GIFT-Grab: Real-time C++ and Python multi-channel video capture, processing and encoding API

GIFT-Grab is an open-source API for acquiring, processing and encoding video streams in real time. GIFT-Grab supports video acquisition using various frame-grabber hardware as well as from standard-compliant network streams and video files. The current GIFT-Grab release allows for multi-channel video acquisition and encoding at the maximum frame rate of supported hardware – 60 frames per second (fps). GIFT-Grab builds on well-established highly configurable multimedia libraries including FFmpeg and OpenCV. GIFT-Grab exposes a simplified high-level API, aimed at facilitating integration into client applications with minimal coding effort. The core implementation of GIFT-Grab is in C++11. GIFT-Grab also features a Python API compatible with the widely used scientific computing packages NumPy and SciPy. GIFT-Grab was developed for capturing multiple simultaneous intra-operative video streams from medical imaging devices. Yet due to the ubiquity of video processing in research, GIFT-Grab can be used in many other areas. GIFT-Grab is hosted and managed on the software repository of the Centre for Medical Image Computing (CMIC) at University College London, and is also mirrored on GitHub. In addition it is available for installation from the Python Package Index (PyPI) via the pip installation tool

A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Small Animals Phobia Using Virtual Reality as a Stimulus

[EN] Background: To date, still images or videos of real animals have been used in functional magnetic resonance imaging protocols to evaluate the brain activations associated with small animals phobia. Objective: The objective of our study was to evaluate the brain activations associated with small animals phobia through the use of virtual environments. This context will have the added benefit of allowing the subject to move and interact with the environment, giving the subject the illusion of being there. Methods: We have analyzed the brain activation in a group of phobic people while they navigated in a virtual environment that included the small animals that were the object of their phobia. Results: We have found brain activation mainly in the left occipital inferior lobe (P<.05 corrected, cluster size=36), related to the enhanced visual attention to the phobic stimuli; and in the superior frontal gyrus (P<.005 uncorrected, cluster size=13), which is an area that has been previously related to the feeling of self-awareness. Conclusions: In our opinion, these results demonstrate that virtual stimulus can enhance brain activations consistent with previous studies with still images, but in an environment closer to the real situation the subject would face in their daily lives.This study was funded by Vicerrectorado de Investigación de la Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain, PAID-06-2011, RN 1984; by the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia Spain, Project Game Teen (TIN2010-20187); and partially by projects Consolider-C (SEJ2006-14301/PSIC), “CIBER of Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition, an initiative of ISCIII”, the Excellence Research Program PROMETEO (Generalitat Valenciana. Conselleria de Educación, 2008-157), and the Consolider INGENIO program (CSD2007-00012). Generalitat Valenciana, under a VALi+d Grant, supported the work of MC.Clemente Bellido, M.; Rey Solaz, B.; Rodríguez Pujadas, A.; Breton Lopez, J.; Barros Loscertales, A.; Baños, RM.; Botella, C.... (2014). A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Assessment of Small Animals Phobia Using Virtual Reality as a Stimulus. JMIR Serious Games. 2(1)(6):1-12. https://doi.org/10.2196/games.2836S1122(1)

Adult Neurogenesis: Ultrastructure of a Neurogenic Niche and Neurovascular Relationships

The first-generation precursors producing adult-born neurons in the crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) brain reside in a specialized niche located on the ventral surface of the brain. In the present work, we have explored the organization and ultrastructure of this neurogenic niche, using light-level, confocal and electron microscopic approaches. Our goals were to define characteristics of the niche microenvironment, examine the morphological relationships between the niche and the vasculature and observe specializations at the boundary between the vascular cavity located centrally in the niche. Our results show that the niche is almost fully encapsulated by blood vessels, and that cells in the vasculature come into contact with the niche. This analysis also characterizes the ultrastructure of the cell types in the niche. The Type I niche cells are by far the most numerous, and are the only cell type present superficially in the most ventral cell layers of the niche. More dorsally, Type I cells are intermingled with Types II, III and IV cells, which are observed far less frequently. Type I cells have microvilli on their apical cell surfaces facing the vascular cavity, as well as junctional complexes between adjacent cells, suggesting a role in regulating transport from the blood into the niche cells. These studies demonstrate a close relationship between the neurogenic niche and vascular system in P. clarkii. Furthermore, the specializations of niche cells contacting the vascular cavity are also typical of the interface between the blood/cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-brain barriers of vertebrates, including cells of the subventricular zone (SVZ) producing new olfactory interneurons in mammals. These data indicate that tissues involved in producing adult-born neurons in the crayfish brain use strategies that may reflect fundamental mechanisms preserved in an evolutionarily broad range of species, as proposed previously. The studies described here extend our understanding of neurovascular relationships in the brain of P. clarkii by characterizing the organization and ultrastructure of the neurogenic niche and associated vascular tissues