4,067 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Collaborative development of diffraction-limited beamline optical systems at US DOE light sources
An ongoing collaboration among four US Department of Energy (DOE) National Laboratories has demonstrated key technology prototypes and software modeling tools required for new high-coherent flux beamline optical systems. New free electron laser (FEL) and diffraction-limited storage ring (DLSR) light sources demand wavefront preservation from source to sample to achieve and maintain optimal performance. Fine wavefront control was achieved using a novel, roomtemperature cooled mirror system called REAL (resistive element adjustable length) that combines cooling with applied, spatially variable auxiliary heating. Single-grating shearing interferometry (also called Talbot interferometry) and Hartmann wavefront sensors were developed and used for optical characterization and alignment on several beamlines, across a range of photon energies. Demonstrations of non-invasive hard x-ray wavefront sensing were performed using a thin diamond single-crystal as a beamsplitter
An amine-reactive tetraphenylethylene derivative for protein detection in SDS-PAGE
A new aggregation-induced emission (AIE) compound 1,2-bis[4-(isothiocyanatomethyl)phenyl]-1,2-diphenylethene (2) was synthesized for use in SDS-PAGE. The molecule is practically nonemissive in solution but becomes highly emissive after reacting with the amine groups of the proteins by either the prestaining or poststaining method. The sensitivity of 2 achieved in the prestaining method is the same as that of Coomassie brilliant blue (CBB), while that observed in the poststaining method is higher than that of CBB. Excellent linear responses with the amount of protein were obtained in both cases. The detection of a mixture of proteins with different molecular weights was successfully achieved
TrajectoryFormer: 3D Object Tracking Transformer with Predictive Trajectory Hypotheses
3D multi-object tracking (MOT) is vital for many applications including
autonomous driving vehicles and service robots. With the commonly used
tracking-by-detection paradigm, 3D MOT has made important progress in recent
years. However, these methods only use the detection boxes of the current frame
to obtain trajectory-box association results, which makes it impossible for the
tracker to recover objects missed by the detector. In this paper, we present
TrajectoryFormer, a novel point-cloud-based 3D MOT framework. To recover the
missed object by detector, we generates multiple trajectory hypotheses with
hybrid candidate boxes, including temporally predicted boxes and current-frame
detection boxes, for trajectory-box association. The predicted boxes can
propagate object's history trajectory information to the current frame and thus
the network can tolerate short-term miss detection of the tracked objects. We
combine long-term object motion feature and short-term object appearance
feature to create per-hypothesis feature embedding, which reduces the
computational overhead for spatial-temporal encoding. Additionally, we
introduce a Global-Local Interaction Module to conduct information interaction
among all hypotheses and models their spatial relations, leading to accurate
estimation of hypotheses. Our TrajectoryFormer achieves state-of-the-art
performance on the Waymo 3D MOT benchmarks.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
NeuroQuantify -- An Image Analysis Software for Detection and Quantification of Neurons and Neurites using Deep Learning
The segmentation of cells and neurites in microscopy images of neuronal
networks provides valuable quantitative information about neuron growth and
neuronal differentiation, including the number of cells, neurites, neurite
length and neurite orientation. This information is essential for assessing the
development of neuronal networks in response to extracellular stimuli, which is
useful for studying neuronal structures, for example, the study of
neurodegenerative diseases and pharmaceuticals. However, automatic and accurate
analysis of neuronal structures from phase contrast images has remained
challenging. To address this, we have developed NeuroQuantify, an open-source
software that uses deep learning to efficiently and quickly segment cells and
neurites in phase contrast microscopy images. NeuroQuantify offers several key
features: (i) automatic detection of cells and neurites; (ii) post-processing
of the images for the quantitative neurite length measurement based on
segmentation of phase contrast microscopy images, and (iii) identification of
neurite orientations. The user-friendly NeuroQuantify software can be installed
and freely downloaded from GitHub
https://github.com/StanleyZ0528/neural-image-segmentation
Mesangial cells of lupus-prone mice are sensitive to chemokine production
Infectious antigens may be triggers for the exacerbation of systemic lupus erythematosus. The underlying mechanism causing acceleration and exacerbation of lupus nephritis (LN) is largely unknown. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is capable of inducing an accelerated model of LN in NZB/W mice, featuring diffuse proliferation of glomerular resident cells. We hypothesized that mesangial cells (MCs) from LN subjects are more responsive to LPS than normal subjects. Cultured primary NZB/W and DBA/W (nonautoimmune disease-prone strain with MHC class II molecules identical to those of NZB/W) MCs were used. Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and osteopontin (OPN) expressions either in the baseline (normal culture) condition or in the presence of LPS were evaluated by real-time PCR, ELISA, or western blot analysis. NF-κB was detected by ELISA, electrophoresis mobility-shift assay, and immunofluorescence. First, either in the baseline condition or in the presence of LPS, NZB/W MCs produced significantly higher levels of MCP-1 and OPN than the DBA/W MC controls. Second, NZB/W MCs expressed significantly higher levels of Toll-like receptor 4, myeloid differentiation factor 88, and NF-κB than the DBA/W MC controls, both receiving exactly the same LPS treatment. In conclusion, NZB/W MCs are significantly more sensitive than their normal control DBA/W MCs in producing both MCP-1 and OPN. With LPS treatment, the significantly elevated levels of both chemokines produced by NZB/W MCs are more likely due to a significantly greater activation of the Toll-like receptor 4-myeloid differentiation factor 88-associated NF-κB pathway. The observed abnormal molecular events provide an intrarenal pathogenic pathway involved in an accelerated type of LN, which is potentially infection triggered
Mutation-Independent Allele-Specific Editing by CRISPR-Cas9, a Novel Approach to Treat Autosomal Dominant Disease
CRISPR-Cas9 provides a tool to treat autosomal dominant disease by non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) gene disruption of the mutant allele. In order to discriminate between wild-type and mutant alleles, Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9) must be able to detect a single nucleotide change. Allele-specific editing can be achieved by using either a guide-specific approach, in which the missense mutation is found within the guide sequence, or a protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM)-specific approach, in which the missense mutation generates a novel PAM. While both approaches have been shown to offer allele specificity in certain contexts, in cases where numerous missense mutations are associated with a particular disease, such as TGFBI (transforming growth factor β-induced) corneal dystrophies, it is neither possible nor realistic to target each mutation individually. In this study, we demonstrate allele-specific CRISPR gene editing independent of the disease-causing mutation that is capable of achieving complete allele discrimination, and we propose it as a targeting approach for autosomal dominant disease. Our approach utilizes natural variants in the target region that contain a PAM on one allele that lies in cis with the causative mutation, removing the constraints of a mutation-dependent approach. Our innovative patient-specific guide design approach takes into account the patient’s individual genetic make-up, allowing on- and off-target activity to be assessed in a personalized manner
Rhabdomyolysis and Acute Renal Failure After Fire Ant Bites
We describe a 59-year-old patient who developed acute renal failure because of rhabdomyolysis after extensive red fire ant bites. This case illustrates a serious systemic reaction that may occur from fire ant bites. Consistent with the clinical presentation in rhabdomyolysis associated with non-traumatic causes, hyperkalemia, hypophosphatemia, hypocalcemia, and high anion gap acidosis were not observed in this patient. While local allergic reactions to fire ant bites are described in the literature, serious systemic complications with rhabdomyolysis and renal failure have not been previously reported. It is our effort to alert the medical community of the possibility of such a complication that can occur in the victims of fire ant bites
- …