Semantic Segmentation Using Super Resolution Technique as Pre-Processing

Combining high-level and low-level visual tasks is a common technique in the field of computer vision. This work integrates the technique of image super resolution to semantic segmentation for document image binarization. It demonstrates that using image super-resolution as a preprocessing step can effectively enhance the results and performance of semantic segmentation

An Analysis System for Integrating High-Throughput Transcript Abundance Data with Metabolic Pathways in Green Algae

As the most important non-vascular plants, algae have many research applications, including high species diversity, biofuel sources, adsorption of heavy metals and, following processing, health supplements. With the increasing availability of next-generation sequencing (NGS) data for algae genomes and transcriptomes, an integrated resource for retrieving gene expression data and metabolic pathway is essential for functional analysis and systems biology in algae. However, gene expression profiles and biological pathways are displayed separately in current resources, and making it impossible to search current databases directly to identify the cellular response mechanisms. Therefore, this work develops a novel AlgaePath database to retrieve gene expression profiles efficiently under various conditions in numerous metabolic pathways. AlgaePath, a web-based database, integrates gene information, biological pathways, and next-generation sequencing (NGS) datasets in Chlamydomonasreinhardtii and Neodesmus sp. UTEX 2219-4. Users can identify gene expression profiles and pathway information by using five query pages (i.e. Gene Search, Pathway Search, Differentially Expressed Genes (DEGs) Search, Gene Group Analysis, and Co-Expression Analysis). The gene expression data of 45 and 4 samples can be obtained directly on pathway maps in C. reinhardtii and Neodesmus sp. UTEX 2219-4, respectively. Genes that are differentially expressed between two conditions can be identified in Folds Search. Furthermore, the Gene Group Analysis of AlgaePath includes pathway enrichment analysis, and can easily compare the gene expression profiles of functionally related genes in a map. Finally, Co-Expression Analysis provides co-expressed transcripts of a target gene. The analysis results provide a valuable reference for designing further experiments and elucidating critical mechanisms from high-throughput data. More than an effective interface to clarify the transcript response mechanisms in different metabolic pathways under various conditions, AlgaePath is also a data mining system to identify critical mechanisms based on high-throughput sequencing

CCDWT-GAN: Generative Adversarial Networks Based on Color Channel Using Discrete Wavelet Transform for Document Image Binarization

To efficiently extract the textual information from color degraded document images is an important research topic. Long-term imperfect preservation of ancient documents has led to various types of degradation such as page staining, paper yellowing, and ink bleeding; these degradations badly impact the image processing for information extraction. In this paper, we present CCDWT-GAN, a generative adversarial network (GAN) that utilizes the discrete wavelet transform (DWT) on RGB (red, green, blue) channel splited images. The proposed method comprises three stages: image preprocessing, image enhancement, and image binarization. This work conducts comparative experiments in the image preprocessing stage to determine the optimal selection of DWT with normalization. Additionally, we perform an ablation study on the results of the image enhancement stage and the image binarization stage to validate their positive effect on the model performance. This work compares the performance of the proposed method with other state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods on DIBCO and H-DIBCO ((Handwritten) Document Image Binarization Competition) datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that CCDWT-GAN achieves a top two performance on multiple benchmark datasets, and outperforms other SOTA methods

Green tea extract supplementation ameliorates CCl4-induced hepatic oxidative stress, fibrosis, and acute-phase protein expression in rat

Background/PurposeWe evaluated the long-term effects of green tea extract (GTE) supplementation on oxidative stress, biliary acute phase protein expression, and liver function in CCl4-induced chronic liver injury.MethodsWe evaluated the antioxidant activity of GTE in comparison with those of vitamin C, vitamin E, and β-carotene in vitro by using an ultrasensitive chemiluminescence analyzer. Chronic liver injury was induced by intraperitoneally administering carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) (1mL/kg body weight, twice weekly) to female Wistar rats for 8 weeks. The effects of low (4mg/kg body weight per day) and high (20mg/kg body weight per day) doses of intragastric GTE on CCl4-induced liver dysfunction and fibrosis were examined by measuring the bile and blood reactive oxygen species levels and biochemical parameters by using Western blot and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis techniques.ResultsGTE has greater scavenging activity against O2–, H2O2, and Hypochlorous acid (HOCl) in vitro than vitamin C, vitamin E, and β-carotene do. In vivo, CCl4 markedly increased bile and blood reactive oxygen species production, lipid accumulation, number of infiltrated leukocytes, fibrosis, hepatic hydroxyproline content, and plasma alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities, and reduced plasma albumin levels. Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that CCl4 increased the acute-phase expression of six biliary proteins and decreased hepatic B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2), catalase, and CuZn superoxide dismutase protein expression. GTE supplementation attenuated CCl4-enhanced oxidative stress, levels of biochemical parameters, pathology, and acute-phase protein secretion, and preserved antioxidant/antiapoptotic protein expression.ConclusionGTE supplementation attenuates CCl4-induced hepatic oxidative stress, fibrosis, acute phase protein excretion, and hepatic dysfunction via the antioxidant and antiapoptotic defense mechanisms

NEUROPROTECTIVE EFFECT OF TERMINALIA CHEBULA EXTRACTS AND ELLAGIC ACID IN PC12 CELLS

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent severe neurological disorders afflicting our aged population. The study was to determine neuroprotective effects of the Terminalia chebula extracts and ellagic acid by using beta-amyloid25-35 (Ab25-35)-induced cell cytotoxicity in undifferentiated rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cellular model. The methanolic and water extracts of T. chebula and ellagic acid exhibited the strongest neuroprotective activity against Ab25-35-induced undifferentiated PC12 cell deaths at 0.5–5.0 ug/ml. The ellagic acid also exhibited the partial neuroprotective activity against H2O2-induced undifferentiated PC12 cell deaths at 0.5–5.0 ug/ml. The methanolic and water extracts of T. chebula and ellagic acid protected undifferentiated PC12 cells from the damaging effects of Ab25-35 in several ways: (1) by securing cell viability; (2) by suppressing reactive oxygen species production; and (3) by eliminating calcium ion influx. The T. chebula extracts maybe represent a promising plant-source for medicine in the application of the treatment of AD. Further investigation of the ellagic acid is necessary to verify the neuroprotective efficacy and mechanisms in vivo

Graphene on Au-coated SiOx substrate: Its core-level photoelectron micro-spectroscopy study

The core-level electronic structures of the exfoliated graphene sheets on a Au-coated SiOx substrate have been studied by synchrotron radiation photoelectron spectroscopy (SR-PES) on a micron-scale. The graphene was firstly demonstrated its visibility on the Au-coated SiOx substrate by micro-optical characterization, and then conducted into SR-PES study. Because of the elimination of charging effect, precise C 1s core-level characterization clearly shows graphitic and contaminated carbon states of graphene. Different levels of Au-coating-induced p-type doping on single- and double-layer graphene sheets were also examined in the C 1s core-level shift. The Au-coated SiOx substrate can be treated as a simple but high-throughput platform for in situ studying graphene under further hybridization by PES

TONGUE DIAGNOSIS OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE FOR RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease with unknown etiology that causes the immune system to attack the joints (synoviums), causing chronic inflammation. According to the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), RA falls into the category of Impediment disease (「Bi」 syndrome), i.e., poor circulation of qi and blood (stasis). Tongue diagnosis is an important method of TCM to detect blood stasis. In this study, 74 RA patients, meeting the pre-set criteria, were recruited via rheumatology outpatient clinic and examined by experienced rheumatologist physicians. Two images-one of the tongue and the other, sublingual vessels-of the same patient were taken by a Canon digital camera in a darkroom with uniform lighting conditions. Relevant features of the tongue were extracted by utilizing image processing techniques. Every tongue was classified into corresponding patterns based on the features identified. The subjects included 62 females and 12 males with an average age of 49.86±13.81 years old, an average morbidity period of 4.56±3.92 years, an average rheumatoid factor(RF) of 225.3±373.8 IU/mL and an average erythrocyte sedimentation rate of (ESR) 40.9±31.9m/hr. According to our study, 86% of the patients with RA have tongues with sublingual vessels with a width of more than 2.7mm, a length of more than 3/5 from tongue tipto sublingual caruncle , or a count of sublingual vessels more than 2. Moreover, since RA index is highly correlated with blood stasis in TCM, a logistic regression is conducted to predict the probability of presence of RA using RF and ESR as explanatory variables. Also, the logistic regression analysis of RA with respect to the conventional tongue diagnosis criteria was performed. Based on the aforementioned studies, we concluded that tongue diagnosis is helpful in detecting blood stasis of RA

Effects of Extract from Solid-State Fermented Cordyceps sinensis on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Diabetes mellitus is the most common chronic disease in the world, and a wide range of drugs, including Chinese herbs, have been evaluated for the treatment of associated metabolic disorders. This study investigated the potential hypoglycemic and renoprotective effects of an extract from the solid-state fermented mycelium of Cordyceps sinensis (CS). We employed the KK/HIJ diabetic mouse model, in which the mice were provided with a high-fat diet for 8 weeks to induce hyperglycemia, followed by the administration of CS or rosiglitazone for 4 consecutive weeks. Several parameters were evaluated, including changes in body weight, plasma lipid profiles, oral glucose tolerance tests, insulin tolerance tests, and plasma insulin concentrations. Our results show that the CS extract significantly elevated HDL/LDL ratios at 4 weeks and decreased body weight gain at 8 weeks. Interestingly, CS treatment did not lead to obvious improvements in hyperglycemia or resistance to insulin, while in vitro MTT assays indicated that CS protects pancreatic beta cells against the toxic effects of STZ. CS also enhanced renal NKA activity and reduced the accumulation of mesangial matrix and collagen deposition. In conclusion, CS extract can potentially preserve β-cell function and offer renoprotection, which may afford a promising therapy for DM