Isolation of EpH4 mammary epithelial cell subpopulations which differ in their morphogenetic properties

Summary: EpH4 is a nontumorigenic cell line derived from spontaneously immortalized mouse mammary gland epithelial cells (Fialka et al., 1996). When grown in collagen gels, EpH4 cells give rise to different types of structures, e.g., solid cords or branching tubes. By removing and subsequently dissociating single three-dimensional colonies of defined morphology, we have isolated six clonal subpopulations of EpH4 cells which display distinct morphogenetic properties in collagen gel cultures. Thus, cells from the H1B clone form branching cords devoid of a central lumen, K3A3 cells from cords enclosing small multifocal lumina, and J3B1 cells form large cavitary structures containing a wide lumen. I3G2 cells form either cords or tubes, depending on the type of serum added to the culture medium. Finally, when grown in serum-free medium, Be1a cells form spherical cysts, whereas Be4a cells form long, extensively branched tubes. In additional assays of morphogenesis, i.e., cell sandwiching between two collagen gels or culture on a thick layer of Matrigel (a laminin-rich extracellular matrix), all clones form epithelial-cell-lined cavitary structures, except H1B cells which are unable to generate lumina under these conditions. The EpH4 sublines we have isolated provide an in vitro system for studying the mechanisms responsible for lumen formation and branching morphogenesis, as well as for identifying the factors which subvert these developmental processes during mammary carcinogenesi

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: mock galaxy catalogues for the low-redshift sample

We present one thousand mock galaxy catalogues for the analysis of the Low Redshift Sample (LOWZ, effective redshift z ~ 10.32) of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Releases 10 and 11. These mocks have been created following the PTHalos method of Manera13 et al. (2013) revised to include new developments. The main improvement is the introduction of a redshift dependence in the Halo Occupation Distribution in order to account for the change of the galaxy number density with redshift. These mock catalogues are used in the analyses of the LOWZ galaxy clustering by the BOSS collaboration.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Object-based Mapping of the Circumpolar Taiga-Tundra Ecotone with MODIS Tree Cover

The circumpolar taiga-tundra ecotone was delineated using an image segmentation based mapping approach with multi-annual MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF) tree cover data. Circumpolar tree canopy cover (TCC) throughout the ecotone was derived by averaging MODIS VCF data from 2000 - 2005 and adjusting the averaged values using linear equations relating MODIS TCC to Quickbird-derived tree cover estimates. The adjustment helped mitigate VCF's overestimation of tree cover in lightly forested regions. An image segmentation grouped pixels representing similar tree cover into polygonal features (objects) that form the map of the transition zone. Eachfeature represents an area much larger than the 500m MODIS pixel to characterize thepatterns of sparse forest patches on a regional scale. Comparisons of the adjusted average tree cover data were made with (1) two existing tree line definitions aggregated for each 1deg longitudinal interval in North America and Eurasia and (2) Landsat-derived Canadianproportion of forest cover for Canada. The adjusted TCC from MODIS VCF shows, on average, greater than 12% TCC for all but one regional zone at the intersection with independently delineated tree lines. Adjusted values track closely with Canadian proportion of forest cover data in areas of low tree cover. Those polygons near the boreal/tundra interface with either (1) mean adjusted TCC values between 5-20% , or (2) mean adjusted TCC values 5% were used to identify the ecotone

On the Usage of Linear Regression Models to Reconstruct Limb Kinematics from Low Frequency EEG Signals

Several works have reported on the reconstruction of 2D/3D limb kinematics from low-frequency EEG signals using linear regression models based on positive correlation values between the recorded and the reconstructed trajectories. This paper describes the mathematical properties of the linear model and the correlation evaluation metric that may lead to a misinterpretation of the results of this type of decoders. Firstly, the use of a linear regression model to adjust the two temporal signals (EEG and velocity profiles) implies that the relevant component of the signal used for decoding (EEG) has to be in the same frequency range as the signal to be decoded (velocity profiles). Secondly, the use of a correlation to evaluate the fitting of two trajectories could lead to overly-optimistic results as this metric is invariant to scale. Also, the correlation has a non-linear nature that leads to higher values for sinus/cosinus-like signals at low frequencies. Analysis of these properties on the reconstruction results was carried out through an experiment performed in line with previous studies, where healthy participants executed predefined reaching movements of the hand in 3D space. While the correlations of limb velocity profiles reconstructed from low-frequency EEG were comparable to studies in this domain, a systematic statistical analysis revealed that these results were not above the chance level. The empirical chance level was estimated using random assignments of recorded velocity profiles and EEG signals, as well as combinations of randomly generated synthetic EEG with recorded velocity profiles and recorded EEG with randomly generated synthetic velocity profiles. The analysis shows that the positive correlation results in this experiment cannot be used as an indicator of successful trajectory reconstruction based on a neural correlate. Several directions are herein discussed to address the misinterpretation of results as well as the implications on previous invasive and non-invasive works

Evolution of EEG motor rhythms after spinal cord injury: A longitudinal study

Spinal cord injury (SCI) does not only produce a lack of sensory and motor function caudal to the level of injury, but it also leads to a progressive brain reorganization. Chronic SCI patients attempting to move their affected limbs present a significant reduction of brain activation in the motor cortex, which has been linked to the deafferentation. The aim of this work is to study the evolution of the motor-related brain activity during the first months after SCI. Eighteen subacute SCI patients were recruited to participate in bi-weekly experimental sessions during at least two months. Their EEG was recorded to analyze the temporal evolution of the event-related desynchronization (ERD) over the motor cortex, both during motor attempt and motor imagery of their paralyzed hands. The results show that the a and ß ERD evolution after SCI is negatively correlated with the clinical progression of the patients during the first months after the injury. This work provides the first longitudinal study of the event-related desynchronization during the subacute phase of spinal cord injury. Furthermore, our findings reveal a strong association between the ERD changes and the clinical evolution of the patients. These results help to better understand the brain transformation after SCI, which is important to characterize the neuroplasticity mechanisms involved after this lesion and may lead to new strategies for rehabilitation and motor restoration of these patients

Moregrasp: Restoration of Upper Limb Function in Individuals with High Spinal Cord Injury by Multimodal Neuroprostheses for Interaction in Daily Activities

The aim of the MoreGrasp project is to develop a noninvasive, multimodal user interface including a brain-computer interface (BCI) for intuitive control of a grasp neuroprosthesis to support individuals with high spinal cord injury (SCI) in everyday activities. We describe the current state of the project, including the EEG system, preliminary results of natural movements decoding in people with SCI, the new electrode concept for the grasp neuroprosthesis, the shared control architecture behind the system and the implementation of a user-centered design

One year follow-up of a randomized trial with a dilemma-focused intervention for depression: Exploring an alternative to problem-oriented strategies

© 2018 Feixas et al.Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is aimed to counteract cognitions and behaviours that are considered as dysfunctional. The aim of the study is to test whether the inclusion of a non-counteractive approach (dilemma-focused intervention, DFI) in combination with CBT group therapy will yield better short- and long-term outcomes than an intervention conducted entirely using CBT.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

MODIS Tree Cover Validation for the Circumpolar Taiga-Tundra Transition Zone

A validation of the 2005 500m MODIS vegetation continuous fields (VCF) tree cover product in the circumpolar taiga-tundra ecotone was performed using high resolution Quickbird imagery. Assessing the VCF's performance near the northern limits of the boreal forest can help quantify the accuracy of the product within this vegetation transition area. The circumpolar region was divided into longitudinal zones and validation sites were selected in areas of varying tree cover where Quickbird imagery is available in Google Earth. Each site was linked to the corresponding VCF pixel and overlaid with a regular dot grid within the VCF pixel's boundary to estimate percent tree crown cover in the area. Percent tree crown cover was estimated using Quickbird imagery for 396 sites throughout the circumpolar region and related to the VCF's estimates of canopy cover for 2000-2005. Regression results of VCF inter-annual comparisons (2000-2005) and VCF-Quickbird image-interpreted estimates indicate that: (1) Pixel-level, inter-annual comparisons of VCF estimates of percent canopy cover were linearly related (mean R(sup 2) = 0.77) and exhibited an average root mean square error (RMSE) of 10.1 % and an average root mean square difference (RMSD) of 7.3%. (2) A comparison of image-interpreted percent tree crown cover estimates based on dot counts on Quickbird color images by two different interpreters were more variable (R(sup 2) = 0.73, RMSE = 14.8%, RMSD = 18.7%) than VCF inter-annual comparisons. (3) Across the circumpolar boreal region, 2005 VCF-Quickbird comparisons were linearly related, with an R(sup 2) = 0.57, a RMSE = 13.4% and a RMSD = 21.3%, with a tendency to over-estimate areas of low percent tree cover and anomalous VCF results in Scandinavia. The relationship of the VCF estimates and ground reference indicate to potential users that the VCF's tree cover values for individual pixels, particularly those below 20% tree cover, may not be precise enough to monitor 500m pixel-level tree cover in the taiga-tundra transition zone

One-shot action recognition in challenging therapy scenarios

One-shot action recognition aims to recognize new action categories from a single reference example, typically referred to as the anchor example. This work presents a novel approach for one-shot action recognition in the wild that computes motion representations robust to variable kinematic conditions. One-shot action recognition is then performed by evaluating anchor and target motion representations. We also develop a set of complementary steps that boost the action recognition performance in the most challenging scenarios. Our approach is evaluated on the public NTU-120 one-shot action recognition benchmark, outperforming previous action recognition models. Besides, we evaluate our framework on a real use-case of therapy with autistic people. These recordings are particularly challenging due to high-level artifacts from the patient motion. Our results provide not only quantitative but also online qualitative measures, essential for the patient evaluation and monitoring during the actual therapy. © 2021 IEEE