DeepSaucer: Unified Environment for Verifying Deep Neural Networks

In recent years, a number of methods for verifying DNNs have been developed. Because the approaches of the methods differ and have their own limitations, we think that a number of verification methods should be applied to a developed DNN. To apply a number of methods to the DNN, it is necessary to translate either the implementation of the DNN or the verification method so that one runs in the same environment as the other. Since those translations are time-consuming, a utility tool, named DeepSaucer, which helps to retain and reuse implementations of DNNs, verification methods, and their environments, is proposed. In DeepSaucer, code snippets of loading DNNs, running verification methods, and creating their environments are retained and reused as software assets in order to reduce cost of verifying DNNs. The feasibility of DeepSaucer is confirmed by implementing it on the basis of Anaconda, which provides virtual environment for loading a DNN and running a verification method. In addition, the effectiveness of DeepSaucer is demonstrated by usecase examples

頚椎手術術中神経モニタリングにおける偽陽性減少を目的とした顔面運動誘発電位の応用

Objective: False-positive intraoperative muscle motor evoked potential (mMEP) monitoring results due to systemic effects of anesthetics and physiological changes continue to be a challenging issue. Although control MEPs recorded from the unaffected side are useful for identifying a true-positive signal, there are no muscles on the upper or lower extremities to induce control MEPs in cervical spine surgery. Therefore, this study was conducted to clarify if additional MEPs derived from facial muscles can feasibly serve as controls to reduce false-positive mMEP monitoring results in cervical spine surgery. Methods: Patients who underwent cervical spine surgery at the authors' institution who did not experience postoperative neurological deterioration were retrospectively studied. mMEPs were induced with transcranial supramaximal stimulation. Facial MEPs (fMEPs) were subsequently induced with suprathreshold stimulation. The mMEP and subsequently recorded fMEP waveforms were paired during each moment during surgery. The initial pair was regarded as the baseline. A significant decline in mMEP and fMEP amplitude was defined as > 80% and > 50% decline compared with baseline, respectively. All mMEP alarms were considered false positives. Based on 2 different alarm criteria, either mMEP alone or both mMEP and fMEP, rates of false-positive mMEP monitoring results were calculated. Results: Twenty-three patients were included in this study, corresponding to 102 pairs of mMEPs and fMEPs. This included 23 initial and 79 subsequent pairs. Based on the alarm criterion of mMEP alone, 17 false-positive results (21.5%) were observed. Based on the alarm criterion of both mMEP and fMEP, 5 false-positive results (6.3%) were observed, which was significantly different compared to mMEP alone (difference 15.2%; 95% CI 7.2%-23.1%; p < 0.01). Conclusions: fMEPs might be used as controls to reduce false-positive mMEP monitoring results in cervical spine surgery.博士（医学）・甲第746号・令和2年6月30日© Copyright 2019 American Association of Neurological SurgeonsThe definitive version is available at " http://dx.doi.org/10.3171/2019.9.SPINE19800

Identification of an antiviral component from the venom of the scorpion Liocheles australasiae using transcriptomic and mass spectrometric analyses

Scorpion venom contains a variety of biologically active peptides. Among them, neurotoxins are major components in the venom, but it also contains peptides that show antimicrobial activity. Previously, we identified three insecticidal peptides from the venom of the Liocheles australasiae scorpion, but activities and structures of other venom components remained unknown. In this study, we performed a transcriptome analysis of the venom gland of the scorpion L. australasiae to gain a comprehensive understanding of its venom components. The result shows that potassium channel toxin-like peptides were the most diverse, whereas only a limited number of sodium channel toxin-like peptides were observed. In addition to these neurotoxin-like peptides, many non-disulfide-bridged peptides were identified, suggesting that these components have some critical roles in the L. australasiae venom. In this study, we also isolated a component with antiviral activity against hepatitis C virus using a bioassay-guided fractionation approach. By integrating mass spectrometric and transcriptomic data, we successfully identified LaPLA₂-1 as an anti-HCV component. LaPLA₂-1 is a phospholipase A₂ having a heterodimeric structure that is N-glycosylated at the N-terminal region. Since the antiviral activity of LaPLA₂-1 was inhibited by a PLA₂ inhibitor, the enzymatic activity of LaPLA₂-1 is likely to be involved in its antiviral activity

Hair follicle epidermal stem cells define a niche for tactile sensation

The heterogeneity and compartmentalization of stem cells is a common principle in many epithelia, and is known to function in epithelial maintenance, but its other physiological roles remain elusive. Here we show transcriptional and anatomical contributions of compartmentalized epidermal stem cells in tactile sensory unit formation in the mouse hair follicle. Epidermal stem cells in the follicle upper-bulge, where mechanosensory lanceolate complexes innervate, express a unique set of extracellular matrix (ECM) and neurogenesis-related genes. These epidermal stem cells deposit an ECM protein called EGFL6 into the collar matrix, a novel ECM that tightly ensheathes lanceolate complexes. EGFL6 is required for the proper patterning, touch responses, and αv integrin-enrichment of lanceolate complexes. By maintaining a quiescent original epidermal stem cell niche, the old bulge, epidermal stem cells provide anatomically stable follicle–lanceolate complex interfaces, irrespective of the stage of follicle regeneration cycle. Thus, compartmentalized epidermal stem cells provide a niche linking the hair follicle and the nervous system throughout the hair cycle

Spectral evolution of GRB 060904A observed with Swift and Suzaku -- Possibility of Inefficient Electron Acceleration

We observed an X-ray afterglow of GRB 060904A with the Swift and Suzaku satellites. We found rapid spectral softening during both the prompt tail phase and the decline phase of an X-ray flare in the BAT and XRT data. The observed spectra were fit by power-law photon indices which rapidly changed from $\Gamma = 1.51^{+0.04}_{-0.03}$ to $\Gamma = 5.30^{+0.69}_{-0.59}$ within a few hundred seconds in the prompt tail. This is one of the steepest X-ray spectra ever observed, making it quite difficult to explain by simple electron acceleration and synchrotron radiation. Then, we applied an alternative spectral fitting using a broken power-law with exponential cutoff (BPEC) model. It is valid to consider the situation that the cutoff energy is equivalent to the synchrotron frequency of the maximum energy electrons in their energy distribution. Since the spectral cutoff appears in the soft X-ray band, we conclude the electron acceleration has been inefficient in the internal shocks of GRB 060904A. These cutoff spectra suddenly disappeared at the transition time from the prompt tail phase to the shallow decay one. After that, typical afterglow spectra with the photon indices of 2.0 are continuously and preciously monitored by both XRT and Suzaku/XIS up to 1 day since the burst trigger time. We could successfully trace the temporal history of two characteristic break energies (peak energy and cutoff energy) and they show the time dependence of $\propto t^{-3} \sim t^{-4}$ while the following afterglow spectra are quite stable. This fact indicates that the emitting material of prompt tail is due to completely different dynamics from the shallow decay component. Therefore we conclude the emission sites of two distinct phenomena obviously differ from each other.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Suzaku 2nd Special Issue