Emotion-reacting fashion design: intelligent garment and accessory recognizing facial expressions

Although mental disorders have emerged as serious social challenges, social stigma, including prejudice and misunderstanding, hinder suitable treatment for the patients. It is crucial to monitor our internal psychological and emotional states to avoid the unconscious progression of mental disorders. This research aims to achieve emotion-reacting garments and accessories, based on a passive and continuous emotion recognition system in real time. First, this study proposes a systematic design for emotion-reacting garments and accessories, which employs emotion estimation based on facial expressions. Next, emotion-reacting fashion design is discussed for intelligent garments and accessories that interact with our bodies and mind. To achieve this system, a functionally extended collar made of transparent polycarbonate material is designed for integration with the digital camera modules. In addition, this study discusses how to create a physical stimulus on emotion-reacting garments and accessories. The intelligent garments and accessories using RGB-LEDs create visual effects that reflect emotions. In terms of audio effects, emotion-related keywords are employed to select the music played in intelligent garments. Finally, prototypes reacting to emotions are show

A genome-wide screen identifies a single β-defensin gene cluster in the chicken: implications for the origin and evolution of mammalian defensins

BACKGROUND: Defensins comprise a large family of cationic antimicrobial peptides that are characterized by the presence of a conserved cysteine-rich defensin motif. Based on the spacing pattern of cysteines, these defensins are broadly divided into five groups, namely plant, invertebrate, α-, β-, and θ-defensins, with the last three groups being mostly found in mammalian species. However, the evolutionary relationships among these five groups of defensins remain controversial. RESULTS: Following a comprehensive screen, here we report that the chicken genome encodes a total of 13 different β-defensins but with no other groups of defensins being discovered. These chicken β-defensin genes, designated as Gallinacin 1–13, are clustered densely within a 86-Kb distance on the chromosome 3q3.5-q3.7. The deduced peptides vary from 63 to 104 amino acid residues in length sharing the characteristic defensin motif. Based on the tissue expression pattern, 13 β-defensin genes can be divided into two subgroups with Gallinacin 1–7 being predominantly expressed in bone marrow and the respiratory tract and the remaining genes being restricted to liver and the urogenital tract. Comparative analysis of the defensin clusters among chicken, mouse, and human suggested that vertebrate defensins have evolved from a single β-defensin-like gene, which has undergone rapid duplication, diversification, and translocation in various vertebrate lineages during evolution. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the chicken genome encodes only β-defensin sequences and that all mammalian defensins are evolved from a common β-defensin-like ancestor. The α-defensins arose from β-defensins by gene duplication, which may have occurred after the divergence of mammals from other vertebrates, and θ-defensins have arisen from α-defensins specific to the primate lineage. Further analysis of these defensins in different vertebrate lineages will shed light on the mechanisms of host defense and evolution of innate immunity

Image-based evaluation of contraction–relaxation kinetics of human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes: Correlation and complementarity with extracellular electrophysiology

AbstractIn this study, we used high-speed video microscopy with motion vector analysis to investigate the contractile characteristics of hiPS-CM monolayer, in addition to further characterizing the motion with extracellular field potential (FP), traction force and the Ca2+ transient. Results of our traction force microscopy demonstrated that the force development of hiPS-CMs correlated well with the cellular deformation detected by the video microscopy with motion vector analysis. In the presence of verapamil and isoproterenol, contractile motion of hiPS-CMs showed alteration in accordance with the changes in fluorescence peak of the Ca2+ transient, i.e., upstroke, decay, amplitude and full-width at half-maximum. Simultaneously recorded hiPS-CM motion and FP showed that there was a linear correlation between changes in the motion and field potential duration in response to verapamil (30–150nM), isoproterenol (0.1–10μM) and E-4031 (10–50nM). In addition, tetrodotoxin (3–30μM)-induced delay of sodium current was corresponded with the delay of the contraction onset of hiPS-CMs. These results indicate that the electrophysiological and functional behaviors of hiPS-CMs are quantitatively reflected in the contractile motion detected by this image-based technique. In the presence of 100nM E-4031, the occurrence of early after-depolarization-like negative deflection in FP was also detected in the hiPS-CM motion as a characteristic two-step relaxation pattern. These findings offer insights into the interpretation of the motion kinetics of the hiPS-CMs, and are relevant for understanding electrical and mechanical relationship in hiPS-CMs

ABCA13 dysfunction associated with psychiatric disorders causes impaired cholesterol trafficking

Large transporter protein linked to schizophrenia. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-01-07.ABCA13の異常によるコレステロール輸送障害が統合失調症を引き起こすことを解明. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-01-08.ATP-binding cassette subfamily A member 13 (ABCA13) is predicted to be the largest ABC protein, consisting of 5, 058 amino acids and a long N-terminal region. Mutations in the ABCA13 gene were reported to increase the susceptibility to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depression. However, little is known about the molecular functions of ABCA13 or how they associate with psychiatric disorders. Here, we examined the biochemical activity of ABCA13 using HEK293 cells transfected with mouse ABCA13. The expression of ABCA13 induced the internalization of cholesterol and gangliosides from the plasma membrane to intracellular vesicles. Cholesterol internalization by ABCA13 required the long N-terminal region and ATP hydrolysis. To examine the physiological roles of ABCA13, we generated Abca13 KO mice using CRISPR/Cas and found that these mice exhibited deficits of prepulse inhibition. Vesicular cholesterol accumulation and synaptic vesicle endocytosis were impaired in primary cultures of Abca13 KO cortical neurons. Furthermore, mutations in ABCA13 gene associated with psychiatric disorders disrupted the protein’s subcellular localization and impaired cholesterol trafficking. These findings suggest that ABCA13 accelerates cholesterol internalization by endocytic retrograde transport in neurons and that loss-of-this function is associated with the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders

Potential of a Novel Chemical Compound Targeting Matrix Metalloprotease-13 for Early Osteoarthritis: An In Vitro Study

Osteoarthritis is a progressive disease characterized by cartilage destruction in the joints. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTSs) play key roles in osteoarthritis progression. In this study, we screened a chemical compound library to identify new drug candidates that target MMP and ADAMTS using a cytokine-stimulated OUMS-27 chondrosarcoma cells. By screening PCR-based mRNA expression, we selected 2-(8-methoxy-2-methyl-4-oxoquinolin-1(4H)-yl)-N-(3-methoxyphenyl) acetamide as a potential candidate. We found that 2-(8-methoxy-2-methyl-4-oxoquinolin-1(4H)-yl)-N-(3-methoxyphenyl) acetamide attenuated IL-1 beta-induced MMP13 mRNA expression in a dose-dependent manner, without causing serious cytotoxicity. Signaling pathway analysis revealed that 2-(8-methoxy-2-methyl-4-oxoquinolin-1(4H)-yl)-N-(3-methoxyphenyl) acetamide attenuated ERK- and p-38-phosphorylation as well as JNK phosphorylation. We then examined the additive effect of 2-(8-methoxy-2-methyl-4-oxoquinolin-1(4H)-yl)-N-(3-methoxyphenyl) acetamide in combination with low-dose betamethasone on IL-1 beta-stimulated cells. Combined treatment with 2-(8-methoxy-2-methyl-4-oxoquinolin-1(4H)-yl)-N-(3-methoxyphenyl) acetamide and betamethasone significantly attenuated MMP13 and ADAMTS9 mRNA expression. In conclusion, we identified a potential compound of interest that may help attenuate matrix-degrading enzymes in the early osteoarthritis-affected joints

GALAXY CRUISE: Deep Insights into Interacting Galaxies in the Local Universe

We present the first results from GALAXY CRUISE, a community (or citizen) science project based on data from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP). The current paradigm of galaxy evolution suggests that galaxies grow hierarchically via mergers, but our observational understanding of the role of mergers is still limited. The data from HSC-SSP are ideally suited to improve our understanding with improved identifications of interacting galaxies thanks to the superb depth and image quality of HSC-SSP. We have launched a community science project, GALAXY CRUISE, in 2019 and collected over 2 million independent classifications of 20,686 galaxies at z < 0.2. We first characterize the accuracy of the participants' classifications and demonstrate that it surpasses previous studies based on shallower imaging data. We then investigate various aspects of interacting galaxies in detail. We show that there is a clear sign of enhanced activities of super massive black holes and star formation in interacting galaxies compared to those in isolated galaxies. The enhancement seems particularly strong for galaxies undergoing violent merger. We also show that the mass growth rate inferred from our results is roughly consistent with the observed evolution of the stellar mass function. The 2nd season of GALAXY CRUISE is currently under way and we conclude with future prospects. We make the morphological classification catalog used in this paper publicly available at the GALAXY CRUISE website, which will be particularly useful for machine-learning applications.Comment: 23 pages, 22 figures, PASJ in press. Data available at https://galaxycruise.mtk.nao.ac.jp/en/for_researchers.htm