961 research outputs found
Learned optical flow for intra-operative tracking of the retinal fundus
Purpose:
Sustained delivery of regenerative retinal therapies by robotic systems requires intra-operative tracking of the retinal fundus. We propose a supervised deep convolutional neural network to densely predict semantic segmentation and optical flow of the retina as mutually supportive tasks, implicitly inpainting retinal flow information missing due to occlusion by surgical tools.
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Methods:
As manual annotation of optical flow is infeasible, we propose a flexible algorithm for generation of large synthetic training datasets on the basis of given intra-operative retinal images. We evaluate optical flow estimation by tracking a grid and sparsely annotated ground truth points on a benchmark of challenging real intra-operative clips obtained from an extensive internally acquired dataset encompassing representative vitreoretinal surgical cases.
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Results:
The U-Net-based network trained on the synthetic dataset is shown to generalise well to the benchmark of real surgical videos. When used to track retinal points of interest, our flow estimation outperforms variational baseline methods on clips containing tool motions which occlude the points of interest, as is routinely observed in intra-operatively recorded surgery videos.
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Conclusions:
The results indicate that complex synthetic training datasets can be used to specifically guide optical flow estimation. Our proposed algorithm therefore lays the foundation for a robust system which can assist with intra-operative tracking of moving surgical targets even when occluded
Neural responses to othersâ pain vary with psychopathic traits in healthy adult males
Disrupted empathic processing is a core feature of psychopathy. Neuroimaging data have suggested that individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits show atypical responses to others' pain in a network of brain regions typically recruited during empathic processing (anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, and mid- and anterior cingulate cortex). Here, we investigated whether neural responses to others' pain vary with psychopathic traits within the general population in a similar manner to that found in individuals at the extreme end of the continuum. As predicted, variation in psychopathic traits was associated with variation in neural responses to others' pain in the network of brain regions typically engaged during empathic processing. Consistent with previous research, our findings indicated the presence of suppressor effects in the association of levels of the affective-interpersonal and lifestyle-antisocial dimensions of psychopathy with neural responses to others' pain. That is, after controlling for the influence of the other dimension, higher affective-interpersonal psychopathic traits were associated with reduced neural responses to others' pain, whilst higher lifestyle-antisocial psychopathic traits were associated with increased neural responses to others' pain. Our findings provide further evidence that atypical function in this network might represent neural markers of disrupted emotional and empathic processing; that the two dimensions of psychopathy might tap into distinct underlying vulnerabilities; and, most importantly, that the relationships observed at the extreme end of the psychopathy spectrum apply to the nonclinical distribution of these traits, providing further evidence for continuities in the mechanisms underlying psychopathic traits across the general population
Anticipation of guilt for everyday moral transgressions : the role of the anterior insula and the influence of interpersonal psychopathic traits
Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterised by atypical moral behaviour likely rooted in atypical affective/motivational processing, as opposed to an inability to judge the wrongness of an action. Guilt is a moral emotion believed to play a crucial role in adherence to moral and social norms, but the mechanisms by which guilt (or lack thereof) may influence behaviour in individuals with high levels of psychopathic traits are unclear. We measured neural responses during the anticipation of guilt about committing potential everyday moral transgressions, and tested the extent to which these varied with psychopathic traits. We found a significant interaction between the degree to which anticipated guilt was modulated in the anterior insula and interpersonal psychopathic traits: anterior insula modulation of anticipated guilt was weaker in individuals with higher levels of these traits. Data from a second sample confirmed that this pattern of findings was specific to the modulation of anticipated guilt and not related to the perceived wrongness of the transgression. These results suggest a central role for the anterior insula in coding the anticipation of guilt regarding potential moral transgressions and advance our understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms that may underlie propensity to antisocial behaviour
Bright ligand-activatable fluorescent protein for high-quality multicolor live-cell super-resolution microscopy
We introduce UnaG as a green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein capable of high-quality super-resolution imaging with photon numbers equivalent to the brightest photoswitchable red protein. UnaG only fluoresces upon binding of a fluorogenic metabolite, bilirubin, enabling UV-free reversible photoswitching with easily controllable kinetics and low background under Epi illumination. The on- and off-switching rates are controlled by the concentration of the ligand and the excitation light intensity, respectively, where the dissolved oxygen also promotes the off-switching. The photo-oxidation reaction mechanism of bilirubin in UnaG suggests that the lack of ligand-protein covalent bond allows the oxidized ligand to detach from the protein, emptying the binding cavity for rebinding to a fresh ligand molecule. We demonstrate super-resolution single-molecule localization imaging of various subcellular structures genetically encoded with UnaG, which enables facile labeling and simultaneous multicolor imaging of live cells. UnaG has the promise of becoming a default protein for high-performance super-resolution imaging. Photoconvertible proteins occupy two color channels thereby limiting multicolour localisation microscopy applications. Here the authors present UnaG, a new green-to-dark photoswitching fluorescent protein for super-resolution imaging, whose activation is based on a noncovalent binding with bilirubin
Survey radiography and computerized tomography imaging of the thorax in female dogs with mammary tumors
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Accurate early diagnosis of lung metastases is important for establishing therapeutic measures. Therefore, the present study aimed to compare survey thoracic radiographs and computerized tomography (CT) scans to specifically identify lung metastases in female dogs with mammary tumors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty-one female dogs, weighing 3 to 34 kg and aged from 5 years to 14 years and 10 months, with mammary tumors were studied. In all dogs before the imaging examinations, fine-needle aspiration cytology of the mammary tumors was performed to confirm the diagnosis. Three-view thoracic radiographs were accomplished: right lateral, left lateral and ventrodorsal views. Sequential transverse images of the thorax were acquired on a spiral Scanner, before and after intravenous bolus injection of nonionic iodine contrast. Soft-tissue and lung windows were applied. All the mammary tumors were surgically removed and examined histologically.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The correlation between the cytological and histological results regarding presence of malignancy was observed in only 17 cases. In radiographic examinations, no dog displayed signs of lung metastases or thorax chest lesions. CT detected lung metastasis in two cases, while small areas of lung atelectasis located peripherally were found in 28.57% of the dogs.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this study population, spiral CT showed higher sensitivity than chest radiographies to detect lung metastasis; this indicates that CT should be performed on all female dogs with malignant mammary tumors.</p
Brane-World Gravity
The observable universe could be a 1+3-surface (the "brane") embedded in a
1+3+\textit{d}-dimensional spacetime (the "bulk"), with Standard Model
particles and fields trapped on the brane while gravity is free to access the
bulk. At least one of the \textit{d} extra spatial dimensions could be very
large relative to the Planck scale, which lowers the fundamental gravity scale,
possibly even down to the electroweak ( TeV) level. This revolutionary
picture arises in the framework of recent developments in M theory. The
1+10-dimensional M theory encompasses the known 1+9-dimensional superstring
theories, and is widely considered to be a promising potential route to quantum
gravity. At low energies, gravity is localized at the brane and general
relativity is recovered, but at high energies gravity "leaks" into the bulk,
behaving in a truly higher-dimensional way. This introduces significant changes
to gravitational dynamics and perturbations, with interesting and potentially
testable implications for high-energy astrophysics, black holes, and cosmology.
Brane-world models offer a phenomenological way to test some of the novel
predictions and corrections to general relativity that are implied by M theory.
This review analyzes the geometry, dynamics and perturbations of simple
brane-world models for cosmology and astrophysics, mainly focusing on warped
5-dimensional brane-worlds based on the Randall--Sundrum models. We also cover
the simplest brane-world models in which 4-dimensional gravity on the brane is
modified at \emph{low} energies -- the 5-dimensional Dvali--Gabadadze--Porrati
models. Then we discuss co-dimension two branes in 6-dimensional models.Comment: A major update of Living Reviews in Relativity 7:7 (2004)
"Brane-World Gravity", 119 pages, 28 figures, the update contains new
material on RS perturbations, including full numerical solutions of
gravitational waves and scalar perturbations, on DGP models, and also on 6D
models. A published version in Living Reviews in Relativit
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