ProsocialLearn: D2.5 evaluation strategy and protocols

This document describes the evaluation strategy for the assessment of game effectiveness, market value impact and ethics procedure to drive detailed planning of technical validation, short and longitudinal studies and market viability tests

Somatostatin analogues as therapeutics in retinal disease

Despite the rapid development of new pharmacological and surgical modalities, the treatment of retinal disease all too often results in poor final visual acuity. The primary pathologic mechanism underlying suboptimal visual acuity following retinal disease is cell death. It is induced by a variety of stimuli including ischemia, inflammation, and oxidative stress. New neuroprotective strategies have recently being examined for the prevention of retinal cell death, yet there is still a need for pharmacological agents that are efficacious and lack adverse effects. These could possibly be employed alone or in combination with disease-specific treatments. The neuropeptide somatostatin and its sst(2) receptor selective analogues have been shown to inhibit the ischemia-induced neovascularization in models of retinal ischemia, and to protect from ischemia-induced cell death. The aim of this review is threefold: a) to address the functional role of somatostatin and its receptors in retinal circuitry, b) to present recent evidence supporting the neuroprotective role of somatostatin in experimental models of retinal disease and c) to present the clinical studies that have been performed to date and support the use of somatostatin and its analogues as therapeutics in ophthalmology. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

GABA antagonists reverse the somatostatin dependent attenuation of rat locomotor activity

Somatostatin infusion in rat ventral pallidum (VP) led to the attenuation of locomotor activity (Marazioti, A., Kastellakis, A., Antoniou, K., Papasava, D., Thermos, K., 2005. Somatostatin receptors in the ventral pallidum/substantia innominata modulate rat locomotor activity. Psychopharmacology 181, 319-326). In the present study, we investigated the putative circuitry involved in somatostatin's actions by examining the involvement of GABAergic neurotransmission in locomotor activity subsequent to somatostatin's infusion into the VP. Male Sprague-Dawley rats, 300-350 g, were used for all experiments. Saline or somatostatin (240 ng/0.5 μl/side) in the absence or presence of bicuculline (GABA-A antagonist; 5 mg/kg/ml, i.p.; 120 ng/side nucleus accumbens (NAc)) or phaclofen (GABA-B antagonist; 10 mg/kg/ml, i.p.; 120 ng/side NAc) were infused bilaterally, and the locomotor activity measured for 60 min using a rectangular activity cage. Somatostatin infused in the VP decreased the locomotor activity of the rat in a statistically significant manner. Bicuculline (i.p., and in the NAc) and phaclofen (only i.p.) reversed SRIF's actions, when administered prior to somatostatin's infusion in the VP. The present study provides further information on somatostatin's involvement in the VP-NAc circuitry, and implicates the GABAergic system in somatostatin's actions in the VP. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Dendrimers as tunable vectors of drug delivery systems and biomedical and ocular applications

Marina Kalomiraki,1 Kyriaki Thermos,2 Nikos A Chaniotakis1 1Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, 2Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Crete Voutes, Heraklion, Greece Abstract: Dendrimers are large polymeric structures with nanosize dimensions (1–10 nm) and unique physicochemical properties. The major advantage of dendrimers compared with linear polymers is their spherical-shaped structure. During synthesis, the size and shape of the dendrimer can be customized and controlled, so the finished macromolecule will have a specific “architecture” and terminal groups. These characteristics will determine its suitability for drug delivery, diagnostic imaging, and as a genetic material carrier. This review will focus initially on the unique properties of dendrimers and their use in biomedical applications, as antibacterial, antitumor, and diagnostic agents. Subsequently, emphasis will be given to their use in drug delivery for ocular diseases. Keywords: nanoparticles, ocular diseases, encapsulation, macromolecule, diagnostic agen

Somatostatin modulates dopamine release in rat retina

The aim of the present study was to determine the possible role of somatostatin as a modulator of dopamine release in rat retina. Basal release of dopamine, and how this is influenced by somatostatin receptor (sst) selective ligands, was examined ex vivo in rat retinal explants. Dopamine levels were quantified by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with electrochemical detection. Basal levels of dopamine were measured over 120 min of tissue incubation and found to be 1.17 ± 0.35 ng/ml. Somatostatin (10 -6, 10-5, 10-4 M) increased dopamine levels in a concentration-dependent manner, while the sst2 antagonist CYN154806 (10-4 M) reversed its actions. BIM23014 (sst2 agonist) increased dopamine levels in a statistically significant manner only at the concentration of 10-5 M. The sst1 agonist L797.591 (10-5, 10-4 M) also increased dopamine levels, while activation of the sst3 receptor (sst3 agonist, L796.778, 10-4 M) had no effect. These data substantiate a neuromodulatory role for sst1 and sst2 somatostatin receptors in the retina and show for the first time somatostatin's influence on dopamine release. © 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

The somatostatin sst1 receptor: an autoreceptor for somatostatin in brain and retina?

The sst1 receptor was the first of the 5 somatostatin receptors to be cloned by homology with the glucagon receptor 13 years ago. It is a 7-transmembrane domain G-protein-coupled receptor that is negatively coupled to adenylyl cyclase, but can also trigger other transduction pathways. The distribution of sst1 mRNA, immunolabeling, and radioligand binding are not entirely overlapping, but the recent availability of knockout (KO) mice and a (still limited) number of selective agonists/antagonists has increased our knowledge about this receptor. These new tools have helped to reveal a role for the sst1 receptor in hippocampal, hypothalamic, basal ganglia, and retinal functions. In at least the latter 3 structures, the sst1 receptor appears to act as an inhibitory autoreceptor located on somatostatin neurons, whereas in the hippocampus such a role is still based on circumstantial evidence

Towards Scalable and Real-time Markerless Motion Capture

Human motion capture and perception without the need for complex systems with specialized cameras or wearable equipment is the holy grail for many human-centric applications. Here, we present a scalable markerless motion capture method that estimates 3D human poses in real-time using low-cost hardware. We do so by replacing the inefficient 3D joint reconstruction techniques, such as learnable triangulation and feature splatting, with a novel uncertainty-driven approach that exploits the available depth information and the edge sensors' spatial alignment to fuse the per viewpoint estimates into final 3D joint positions. © 2022 IEEE