An EEG-Based Multi-Modal Emotion Database With Both Posed And Authentic Facial Actions For Emotion Analysis

Emotion is an experience associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity along with different physiological, behavioral and cognitive changes. One behavioral change is facial expression, which has been studied extensively over the past few decades. Facial behavior varies with a person\u27s emotion according to differences in terms of culture, personality, age, context, and environment. In recent years, physiological activities have been used to study emotional responses. A typical signal is the electroencephalogram (EEG), which measures brain activity. Most of existing EEG-based emotion analysis has overlooked the role of facial expression changes. There exits little research on the relationship between facial behavior and brain signals due to the lack of dataset measuring both EEG and facial action signals simultaneously. To address this problem, we propose to develop a new database by collecting facial expressions, action units, and EEGs simultaneously. We recorded the EEGs and face videos of both posed facial actions and spontaneous expressions from 29 participants with different ages, genders, ethnic backgrounds. Differing from existing approaches, we designed a protocol to capture the EEG signals by evoking participants\u27 individual action units explicitly. We also investigated the relation between the EEG signals and facial action units. As a baseline, the database has been evaluated through the experiments on both posed and spontaneous emotion recognition with images alone, EEG alone, and EEG fused with images, respectively. The database will be released to the research community to advance the state of the art for automatic emotion recognition

Detecting Thalamic Abnormalities in Autism Using Cylinder Conformal Mapping

Abstract. A number of studies have documented that autism has a neurobiological basis, but the anatomical extent of these neurobiological abnormalities is largely unknown. In this paper, we applied advanced computational techniques to extract 3D surface models of the thalamus and subsequently analyze highly localized shape variations in a homogeneous group of autism children. In particular, a new conformal parameterization for high genus surfaces is applied in our shape analysis work, which maps the surfaces onto a cylinder domain. Surface matching among different individual meshes is achieved by re-triangulating each mesh according to the template. Children with autism and their controls are compared, and statistical significant abnormalities in thalamus of autism are detected

Synthesis and biological evaluation of novel folic acid receptor-targeted, β-cyclodextrin-based drug complexes for cancer treatment

Drug targeting is an active area of research and nano-scaled drug delivery systems hold tremendous potential for the treatment of neoplasms. In this study, a novel cyclodextrin (CD)-based nanoparticle drug delivery system has been assembled and characterized for the therapy of folate receptor-positive [FR(+)] cancer. Water-soluble folic acid (FA)-conjugated CD carriers (FACDs) were successfully synthesized and their structures were confirmed by 1D/2D nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (MALDI-TOF-MS), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and circular dichroism. Drug complexes of adamatane (Ada) and cytotoxic doxorubicin (Dox) with FACD were readily obtained by mixed solvent precipitation. The average size of FACD-Ada-Dox was 1.5-2.5 nm. The host-guest association constant Ka was 1,639 M-1 as determined by induced circular dichroism and the hydrophilicity of the FACDs was greatly enhanced compared to unmodified CD. Cellular uptake and FR binding competitive experiments demonstrated an efficient and preferentially targeted delivery of Dox into FR-positive tumor cells and a sustained drug release profile was seen in vitro. The delivery of Dox into FR(+) cancer cells via endocytosis was observed by confocal microscopy and drug uptake of the targeted nanoparticles was 8-fold greater than that of non-targeted drug complexes. Our docking results suggest that FA, FACD and FACD-Ada-Dox could bind human hedgehog interacting protein that contains a FR domain. Mouse cardiomyocytes as well as fibroblast treated with FACD-Ada-Dox had significantly lower levels of reactive oxygen species, with increased content of glutathione and glutathione peroxidase activity, indicating a reduced potential for Dox-induced cardiotoxicity. These results indicate that the targeted drug complex possesses high drug association and sustained drug release properties with good biocompatibility and physiological stability. The novel FA-conjugated β-CD based drug complex might be promising as an anti-tumor treatment for FR(+) cancer

An exploration of social cognitive consequences of challenging and supportive voices

By drawing from cue consensus theory and status characteristic theory, we argue that the consensus between newcomers’ voices (i.e., challenging voice and supportive voice) and organizational cultures (i.e., individualistic organizational culture and collectivistic organizational culture) leads to distinct observers’ social cognition of status characteristics (i.e., warmth or competence). Through two studies (i.e., a three-wave field survey and an experiment), we found that an individualistic organizational culture moderated the relationship between challenging voice and perceived competence and that voice constructiveness mediated this moderated relationship. That is, newcomers’ challenging voice is more positively related to perceived competence when the level of individualistic organizational culture is higher. Additionally, a collectivistic organizational culture moderates the relationship between supportive voice and perceived warmth, and prosocial motivation mediates this moderated relationship. That is, newcomers’ supportive voice is more positively related to perceived warmth when the level of collectivistic organizational culture is higher. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are also discussed

A new contribution to the taxonomy and molecular phylogeny of three, well-known freshwater species of the ciliate genus Spirostomum (Protozoa: Ciliophora: Heterotrichea)

Members of the heterotrich genus Spirostomum are commonly found in freshwater or low salinity biotopes. In the present study, three species (S. minus, S. subtilis and S. teres) collected from freshwater habitats in Qingdao, China, are investigated using morphological and molecular methods. Detailed morphometric data are documented and improved diagnosis are supplied based on a combination of previous and present studies. In addition, small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) sequences are obtained from the clonal cultures. Phylogenetic analyses show that all three species are placed in the Spirostomum clade. However, isolates of the morphospecies S. minus are divided into two paraphyletic clades, while 'populations' of the nominal species, S. teres, are placed in at least four separate groups in the tree. After comparing morphological and molecular differences in closely related forms available, we hypothesized that S. minus and S. teres might represent species complexes. A key to the identification of the ten valid species of Spirostomum is also supplied

Potential Role of Hyperglycemia in Fetoplacental Endothelial Dysfunction in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with structural and functional alterations in various tissues including endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to explore the effects of hyperglycemia on fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2)- and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-stimulated placental angiogenesis and the underlying molecular signaling mechanisms. Methods: The density of fetal placental capillaries was examined using immunohistochemistry. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) derived from GDM (dHUVECs) and normal healthy patients (nHUVECs) were used as cell models in this study. Cell proliferation, migration and tube formation were measured with an MTS assay, a transwell system and a matrigel assay, respectively. The activation of ERK1/2 was analyzed with Western blot. The specific inhibitor of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) PD98059 was used to elucidate the involved signaling pathway. Results: GDM did not alter the capillary density of the fetus-placenta. Both the GDM and hyperglycemic conditions inhibited the proliferation of the FGF2- but not the VEGF-stimulated HUVECs and the basal migratory capacity. Hyperglycemic condition significantly inhibited tube formation and ex vivo angiogenesis. Moreover, hyperglycemia inhibited the FGF2- but not the VEGF-induced activation of ERK1/2. PD98059 significantly inhibited the FGF2-activated ERK1/2 phosphorylation and the FGF2-stimulated cell proliferation in HUVECs. Conclusion: Both GDM and hyperglycemia may impair placental angiogenesis by reducing HUVEC proliferation, migration and tube formation. Hyperglycemia-inhibited cell proliferation stimulated by FGF2 probably contributed to the suppression of the MEK1/2/ERK1/2 pathways in the HUVECs

VSP-17, a New PPARγ Agonist, Suppresses the Metastasis of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer via Upregulating the Expression of E-Cadherin

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive subtype of breast cancer, shows higher metastases and relapse rates than other subtypes. The metastasis of TNBC is the main reason for the death of TNBC patients. Increasing evidence has shown that inhibiting the metastasis of TNBC is a good method for TNBC treatment. Here, VSP-17 was designed and synthesized as an agonist of PPARγ, evidenced by upregulating the expression of CD36 and increasing the activity of PPARγ reporter gene. VSP-17 obviously inhibited the migration and invasion process of MDA-MB-231 cells but showed little effect on the viability of MDA-MB-231 cells. Notably, VSP-17 could selectively promote the expression of E-cadherin without affecting the expression of BRMS1, CXCL12, MMP9, Orai1, Stim1, TGF-β, and VEGF. In addition, VSP-17 significantly suppressed the metastasis of liver and promoted the expression of E-cadherin in MDA-MB-231 xenograft model. In conclusion, VSP-17 inhibited the metastasis process of TNBC via upregulating the expression of E-cadherin

Quantitative proteomic analysis of serum from pregnant women carrying a fetus with conotruncal heart defect using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) labeling.

To identify differentially expressed proteins from serum of pregnant women carrying a conotruncal heart defects (CTD) fetus, using proteomic analysis.The study was conducted using a nested case-control design. The 5473 maternal serum samples were collected at 14-18 weeks of gestation. The serum from 9 pregnant women carrying a CTD fetus, 10 with another CHD (ACHD) fetus, and 11 with a normal fetus were selected from the above samples, and analyzed by using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) coupled with two-dimensional liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(2D LC-MS/MS). The differentially expressed proteins identified by iTRAQ were further validated with Western blot.A total of 105 unique proteins present in the three groups were identified, and relative expression data were obtained for 92 of them with high confidence by employing the iTRAQ-based experiments. The downregulation of gelsolin in maternal serum of fetus with CTD was further verified by Western blot.The identification of differentially expressed protein gelsolin in the serum of the pregnant women carrying a CTD fetus by using proteomic technology may be able to serve as a foundation to further explore the biomarker for detection of CTD fetus from the maternal serum