Enhancing microdroplets image analysis with deep learning

Microfluidics is a highly interdisciplinary field where the integration of deep-learning models has the potential to streamline processes and increase precision and reliability. This study investigates the use of deep-learning methods for the accurate detection and measurement of droplet diameters and the image restoration of low-resolution images. This study demonstrates that the Segment Anything Model (SAM) provides superior detection and reduced droplet diameter error measurement compared to the Circular Hough Transform, which is widely implemented and used in microfluidic imaging. SAM droplet detections prove to be more robust to image quality and microfluidic images with low contrast between the fluid phases. In addition, this work proves that a deep-learning super-resolution network MSRN-BAM can be trained on a dataset comprising of droplets in a flow-focusing microchannel to super-resolve images for scales ×2, ×4, ×6, ×8. Super-resolved images obtain comparable detection and segmentation results to those obtained using high-resolution images. Finally, the potential of deep learning in other computer vision tasks, such as denoising for microfluidic imaging, is shown. The results show that a DnCNN model can denoise effectively microfluidic images with additive Gaussian noise up t

Structural and Functional Diversity of Acidic Scorpion Potassium Channel Toxins

Background: Although the basic scorpion K + channel toxins (KTxs) are well-known pharmacological tools and potential drug candidates, characterization the acidic KTxs still has the great significance for their potential selectivity towards different K + channel subtypes. Unfortunately, research on the acidic KTxs has been ignored for several years and progressed slowly. Principal Findings: Here, we describe the identification of nine new acidic KTxs by cDNA cloning and bioinformatic analyses. Seven of these toxins belong to three new a-KTx subfamilies (a-KTx28, a-KTx29, and a-KTx30), and two are new members of the known k-KTx2 subfamily. ImKTx104 containing three disulfide bridges, the first member of the a-KTx28 subfamily, has a low sequence homology with other known KTxs, and its NMR structure suggests ImKTx104 adopts a modified cystine-stabilized a-helix-loop-b-sheet (CS-a/b) fold motif that has no apparent a-helixs and b-sheets, but still stabilized by three disulfide bridges. These newly described acidic KTxs exhibit differential pharmacological effects on potassium channels. Acidic scorpion toxin ImKTx104 was the first peptide inhibitor found to affect KCNQ1 channel, which is insensitive to the basic KTxs and is strongly associated with human cardiac abnormalities. ImKTx104 selectively inhibited KCNQ1 channel with a Kd of 11.69 mM, but was less effective against the basic KTxs-sensitive potassium channels. In addition to the ImKTx104 toxin, HeTx204 peptide, containing a cystine-stabilized a-helix-loop-helix (CS-a/a) fold scaffold motif

NaChBac: The Long Lost Sodium Channel Ancestor

In excitable cells, the main mediators of sodium conductance across membranes are voltage-gated sodium channels (Na(V)s). Eukaryotic Na(V)s are essential elements in neuronal signaling and muscular contraction and in humans have been causally related to a variety of neurological and cardiovascular channelopathies. They are complex heavily glycosylated intrinsic membrane proteins present in only trace quantities that have proven to be challenging objects of study. However, in recent years, a number of simpler prokaryotic sodium channels have been identified, with NaChBac from Bacillus halodurans being the most well-characterized to date. The availability of a bacterial Na(V) that is amenable to heterologous expression and functional characterization in both bacterial and mammalian systems has provided new opportunities for structure--function studies. This review describes features of NaChBac as an exemplar of this class of bacterial channels, compares prokaryotic and eukaryotic Na(V)s with respect to their structural organization, pharmacological profiling, and functional kinetics, and discusses how voltage-gated ion channels may have evolved to deal with the complex functional demands of higher organisms

Characterisation and genome sequence of the lytic Acinetobacter baumannii bacteriophage vB-AbaS-Loki

© 2017 Turner et al.This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Acinetobacter baumannii has emerged as an important nosocomial pathogen in healthcare and community settings. While over 100 of Acinetobacter phages have been described in the literature, relatively few have been sequenced. This work describes the characterisation and genome annotation of a new lytic Acinetobacter siphovirus, vB-AbaS-Loki, isolated from activated sewage sludge. Sequencing revealed that Loki encapsulates a 41,308 bp genome, encoding 51 predicted open reading frames. Loki is most closely related to Acinetobacter phage IME-AB3 and more distantly related to Burkholderia phage KL1, Paracoccus phage vB-PmaS-IMEP1 and Pseudomonas phages vB-Pae-Kakheti25, vB-PaeS-SCH-Ab26 and PA73. Loki is characterised by a narrow host range, among the 40 Acinetobacter isolates tested, productive infection was only observed for the propagating host, A. baumannii ATCC 17978. Plaque formation was found to be dependent upon the presence of Ca2+ ions and adsorption to host cells was abolished upon incubation with a mutant of ATCC 17978 encoding a premature stop codon in lpxA. The complete genome sequence of vB-AbaS-Loki was deposited in the European Nucleotide Archive (ENA) under the accession number LN890663. Copyright

Solution structure of APETx1 from the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima: A new fold for an HERG toxin

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Preparation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies against neoplastic hemocytes of Mytilus edulls (Bivalvia)

Mytilus edulis develop progressive and fatal hemocytic neoplasia. We have generated monoclonal antibodies using neoplastic hemocytes from highly infected individuals collected from Puget Sound in Washington State (USA). Twenty-seven monoclonal antibodies against neoplatic cell antigens were obtained. Specificity of 2 purified antibodies, 14F1 and 16G10, was demonstrated by immunofluorescence when incubated with neoplastic hemocytes, whereas these anbidodies did not react with normal cells. This specificity was confirmed by immunogold labelling and electron microscopic visualization. The technique permitted localization of the epitopes recognized by the monoclonal antibodies on the plasma membrane. These monoclonal antibodies are suitable reagents for establishment of immunoassays for diagnosis and quantification of hemic neoplasia in the mussel

Solution structure of two insect-specific spider toxins and their pharmacological interaction with the insect voltage-gated Na+ channel

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