel solution to generating molds for efficiently fabricating architectural panels. At the core of our method is a machine that utilizes a deflatable membrane as a
flexible mold.
By adjusting the deflation level and boundary element positions, the membrane can be reconfigured into various shapes, allowing for mass customization with significantly lower overhead costs. We devise an efficient algorithm that works in sync with our
flexible mold
machine that optimizes the placement of
customizable
boundary element positions, ensuring the fabricated panel matches the geometry of a given input shape: (1) Using a quadratic Weingarten surface arising from a natural assumption on the membrane's stress, we can approximate the initial placement of the boundary element from the input shape's geometry; (2) we solve the inverse problem with a simulator-in-the-loop optimizer by searching for the optimal placement of boundary curves with sensitivity analysis. We validate our approach by fabricating baseline panels and a facade with a wide range of curvature profiles, providing a detailed numerical analysis on simulation and fabrication, demonstrating significant advantages in cost and flexibility.
TEXGen: a Generative Diffusion Model for Mesh Textures
Authors: Yu Xin , Yuan Ze , Guo Yuan-Chen , Liu Ying-Tian , Liu Jianhui , Li Yangguang , Cao Yan-Pei , Liang Ding , Qi Xiaojuan
Published: November 2024

While high-quality texture maps are essential for realistic 3D asset rendering, few studies have explored learning directly in the texture space, especially on large-scale datasets. In this work, we depart from the conventional approach of relying on pre-trained 2D diffusion models for testtime optimization of 3D textures. Instead, we focus on the fundamental problem of learning in the UV texture space itself. For the first time, we train a large diffusion model capable of directly generating high-resolution texture maps in a feed-forward manner. To facilitate efficient learning in high-resolution UV spaces, we propose a scalable network architecture that interleaves convolutions on UV maps with attention layers on point clouds. Leveraging this architectural design, we train a 700 million parameter diffusion model that can generate UV texture maps guided by text prompts and single-view images. Once trained, our model naturally supports various extended applications, including text-guided texture inpainting, sparse-view texture completion, and text-driven texture synthesis. The code is available at https://github.com/CVMI-Lab/TEXGen.
Large Scale Farm Scene Modeling from Remote Sensing Imagery
Authors: Xiao Zhiqi , Jiang Hao , Deng Zhigang , Li Ran , Han Wenwei , Wang Zhaoqi
Published: November 2024

In this paper we propose a scalable framework for large-scale farm scene modeling that utilizes remote sensing data, specifically satellite images. Our approach begins by accurately extracting and categorizing the distributions of various scene elements from satellite images into four distinct layers: fields, trees, roads, and grasslands. For each layer, we introduce a set of controllable Parametric Layout Models (PLMs). These models are capable of learning layout parameters from satellite images, enabling them to generate complex, large-scale farm scenes that closely reproduce reality across multiple scales. Additionally, our framework provides intuitive control for users to adjust layout parameters to simulate different stages of crop growth and planting patterns. This adaptability makes our model an excellent tool for graphics and virtual reality applications. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach can rapidly generate a variety of realistic and highly detailed farm scenes with minimal inputs.
Identifying Behavioral Correlates to Visual Discomfort
Authors: Tovar David , Wilmott James , Wu Xiuyun , Martin Daniel , Proulx Michael , Lindberg Dave , Zhao Yang , Mercier Olivier , Guan Phillip
Published: November 2024

Outside of self-report surveys, there are no proven, reliable methods to quantify visual discomfort or visually induced motion sickness symptoms when using head-mounted displays. While valuable tools, self-report surveys suffer from potential biases and low sensitivity due to variability in how respondents may assess and report their experience. Consequently, extreme visual-vestibular conflicts are generally used to induce discomfort symptoms large enough to measure reliably with surveys (e.g., stationary participants riding virtual roller coasters). An emerging area of research is the prediction of discomfort survey results from physiological and behavioral markers. However, the signals derived from experimental paradigms that are explicitly designed to be uncomfortable may not generalize to more naturalistic experiences where comfort is prioritized. In this work we introduce a custom VR headset designed to introduce significant near-eye optical distortion (i.e., pupil swim) to induce visual discomfort during more typical VR experiences. We evaluate visual comfort in our headset while users play the popular VR title Job Simulator and show that eye-tracked dynamic distortion correction improves visual comfort in a multi-session, within-subjects user study. We additionally use representational similarity analysis to highlight changes in head and gaze behavior that are potentially more sensitive to visual discomfort than surveys.
StyleTex: Style Image-Guided Texture Generation for 3D Models
Authors: Xie Zhiyu , Zhang Yuqing , Tang Xiangjun , Wu Yiqian , Chen Dehan , Li Gongsheng , Jin Xiaogang
Published: November 2024

Style-guided texture generation aims to generate a texture that is harmonious with both the style of the reference image and the geometry of the input mesh, given a reference style image and a 3D mesh with its text description. Although diffusion-based 3D texture generation methods, such as distillation sampling, have numerous promising applications in stylized games and films, it requires addressing two challenges: 1) decouple style and content completely from the reference image for 3D models, and 2) align the generated texture with the color tone, style of the reference image, and the given text prompt. To this end, we introduce StyleTex, an innovative diffusion-model-based framework for creating stylized textures for 3D models. Our key insight is to decouple style information from the reference image while disregarding content in diffusion-based distillation sampling. Specifically, given a reference image, we first decompose its style feature from the image CLIP embedding by subtracting the embedding's orthogonal projection in the direction of the content feature, which is represented by a text CLIP embedding. Our novel approach to disentangling the reference image's style and content information allows us to generate distinct style and content features. We then inject the style feature into the cross-attention mechanism to incorporate it into the generation process, while utilizing the content feature as a negative prompt to further dissociate content information. Finally, we incorporate these strategies into StyleTex to obtain stylized textures. We utilize Interval Score Matching to address over-smoothness and over-saturation, in combination with a geometry-aware ControlNet that ensures consistent geometry throughout the generative process. The resulting textures generated by StyleTex retain the style of the reference image, while also aligning with the text prompts and intrinsic details of the given 3D mesh. Quantitative and qualitative experiments show that our method outperforms existing baseline methods by a significant margin.
MaskedMimic: Unified Physics-Based Character Control Through Masked Motion Inpainting
Authors: Tessler Chen , Guo Yunrong , Nabati Ofir , Chechik Gal , Peng Xue Bin
Published: November 2024

Crafting a single, versatile physics-based controller that can breathe life into interactive characters across a wide spectrum of scenarios represents an exciting frontier in character animation. An ideal controller should support diverse control modalities, such as sparse target keyframes, text instructions, and scene information. While previous works have proposed physically simulated, scene-aware control models, these systems have predominantly focused on developing controllers that each specializes in a narrow set of tasks and control modalities. This work presents MaskedMimic, a novel approach that formulates physics-based character control as a general motion inpainting problem. Our key insight is to train a single unified model to synthesize motions from partial (masked) motion descriptions, such as masked keyframes, objects, text descriptions, or any combination thereof. This is achieved by leveraging motion tracking data and designing a scalable training method that can effectively utilize diverse motion descriptions to produce coherent animations. Through this process, our approach learns a physics-based controller that provides an intuitive control interface without requiring tedious reward engineering for all behaviors of interest. The resulting controller supports a wide range of control modalities and enables seamless transitions between disparate tasks. By unifying character control through motion inpainting, MaskedMimic creates versatile virtual characters. These characters can dynamically adapt to complex scenes and compose diverse motions on demand, enabling more interactive and immersive experiences.
Differentiable Photon Mapping using Generalized Path Gradients
Authors: Xing Jiankai , Li Zengyu , Luan Fujun , Xu Kun
Published: November 2024

Photon mapping is a fundamental and practical Monte Carlo rendering technique for efficiently simulating global illumination effects, especially for caustics and specular-diffuse-specular (SDS) paths. In this paper, we present the first differentiable rendering method for photon mapping. The core of our method is a newly introduced concept named
generalized path gradients.
Based on the extended path space manifolds (EPSMs) [Xing et al. 2023], the generalized path gradients define the derivatives of the vertex positions and color contributions of a path with respect to scene parameters under given geometric constraints. By formalizing photon mapping as a path sampling technique through vertex merging [Georgiev et al. 2012] and incorporating a smooth differentiable density estimation kernel, we enable the differentiation of the photon mapping algorithms based on the theoretical results of generalized path gradients.

Experiments demonstrate that our method is more effective than state-of-the-art physics-based differentiable rendering methods in inverse rendering applications involving difficult illumination paths, especially SDS paths.
AR-DAVID: Augmented Reality Display Artifact Video Dataset
Authors: Chapiro Alexandre , Kim Dongyeon , Asano Yuta , Mantiuk Rafał K.
Published: November 2024

The perception of visual content in optical-see-through augmented reality (AR) devices is affected by the light coming from the environment. This additional light interacts with the content in a non-trivial manner because of the illusion of transparency, different focal depths, and motion parallax.

To investigate the impact of environment light on display artifact visibility (such as blur or color fringes), we created the first subjective quality dataset targeted toward augmented reality displays. Our study consisted of 6 scenes, each affected by one of 6 distortions at two strength levels, seen against one of 3 background patterns shown at 2 luminance levels: 432 conditions in total. Our dataset shows that environment light has a much smaller masking effect than expected. Further, we show that this effect cannot be explained by compositing of the AR-content with the background using optical blending models. As a consequence, we demonstrate that existing video quality metrics perform worse than expected when predicting the perceived magnitude of degradation in AR displays, motivating further research.
StableNormal: Reducing Diffusion Variance for Stable and Sharp Normal
Authors: Ye Chongjie , Qiu Lingteng , Gu Xiaodong , Zuo Qi , Wu Yushuang , Dong Zilong , Bo Liefeng , Xiu Yuliang , Han Xiaoguang
Published: November 2024

This work addresses the challenge of high-quality surface normal estimation from monocular colored inputs (i.e., images and videos), a field which has recently been revolutionized by repurposing diffusion priors. However, previous attempts still struggle with stochastic inference, conflicting with the deterministic nature of the Image2Normal task, and costly ensembling step, which slows down the estimation process. Our method, StableNormal, mitigates the stochasticity of the diffusion process by reducing inference variance, thus producing "Stable-and-Sharp" normal estimates without any additional ensembling process. StableNormal works robustly under challenging imaging conditions, such as extreme lighting, blurring, and low quality. It is also robust against transparent and reflective surfaces, as well as cluttered scenes with numerous objects. Specifically, StableNormal employs a coarse-to-fine strategy, which starts with a one-step normal estimator (YOSO) to derive an initial normal guess, that is relatively coarse but reliable, then followed by a semantic-guided refinement process (SG-DRN) that refines the normals to recover geometric details. The effectiveness of StableNormal is demonstrated through competitive performance in standard datasets such as DIODE-indoor, iBims, ScannetV2 and NYUv2, and also in various downstream tasks, such as surface reconstruction and normal enhancement. These results evidence that StableNormal retains both the
"stability"
and
"sharpness"
for accurate normal estimation. StableNormal represents a baby attempt to repurpose diffusion priors for
deterministic estimation.
To democratize this, code and models have been publicly available in
hf.co/Stable-X.
HFH-Font: Few-shot Chinese Font Synthesis with Higher Quality, Faster Speed, and Higher Resolution
Authors: Li Hua , Lian Zhouhui
Published: November 2024

The challenge of automatically synthesizing high-quality vector fonts, particularly for writing systems (e.g., Chinese) consisting of huge amounts of complex glyphs, remains unsolved. Existing font synthesis techniques fall into two categories: 1) methods that directly generate vector glyphs, and 2) methods that initially synthesize glyph images and then vectorize them. However, the first category often fails to construct complete and correct shapes for complex glyphs, while the latter struggles to efficiently synthesize high-resolution (i.e., 1024 × 1024 or higher) glyph images while preserving local details. In this paper, we introduce HFH-Font, a few-shot font synthesis method capable of efficiently generating high-resolution glyph images that can be converted into high-quality vector glyphs. More specifically, our method employs a diffusion model-based generative framework with component-aware conditioning to learn different levels of style information adaptable to varying input reference sizes. We also design a distillation module based on Score Distillation Sampling for 1-step fast inference, and a style-guided super-resolution module to refine and upscale low-resolution synthesis results. Extensive experiments, including a user study with professional font designers, have been conducted to demonstrate that our method significantly outperforms existing font synthesis approaches. Experimental results show that our method produces high-fidelity, high-resolution raster images which can be vectorized into high-quality vector fonts. Using our method, for the first time, large-scale Chinese vector fonts of a quality comparable to those manually created by professional font designers can be automatically generated.
A Camera the Size of a Grain of Salt Could Change Imaging as We Know It
Authors: Kugler Logan
Published: November 2024

The “meta-optics” camera is 500,000 times smaller than comparable imaging devices.
Water‐Soluble Inorganic Anions in Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Source Apportionment
Authors: Rumman Riadul , Haq Md Rezaul , Rahman Rahat Md Masudur , Jahan Farhana , Moulick Shyama Prosad , Nigar Refayat , Halder Chandan , Liu Wenbin , Ferdousi Farhana Khanam , Habib Ahsan
Published: November 2024

Bangladesh is one of the most populated countries in the world. More than 200 air quality index values were recorded in January and February since 2017, indicating that the air quality was unhealthy to very unhealthy. In this work, water‐soluble inorganic anions (WSIAs) in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh with a population of around 21 million, were evaluated. Accordingly, PM2.5 was collected using a quartz filter coupled with an active air sampler set in Dhaka University campus, Bangladesh, during February 2023, to analyze WSIAs. The 24‐h average PM2.5 mass, 156 ± 44.8 μg/m3, was almost nine times higher than the WHO limit values of 15.0 μg/m3 and about three times higher than the Bangladesh Department of Environment limits of 65.0 μg/m3. Fluoride, chloride, bromide, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate were among the water‐soluble ions that were determined using ion chromatography. While bromide and nitrite were found to be below the detection limit, the mean concentrations of fluoride, chloride, nitrate, phosphate, and sulfate were determined to be 0.086 ± 0.010, 2.27 ± 0.332, 10.2 ± 1.29, 2.23 ± 0.424, and 11.0 ± 1.45 μg/m3, respectively. The highest levels of PM2.5 and the relevant anions were determined to be present during February 9‐10, 2023. Sulfate accounted for almost 43% of the anions in the overall PM2.5. According to the results of the statistical analysis, the high concentrations of sulfate and nitrate in PM2.5 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, were primarily caused by sulfur‐containing fossil fuels, especially sulfur‐containing diesel, coal, and unfit automobiles, while the main sources of fluoride and chloride were fire retardants, burning of textile, and municipal solid wastes. All of these sources have the ability to produce PM2.5.
Non‐surgical Treatment May be Appropriate for Most Chinese Children With Monogenic Congenital Hyperinsulinism Based on a Retrospective Study of 121 Patients
Authors: Cheng Ming , Su Chang , Wang Dongmei , Song Yanning , Li Yang , Zeng He , Yuan Zheng , Li Xiaoqiao , Meng Xi , Ding Yuan , Cao Bingyan , Gong Chunxiu
Published: November 2024

Objective: There is a notable absence of extensive Chinese studies involving monogenic congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI). The purpose of this large retrospective Chinese cohort with monogenic CHI from a national children’s medical center was to analyze the genetic and clinical characteristics.

Methods: We compared clinical characteristics grouped by genotypes based on CHI‐targeted next‐generation sequencing (tNGS) and performed subgroup analyses by onset time.

Results: Totally, 121 non‐consanguineous patients were enrolled. Among them, 79 patients (65.3%) had variants in ATP‐sensitive potassium channel (KATP) genes (62 heterozygotes and 17 compound heterozygotes), 35 (28.9%) in glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GLUD1), and 7 (5.8%) in rare genes (hydroxyacyl‐CoA dehydrogenase [HADH], glucokinase [GCK], and hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha [HNF4A]). Ten patients had ATP binding cassette subfamily C member 8 (ABCC8) variants (p.G111R), and 12 had GLUD1 variants (p.S498L), suggesting two potential founder variants. Three ABCC8 variants (p.G1478R, p.L580_S581insFASL, and p.S986 ∗) and two HNF4A variants (p.R63W and p.V382I) were previously reported to be associated with diabetes. Non‐surgical treatment was effective in 65.9% of patients with KATP variants, while in 100% of those with non‐KATP variants. For the subgroup of KATP variants, neonatal‐onset patients tended to present with mild symptoms (67.9% versus 19.3%), had a higher proportion of surgical intervention (24.5% versus 3.8%), and displayed higher levels of serum insulin and C‐peptide than non‐neonatal onset ones (p < 0.001).

Conclusion: The absence of homozygous variants in KATP genes and a quite higher proportion of GLUD1 variants than previous cohorts, may explain a high response rate of non‐surgical treatment in this study. Surgery might be considered for neonatal‐onset children, especially when KATP variants were discovered but not for those carried variants reported to cause diabetes in later life. While expanding the genotypic spectrum, we also highlight the clinical significance of genetic screening.
Exploring the Interplay Between Senescent Osteocytes and Bone Remodeling in Young Rodents
Authors: Song Insun , Kim Pil-Jong , Choi Yong Jun , Chung Yoon-Sok , Lee Soonchul , Baek Jeong-Hwa , Woo Kyung Mi
Published: November 2024

This study identifies senescent osteocytes in the femur and tibia of young rodents and explores their role in bone remodeling. The proximity of osteoclasts to senescent osteocytes was observed, which is a new finding. Cultured osteocytes, sorted using a podoplanin antibody in FACS, exhibited osteocytic characteristics and increased senescence‐related genes. Senescent osteocytes secreted cytokines associated with senescence, remodeling, and inflammation. Notably, IGF1 and MMP2 were elevated in podoplanin‐positive (pdpn+) osteocytes. Migration assays demonstrated significant osteoclast precursor migration towards senescent osteocytes, further confirmed by co‐culture experiments leading to osteoclast differentiation. These findings suggest that senescent osteocytes have a pivotal role in initiating bone resorption, with recruitment of osteoclast precursors during early bone remodeling stages. In conclusion, our research enhances our understanding of complicated bone remodeling mechanisms and bone homeostasis.
The Impact of Perceived Emotional Intelligence on Occupational Stress Among Nurses: Empirical Evidence From a Saudi Health Cluster
Authors: Alsufyani Abdulaziz M. , Almalki Mohammed S. , Khader Khaled A. , Stanford Penelope , Freeman Samantha , Alsufyani Yasir M.
Published: November 2024

Background: Occupational stress is a significant challenge for healthcare systems worldwide. It compromises the quality of healthcare and jeopardizes patient safety. Globally, the estimated economic impact of occupational stress in the healthcare system ranges from US $221.13 million to US $187 billion. Emotional intelligence has been recognized as a behavioral buffer against occupational stress. Hence, this study investigated whether nurses’ perceptions of emotional intelligence impact their self‐perceived occupational stress.

Design: A predictive correlational design was utilized.

Method: A prior power analysis using G ∗ Power 3.1 was conducted. A convenience sample of 734 nurses was recruited from Taif Health Cluster. Data were coded and analyzed using IBM® SPSS® Statistics for Windows v.25. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used. A hierarchical regression technique was used. The level of significance was established at p < 0.05. The process of data collection started at August 2022 and continued through October 2022.

Results: The results indicated that nurses’ age and working area predicted occupational stress perceptions in the first model (β = −0.28 and β = 0.21, p = 0.001, respectively). The second model showed a significant improvement (ΔF(7,727) = 162.35, p < 0.000, ΔR2 = 0.226) and indicated a negative correlation between nurses’ perceptions of emotional intelligence and occupational stress (β = −0.45, t = −12.8, p < 0.000). The nurses’ sociodemographic characteristics in the first model explained 2.4% of the variance. The second model represented 25.0% of the variance when nurses’ emotional intelligence perception was included.

Conclusion: Our study shows a novel framework that indicates a positive perceived effect of emotional intelligence on nurses’ perceptions of occupational stress in Saudi Arabia. Our findings propose that emotional intelligence is a significantly effective mechanism against occupational stress.
Biological Effects and Clinical Application of the Anti-Immunoglobulin E Antibody
Authors: Zhang Fan , Qian Yuan , Liao Jiashun , Zhou Chuang , Ren Wei , Jin Qiuzi
Published: November 2024

Background: Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases by engaging with FcεRI and FcεRII receptors, triggering allergic responses. The development of anti-IgE antibodies, such as omalizumab, has introduced a targeted approach to allergy treatment by neutralizing free IgE and dampening the allergic cascade. Summary: This review synthesizes the current understanding of IgE’s role in allergic diseases and evaluates the clinical utility of omalizumab. It specifically examines the biological mechanisms underpinning anti-IgE antibodies and their efficacy in treating moderate to severe asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU). The paper also explores the potential of omalizumab in managing other allergic conditions and considers the long-term implications of anti-IgE therapy. Key Messages: By summarizing and elucidating the biological mechanisms and clinical applications of anti-IgE antibodies through a review of global literature from the past 5 years, this article aims to establish a theoretical foundation for developing innovative anti-allergic treatment strategies. Omalizumab has demonstrated efficacy in reducing IgE-mediated responses, offering improved clinical outcomes for patients with asthma and CSU, with promising potential in an array of allergic diseases. The long-term safety profile of anti-IgE medications remains an area of active investigation, underscoring the need for ongoing research to refine these therapies and expand their application in allergy management.
GENOTYPE PHENOTYPE CORRELATION IN LIPOID PROTEINOSIS: 15 cases from Turkey
Authors: Dinçsoy Bir Firdevs , Uyguner Zehra Oya , Karaman Birsen , Baykal Can , Büyükbabani Nesimi , Tüysüz Beyhan , Gedikbaşı Asuman , Uyanık Bülent , Toksoy Güven , Kara Bülent , Kayserili Hülya
Published: November 2024

Introduction: Lipoid proteinosis (LP), a rare autosomal recessive disorder typified by generalized thickening of the skin, mucosae, and certain viscera, is primarily associated with pathogenic ECM1 variants. Skin lesions like beaded eyelid papules, acneiform scars, wavy, yellow papules, and nodules, typically appear in early childhood. Some patients may exhibit neurological abnormalities like temporal lobe or hippocampi-amygdala complex calcification, epilepsy, and neuropsychiatric abnormalities.
Methods: We included 15 individuals with LP from 10 unrelated families. The study includes clinical evaluations of family history, radiological findings, histopathological examination of the skin, and genetic investigations.
Results: All affected individuals exhibited skin and mucosal lesions. Among the 15 cases, five showed neurological (33%), four presented neuropsychiatric findings (26%), and three had diabetes mellitus (20%). We observed characteristic intracranial calcifications in all patients with epileptic seizures. Four out of the five cases with epilepsy and intracranial calcifications also had neuropsychiatric findings. All patients with neurological and neuropsychiatric findings had a frame-shift variant, but the same frame-shift variant was not associated with these findings in other individuals. In our study, no patient with variants other than frame-shift variants exhibited neurological or neuropsychiatric findings. Adrenal calcification, which was observed in one patient, was not previously linked to LP.
Conclusion: Our study observed diverse variations in LP cases among the Turkish population, with varying clinical presentation even among individuals with identical variations within the same family. In our series, the lack of correlation between genotype and phenotype makes providing specific genetic counseling to families challenging.
Association of Lipoprotein(a) With Changes in Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients Treated With Alirocumab
Authors: Koskinas Konstantinos C. , Häner Jonas , Ueki Yasushi , Otsuka Tatsuhiko , Lonborg Jacob , Shibutani Hiroki , Kakizaki Ryota , Kaiser Christoph , van Geuns Robert-Jan , Ondracek Anna S. , Praz Fabien , Ambühl Maria , Spirk David , Lanz Jonas , Daemen Joost , Heg Dik , Mayr Manuel , Mach François , Windecker Stephan , Engstrøm Thomas , Lang Irene M. , von Eckardstein Arnold , Losdat Sylvain , Räber Lorenz
Published: November 2024

BACKGROUND:

Elevated Lp(a) (lipoprotein[a]) is a risk marker for atherosclerotic disease, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. We examined the association of Lp(a) with changes in coronary atherosclerosis following intensive lipid-lowering therapy.

METHODS:

In the PACMAN-AMI trial (Effects of the PCSK9 Antibody Alirocumab on Coronary Atherosclerosis in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction), 300 patients with acute myocardial infarction were randomized to receive biweekly alirocumab 150 mg or placebo in addition to high-intensity statins. Patients underwent serial 2-vessel intravascular ultrasound, optical coherence tomography, and near-infrared spectroscopy in the non–infarct-related arteries at baseline and after 52 weeks. The main end points were percent atheroma volume by intravascular ultrasound, minimum fibrous cap thickness by optical coherence tomography, and maximum lipid core burden index within 4 mm (maxLCBI
4mm
) by near-infrared spectroscopy.

RESULTS:

A total of 265 patients had serial intravascular ultrasound data (mean age, 58±9 years; 16% women). Alirocumab resulted in greater reductions in percent atheroma volume and maxLCBI
4mm
, as well as a greater increase in minimum fibrous cap thickness, compared with placebo. In the alirocumab group, the reduction in maxLCBI
4mm
was smaller in patients with higher baseline Lp(a), defined by the highest quartile (Q4, ≥98 nmol/L; n=30), than in those with lower baseline Lp(a) (Q1–Q3, <98 nmol/L; n=99; −40.2 [−91.1 to 10.7] versus −91.4 [−113.9 to −68.9], respectively;
P
=0.01 after adjustment for clinically relevant baseline variables), and was comparable to the maxLBI
4mm
reduction in the placebo group (−37.60 [−57.40 to −17.80]; n=134). These findings were consistent when higher baseline Lp(a) was defined by cut-off values of ≥75 versus <75 nmol/L (n=35 versus 94, respectively, in the alirocumab group) and ≥125 versus <125 nmol/L (n=23 versus 106, respectively). Changes in percent atheroma volume and minimum fibrous cap thickness did not differ in relation to baseline Lp(a).

CONCLUSIONS:

In patients with acute myocardial infarction, elevated Lp(a) at baseline is associated with attenuation of plaque lipid regression despite intensive treatment with alirocumab plus high-intensity statin. This finding may explain the residual cardiovascular risk associated with high Lp(a) despite optimal control of lipid levels.

REGISTRATION:

URL:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov
; Unique identifier: NCT03067844.