CGIntrinsics: Better Intrinsic Image Decomposition through Physically-Based Rendering

Intrinsic image decomposition is a challenging, long-standing computer vision problem for which ground truth data is very difficult to acquire. We explore the use of synthetic data for training CNN-based intrinsic image decomposition models, then applying these learned models to real-world images. To that end, we present \ICG, a new, large-scale dataset of physically-based rendered images of scenes with full ground truth decompositions. The rendering process we use is carefully designed to yield high-quality, realistic images, which we find to be crucial for this problem domain. We also propose a new end-to-end training method that learns better decompositions by leveraging \ICG, and optionally IIW and SAW, two recent datasets of sparse annotations on real-world images. Surprisingly, we find that a decomposition network trained solely on our synthetic data outperforms the state-of-the-art on both IIW and SAW, and performance improves even further when IIW and SAW data is added during training. Our work demonstrates the suprising effectiveness of carefully-rendered synthetic data for the intrinsic images task.Comment: Paper for 'CGIntrinsics: Better Intrinsic Image Decomposition through Physically-Based Rendering' published in ECCV, 201

Renoprotection by remote ischemic conditioning during elective coronary revascularization: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

BACKGROUND: Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) has been recognized an emerging non-invasive approach for preventing acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing either elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). On the other hand, accumulating evidence has indicated the involving role of pre-CABG contrast usage for coronary angiography in post-surgery AKI risk. Along with the shortening time delay of CABG after coronary angiography, and the prevalent hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR), the AKI prevention by RIC has faced challenges following coronary revascuralization. METHODS: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched from Pubmed, EMBase, and Cochrane library (until May 2016). The primary outcome was postoperative AKI. The second outcomes were included the requirement for renal replacement therapy (RRT), and in-hospital or 30-day mortality. RESULTS: Twenty eligible RCTs (CABG, 3357 patients; PCI, 1501 patients) were selected. RIC significantly halved the incidence of AKI following PCI when compared with controls [n=1501; odds ratio (OR)=0.51; 95% CI, 0.32 to 0.82; P=0.006; I(2)=29.6%]. However, RIC did not affect the incidence of AKI following CABG (n=1850; OR=0.94; 95% CI, 0.73 to 1.19; P=0.586; I(2)=12.4%). The requirement for RRT and in-hospital mortality was not affected by RIC in CABG (n=2049, OR=1.04, P=0.87; n=1920, OR=0.89, P=0.7; respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our meta-analysis suggests that RIC for preventing AKI following CABG has faced with challenges in terms of AKI, the requirement for RRT, and mortality. However, RIC shows a renoprotective benefit for PCI. Hence, our findings may infer the preserved renal effects of RIC in CABG with preconditioning before the coronary angiography, or in HCR

Double Field Theory Formulation of Heterotic Strings

We extend the recently constructed double field theory formulation of the low-energy theory of the closed bosonic string to the heterotic string. The action can be written in terms of a generalized metric that is a covariant tensor under O(D,D+n), where n denotes the number of gauge vectors, and n additional coordinates are introduced together with a covariant constraint that locally removes these new coordinates. For the abelian subsector, the action takes the same structural form as for the bosonic string, but based on the enlarged generalized metric, thereby featuring a global O(D,D+n) symmetry. After turning on non-abelian gauge couplings, this global symmetry is broken, but the action can still be written in a fully O(D,D+n) covariant fashion, in analogy to similar constructions in gauged supergravities.Comment: 28 pages, v2: minor changes, version published in JHE

Sevoflurane, Propofol and Carvedilol Block Myocardial Protection by Limb Remote Ischemic Preconditioning

The effects of remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) in cardiac surgery have been inconsistent. We investigated whether anesthesia or beta-blockers interfere with RIPC cardioprotection. Fifty patients undergoing cardiac surgery were randomized to receive limb RIPC (four cycles of 5-min of upper arm cuff inflation/deflation) in the awake state (no-anesthesia; n = 17), or under sevoflurane (n = 17) or propofol (n = 16) anesthesia. In a separate crossover study, 11 healthy volunteers received either carvedilol or no medication prior to RIPC. Plasma dialysates were obtained and perfused through an isolated male Sprague⁻Dawley rat heart subjected to 30-min ischemia/60-min reperfusion, following which myocardial infarct (MI) size was determined. In the cardiac surgery study, pre-RIPC MI sizes were similar among the groups (39.7 ± 4.5% no-anesthesia, 38.9 ± 5.3% sevoflurane, and 38.6 ± 3.6% propofol). However, post-RIPC MI size was reduced in the no-anesthesia group (27.5 ± 8.0%; p < 0.001), but not in the anesthesia groups (35.7 ± 6.9% sevoflurane and 35.8 ± 5.8% propofol). In the healthy volunteer study, there was a reduction in MI size with RIPC in the no-carvedilol group (41.7 ± 4.3% to 30.6 ± 8.5%; p < 0.0001), but not in the carvedilol group (41.0 ± 4.0% to 39.6 ± 5.6%; p = 0.452). We found that the cardioprotective effects of limb RIPC were abolished under propofol or sevoflurane anesthesia and in the presence of carvedilol therapy

Socially-mediated arousal and contagion within domestic chick broods

Emotional contagion – an underpinning valenced feature of empathy – is made up of simpler, potentially dissociable social processes which can include socially-mediated arousal and behavioural/physiological contagion. Previous studies of emotional contagion have often conflated these processes rather than examining their independent contribution to empathic response. We measured socially-mediated arousal and contagion in 9-week old domestic chicks (n = 19 broods), who were unrelated but raised together from hatching. Pairs of observer chicks were exposed to two conditions in a counterbalanced order: air puff to conspecifics (AP) (during which an air puff was applied to three conspecifics at 30 s intervals) and control with noise of air puff (C) (during which the air puff was directed away from the apparatus at 30 s intervals). Behaviour and surface eye temperature of subjects and observers were measured throughout a 10-min pre-treatment and 10-min treatment period. Subjects and observers responded to AP with increased freezing, and reduced preening and ground pecking. Subjects and observers also showed reduced surface eye temperature - indicative of stress-induced hyperthermia. Subject-Observer behaviour was highly correlated within broods during both C and AP conditions, but with higher overall synchrony during AP. We demonstrate the co-occurrence of socially-mediated behavioural and physiological arousal and contagion; component features of emotional contagion

Effects of delayed remote ischemic preconditioning on peri-operative myocardial injury in patients undergoing cardiac surgery - A randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) has two time windows for organ protection: acute and delayed. Previous studies have mainly focused on the acute time window to evaluate organ protection by RIPC. We evaluated myocardial protection by delayed RIPC in adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery. METHODS: A total of 160 adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass were randomized to receive either delayed RIPC (four cycles of 5 min of ischemia followed by 5 min of reperfusion by inflation to 200 mm Hg and deflation of a blood pressure cuff on the upper arm) or the control treatment 24–48 h before surgery. The primary endpoint was post-operative troponin I levels serially measured for 72 h. Secondary endpoints included post-operative serum creatinine levels, acute kidney injury, and composite complications. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in post-operative troponin I values. The incidence of acute kidney injury, defined by the Acute Kidney Injury Network staging system, was lower in the delayed RIPC group compared to the control group (30.0% vs. 47.5%; relative risk, 0.768; 95% confidence interval, 0.599–0.985; p = 0.023). Moreover, the occurrence of composite complications was lower in the delayed RIPC group compared with the control group (65.0% vs. 81.3%; relative risk, 0.536; 95% confidence interval, 0.311–0.924; p = 0.020). CONCLUSIONS: While RIPC did not provide cardioprotective effects in patients undergoing cardiac surgery, it appeared to reduce acute kidney injury, as well as the rate of composite complications

No Evidence for Emotional Empathy in Chickens Observing Familiar Adult Conspecifics

The capacity of animals to empathise is of high potential relevance to the welfare of group-housed domestic animals. Emotional empathy is a multifaceted and multilayered phenomenon which ranges from relatively simple processes such as emotional matching behaviour to more complex processes involving interaction between emotional and cognitive perspective taking systems. Our previous research has demonstrated that hens show clear behavioural and physiological responses to the mild distress of their chicks. To investigate whether this capacity exists outside the mother/offspring bond, we conducted a similar experiment in which domestic hens were exposed to the mild distress of unrelated, but familiar adult conspecifics. Each observer hen was exposed to two replicates of four conditions, in counterbalanced order; control (C); control with noise of air puff (CN); air puff to conspecific hen (APC); air puff to observer hen (APH). During each test, the observer hens' behaviour and physiology were measured throughout a 10 min pre-treatment and a 10 min treatment period. Despite showing signs of distress in response to an aversive stimulus directed at themselves (APH), and using methodology sufficiently sensitive to detect empathy-like responses previously, observer hens showed no behavioural or physiological responses to the mild distress of a familiar adult conspecific. The lack of behavioural and physiological response indicates that hens show no basis for emotional empathy in this context

Polymorphisms on SSC15q21-q26 Containing QTL for reproduction in Swine and its association with litter size

Several quantitative trait loci (QTL) for important reproductive traits (ovulation rate) have been identified on the porcine chromosome 15 (SSC15). To assist in the selection of positional candidate swine genes for these QTL on SSC15, twenty-one genes had already been assigned to SSC15 in a previous study in our lab, by using the radiation hybrid panel IMpRH. Further polymorphism studies were carried out on these positional candidate genes with four breeds of pigs (Duroc, Erhualian, Dahuabai and Landrace) harboring significant differences in reproduction traits. A total of nineteen polymorphisms were found in 21 genes. Among these, seven in six genes were used for association studies, whereby NRP2 polymorphism was found to be significantly (p < 0.05) associated with litter-size traits. NRP2 might be a candidate gene for pig-litter size based on its chromosome location (Du et al., 2006), significant association with litter-size traits and relationships with Sema and the VEGF super families

Experimental Infection of Mice with Avian Paramyxovirus Serotypes 1 to 9

The nine serotypes of avian paramyxoviruses (APMVs) are frequently isolated from domestic and wild birds worldwide. APMV-1, also called Newcastle disease virus, was shown to be attenuated in non-avian species and is being developed as a potential vector for human vaccines. In the present study, we extended this evaluation to the other eight serotypes by evaluating infection in BALB/c mice. Mice were inoculated intranasally with a prototype strain of each of the nine serotypes and monitored for clinical disease, gross pathology, histopathology, virus replication and viral antigen distribution, and seroconversion. On the basis of multiple criteria, each of the APMV serotypes except serotype 5 was found to replicate in mice. Five of the serotypes produced clinical disease and significant weight loss in the following order of severity: 1, 2>6, 9>7. However, disease was short-lived. The other serotypes produced no evident clinical disease. Replication of all of the APMVs except APMV-5 in the nasal turbinates and lungs was confirmed by the recovery of infectious virus and by substantial expression of viral antigen in the epithelial lining detected by immunohistochemistry. Trace levels of infectious APMV-4 and -9 were detected in the brain of some animals; otherwise, no virus was detected in the brain, small intestine, kidney, or spleen. Histologically, infection with the APMVs resulted in lung lesions consistent with broncho-interstitial pneumonia of varying severity that were completely resolved at 14 days post infection. All of the mice infected with the APMVs except APMV-5 produced serotype-specific HI serum antibodies, confirming a lack of replication of APMV-5. Taken together, these results demonstrate that all APMV serotypes except APMV-5 are capable of replicating in mice with minimal disease and pathology

Spatio-temporal Models of Lymphangiogenesis in Wound Healing

Several studies suggest that one possible cause of impaired wound healing is failed or insufficient lymphangiogenesis, that is the formation of new lymphatic capillaries. Although many mathematical models have been developed to describe the formation of blood capillaries (angiogenesis), very few have been proposed for the regeneration of the lymphatic network. Lymphangiogenesis is a markedly different process from angiogenesis, occurring at different times and in response to different chemical stimuli. Two main hypotheses have been proposed: 1) lymphatic capillaries sprout from existing interrupted ones at the edge of the wound in analogy to the blood angiogenesis case; 2) lymphatic endothelial cells first pool in the wound region following the lymph flow and then, once sufficiently populated, start to form a network. Here we present two PDE models describing lymphangiogenesis according to these two different hypotheses. Further, we include the effect of advection due to interstitial flow and lymph flow coming from open capillaries. The variables represent different cell densities and growth factor concentrations, and where possible the parameters are estimated from biological data. The models are then solved numerically and the results are compared with the available biological literature.Comment: 29 pages, 9 Figures, 6 Tables (39 figure files in total