ExWarp: Extrapolation and Warping-based Temporal Supersampling for High-frequency Displays

High-frequency displays are gaining immense popularity because of their increasing use in video games and virtual reality applications. However, the issue is that the underlying GPUs cannot continuously generate frames at this high rate -- this results in a less smooth and responsive experience. Furthermore, if the frame rate is not synchronized with the refresh rate, the user may experience screen tearing and stuttering. Previous works propose increasing the frame rate to provide a smooth experience on modern displays by predicting new frames based on past or future frames. Interpolation and extrapolation are two widely used algorithms that predict new frames. Interpolation requires waiting for the future frame to make a prediction, which adds additional latency. On the other hand, extrapolation provides a better quality of experience because it relies solely on past frames -- it does not incur any additional latency. The simplest method to extrapolate a frame is to warp the previous frame using motion vectors; however, the warped frame may contain improperly rendered visual artifacts due to dynamic objects -- this makes it very challenging to design such a scheme. Past work has used DNNs to get good accuracy, however, these approaches are slow. This paper proposes Exwarp -- an approach based on reinforcement learning (RL) to intelligently choose between the slower DNN-based extrapolation and faster warping-based methods to increase the frame rate by 4x with an almost negligible reduction in the perceived image quality

Assessment of total phenolic content and antioxidant potentiality of selected Indian folk medicinal plants by spectrophotometric method

Natural antioxidant capacity of five important folk medicinal plants measured in vitro. Total phenolic content (TPC), flavonoid content (FC) and free radical scavenging capacity of ethanolic, methanolic and aqueous leaf extracts of Lippia alba (LA), Annona squamosa (AS), Hyptis suaveolens (HS), Commiphora wightii (CW) and Milletia pinnata (MP) was assessed using spectrophotometric method. Folin ciocalteu and aluminium chloride method employed to optimise TPC and FC. Free radical scavenging potentiality of leaf extracts was assessed using Ferrous ion chelation (FIC), 2, 2'-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) scavenging, Hydroxyl (OH•) radical scavenging (HRS) and Superoxide (O- 2) radical scavenging (SRS) methods. Results revealed that the TPC (96.22±5.85 to 519.23±34.90 ?g GAE/gm dry weight) were found significant in aqueous extracts from all the plants except AS (p<0.05). For FC (?g QCE/gm dry weight), ethanol was found optimum for LA (463.94±6.49), CW (289.99±2.70) and MP (347.47±4.50) whereas, aqueous was found more appropriate for rest two plants were found significant instead of ethanol and methanol (all p<0.05). The lowest IC50 (?g/ml) were recorded from A. squamosa (27.72±8.95), H. suaveolens (27.78±0.88), C. wightii (27.18±0.16) and M. pinnata (27.30±0.03). All plants have reflected a high antioxidant capacity; however, the highest antioxidant activity was reported from ethanolic extract of H. suaveolens followed by L. alba, A. squamosa, C. wightii and M. pinnata. Hence, these studies show that all folk medicinal plants contain potential antioxidant bioactive compounds

KIRGANELIA RETICULATA (POIR) BAILL.-A REVIEW ON ITS BOTANY, ETHNOBOTANY, PHYTOCHEMISTRY AND PHARMACOLOGY

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Kirganelia reticulata (Poir.) Baill. is known for its importance in various traditional medicine around the world and are proved pharmacologically as an antiviral against Hepatitis B, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic and antioxidant. In Ayurvedic system of Indian medicine recognized its activity against jaundice, diuretic, fever, liver disorder, in bleeding gums, small pox, syphilis, etc. Aim of the review: The review summarizes the up-to-date and comprehensive information concerning the botany, traditional use, phytochemistry and pharmacology of important drug. Kirganelia reticulata and discusses the possible future scope for future research. Material and methods: In present review covers a literature survey across from 1932 to 2012. The some information collected from published literature on species of Kirganelia reticulata (Poir.) Baill. (=Syn. Phyllanthus reticulatus Poir.) and traditional ayurvedic texts. Results: Phytochemical studies have shown the presence of many valuable compounds such as lignans, flavonoids, steroids, coumerins, triterpenes, phenols, flavonones, alkaloids are common compounds in test species. The extract and the compounds isolated from Kirganelia reticulata show a wide spectrum of Biological activities including antidiabetic, antibacterial, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antiplasmodial, anticiceptive, analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Conclusion: The present review summarizes information concerning the morphology, ecology, ethanopharmacologically, phytochemistry, and traditional diseases and applications of K. reticulata. This review target at gathering the research work undertaken till date on this plant in order to provide sufficient baseline information for future works and commercial exploitation

Spatial proteomics revealed a CX3CL1-dependent crosstalk between the urothelium and relocated macrophages through IL-6 during an acute bacterial infection in the urinary bladder

The urothelium of the urinary bladder represents the first line of defense. However, uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC) damage the urothelium and cause acute bacterial infection. Here, we demonstrate the crosstalk between macrophages and the urothelium stimulating macrophage migration into the urothelium. Using spatial proteomics by MALDI-MSI and LC-MS/MS, a novel algorithm revealed the spatial activation and migration of macrophages. Analysis of the spatial proteome unravelled the coexpression of Myo9b and F4/80 in the infected urothelium, indicating that macrophages have entered the urothelium upon infection. Immunofluorescence microscopy additionally indicated that intraurothelial macrophages phagocytosed UPEC and eliminated neutrophils. Further analysis of the spatial proteome by MALDI-MSI showed strong expression of IL-6 in the urothelium and local inhibition of this molecule reduced macrophage migration into the urothelium and aggravated the infection. After IL-6 inhibition, the expression of matrix metalloproteinases and chemokines, such as CX3CL1 was reduced in the urothelium. Accordingly, macrophage migration into the urothelium was diminished in the absence of CX3CL1 signaling in Cx3cr1gfp/gfp mice. Conclusively, this study describes the crosstalk between the infected urothelium and macrophages through IL-6-induced CX3CL1 expression. Such crosstalk facilitates the relocation of macrophages into the urothelium and reduces bacterial burden in the urinary bladder. © 2020, The Author(s)

Local proliferation of Ly6C+ monocytes in inflamed tissues and during bacterial infections

Blood monocytes are present throughout the body. These cells mediate host antimicrobial defenses and are implicated in almost every inflammatory process. It is accepted that monocytes are non-proliferating myeloid cells and their abundance in peripheral tissues depends on the recruitment from the circulation. However, there is emerging evidence that macrophages can be rescued from cell cycle arrest and actively proliferate during infections to increase population density. These findings may contribute to a novel concept that monocytes are not terminally differentiated cells without the capacity to locally proliferate. However, the proliferation of blood monocytes has not been studied so far and the contribution of recruitment versus local proliferation for the presence of Ly6C+ monocytes in inflamed tissues also needs to be defined.. Furthermore, the function of proliferative monocytes during infection and inflammation is unknown. IL-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine that is known to regulate inflammatory processes and play an essential role during bacterial infections. Role of IL-6 in regulation of monocyte accumulation during bacterial infections is also unknown. This thesis demonstrates the proliferative capacity of recruited Ly6C+ monocytes in a murine model of urinary tract infection and in LPS-induced peritonitis. IL-6 trans-signaling was identified as the key pathway that regulates the proliferation of Ly6C+ monocytes in both inflammatory models. Non-proliferating monocytes phagocytized matured neutrophils, whereas proliferating monocytes critically contribute to the defense against infection. These data reveal the process of monocyte proliferation during bacteria infected tissues and identify IL-6 as the key molecule that regulates this proliferation.Monozyten vermitteln antimikrobielle Immunantworten und regulieren inflammatorische Prozesse. Es wird angenommen, dass diese Zellen nicht-proliferierende myeloide Zellen sind, dessen Vorkommen im peripherem Gewebe von der Rekrutierung aus dem Blutkreislauf abhängig ist. Weiterhin differenzieren Monozyten nach dem Eintritt in die Gewebe in Makrophagen und es gibt experimentelle Hinweise, dass Makrophagen während einer Infektion proliferieren können, um so ihre Population zu vergrößern. Diese Erkenntnisse stellen das Dogma in Frage, dass Makrophagen terminal differenzierte Zellen sind. Es ist allerdings unbekannt, ob auch Monozyten nach Gewebeeintritt proliferieren können. Diese Proliferation könnte die Menge der Monozyten erhöhen, sodass eine verringerte Rekrutierung von Monozyten notwendig ist. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird gezeigt, dass rekrutierte Ly6C+ Monozyten im Mausmodell der Blaseninfektion und in der LPS-induzierten Peritonitis proliferative Fähigkeiten besitzen und die proliferierenden Monozyten maßgeblich an der Infektionsabwehr beteiligt sind. Im Gegensatz dazu waren nicht–proliferierende Monozyten in der Lage neutrophile Granulozyten zu phagozytieren, um die Entzündungsreaktion zu verringern. Zuletzt konnte experimentell gezeigt werden, dass das pleiotrope Molekül IL-6 die Proliferation von Ly6C+ Monozyten induziert, welches die bedeutende Rolle dieses Moleküls und der Akkumulation von Monozyten in inflammatorischen Prozessen erklären könnte. Diese Daten zeigen die proliferativen Fähigkeiten von Monozyten während der Blaseninfektion und identifizieren IL-6 als das Schlüsselmolekül, welches ein wichtiger Regulator in diesem Prozess darstellt

Endoplasmic reticulum targeting tumour selective photocytotoxic oxovanadium(IV) complexes having vitamin-B6 and acridinyl moieties

Oxovanadium(IV) complexes of vitamin-B6 Schiff base, viz., VO(HL1/L-2/L-3)(B)] Cl (1-4), where B is 2,2'-bipyridine (bpy in 1 and 2), 11-(9-acridinyl)dipyrido3,2-a:2',3'-c]phenazine (acdppz in 3 and 4), H2L1 center dot HCl is 3-hydroxy-5-(hydroxymethyl)-4-(((2-hydroxyphenyl)imino)methyl)-2-methylp yridin-1-ium chloride (in 1 and 4), HL2 is 2-(((2-(1H-imidazol-4-yl)ethyl) imino)methyl) phenol (in 2) and HL3 is 4-(((2-(1H-imidazol-4- yl)ethyl)imino)methyl)-5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-methylpyridin-3-ol (in 3) were synthesized, characterized and their cellular uptake, photo-activated cytotoxicity and intracellular localization were studied. Complexes 1a, as the perchlorate salt of 1, and 2a, as the hexafluorophosphate salt of 2, were structurally characterized. Vitamin-B6 transporting membrane carrier (VTC) mediated entry into tumour cells in preference to the normal ones seems to be responsible for the higher cellular uptake of the complexes into HeLa and MCF-7 cells over MCF-10A cells. Complexes 3 and 4 having acdppz as the photosensitizer exhibit remarkable photocytotoxicity in these cancer cells giving IC50 of < 0.9 mu M. The complexes remain non-toxic in the dark. The complexes show photo-induced apoptotic cell death via singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) generation. Fluorescence microscopy reveals specific localization of complex 4 to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and generation of O-1(2) possibly leads to apoptotic cell death by triggering ER stress response (ERSR)

SmrtSwarm: A Novel Swarming Model for Real-World Environments

Drone swarms have gained a lot of popularity in recent times because, as a group, drones can perform highly intelligent tasks. Drone swarms are strongly inspired by the flocking behavior of birds, insects, and schools of fish, where all the members work in a coordinated manner to achieve a common goal. Since each drone is an independent entity, automating the control of a swarm is difficult. Previous works propose various swarming models with either centralized or distributed control. With distributed control, each drone makes its own decisions based on a small set of rules to accomplish swarm behavior, whereas in centralized control, one drone acts as the leader, who knows the final destination and the path to follow; it specifies the trajectories and velocities for the rest of the drones. Almost all the work in the area of swarming models follows Reynolds’ model, which has three basic rules. For GPS-aided settings, state-of-the-art proposals are not mature enough to handle complex environments with obstacles where primarily local decisions are taken. We propose a new set of rules and a game-theoretic method to set the values of the hyperparameters to design robust swarming algorithms for such scenarios. Similarly, the area of realistic swarming in GPS-denied environments is very sparse, and no work simultaneously handles obstacles and ensures that the drones stay in a confined zone and move along with the swarm. Our proposed solution (Formula presented.) solves all of these problems. It is the first comprehensive model that enables swarming in all kinds of decentralized environments regardless of GPS signal availability and obstacles. We achieve this by using a stereo camera and a novel algorithm that quickly identifies drones in depth maps and infers their velocities and identities with reference to itself. We implement our algorithms on the Unity gaming engine and study them using exhaustive simulations. We simulate 15-node swarms and observe cohesive swarming behavior without seeing any collisions or drones drifting apart. We also implement our algorithms on a Beaglebone Black board and show that even in a GPS-denied setting, we can sustain a frame rate of 75 FPS, much more than what is required in practical settings