Semantic Scene Difference Detection in Daily Life Patroling by Mobile Robots using Pre-Trained Large-Scale Vision-Language Model

It is important for daily life support robots to detect changes in their environment and perform tasks. In the field of anomaly detection in computer vision, probabilistic and deep learning methods have been used to calculate the image distance. These methods calculate distances by focusing on image pixels. In contrast, this study aims to detect semantic changes in the daily life environment using the current development of large-scale vision-language models. Using its Visual Question Answering (VQA) model, we propose a method to detect semantic changes by applying multiple questions to a reference image and a current image and obtaining answers in the form of sentences. Unlike deep learning-based methods in anomaly detection, this method does not require any training or fine-tuning, is not affected by noise, and is sensitive to semantic state changes in the real world. In our experiments, we demonstrated the effectiveness of this method by applying it to a patrol task in a real-life environment using a mobile robot, Fetch Mobile Manipulator. In the future, it may be possible to add explanatory power to changes in the daily life environment through spoken language.Comment: Accepted to 2023 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2023

Podocyte autophagy is associated with foot process effacement and proteinuria in patients with minimal change nephrotic syndrome

Autophagy is a cellular mechanism involved in the bulk degradation of proteins and turnover of organelle. Several studies have shown the significance of autophagy of the renal tubular epithelium in rodent models of tubulointerstitial disorder. However, the role of autophagy in the regulation of human glomerular diseases is largely unknown. The current study aimed to demonstrate morphological evidence of autophagy and its association with the ultrastructural changes of podocytes and clinical data in patients with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome, a disease in which patients exhibit podocyte injury. The study population included 95 patients, including patients with glomerular disease (minimal change nephrotic syndrome [MCNS], n = 41; idiopathic membranous nephropathy [IMN], n = 37) and 17 control subjects who underwent percutaneous renal biopsy. The number of autophagic vacuoles and the grade of foot process effacement (FPE) in podocytes were examined by electron microscopy (EM). The relationships among the expression of autophagic vacuoles, the grade of FPE, and the clinical data were determined. Autophagic vacuoles were mainly detected in podocytes by EM. The microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3)-positive area was co-localized with the Wilms tumor 1 (WT1)-positive area on immunofluorescence microscopy, which suggested that autophagy occurred in the podocytes of patients with MCNS. The number of autophagic vacuoles in the podocytes was significantly correlated with the podocyte FPE score (r = -0.443, p = 0.004), the amount of proteinuria (r = 0.334, p = 0.033), and the level of serum albumin (r = -0.317, p = 0.043) in patients with MCNS. The FPE score was a significant determinant for autophagy after adjusting for the age in a multiple regression analysis in MCNS patients (p = 0.0456). However, such correlations were not observed in patients with IMN or in control subjects. In conclusion, the results indicated that the autophagy of podocytes is associated with FPE and severe proteinuria in patients with MCNS. The mechanisms underlying the activation of autophagy in association with FPE in podocytes should be further investigated in order to elucidate the pathophysiology of MCNS

Value of adding the renal pathological score to the kidney failure risk equation in advanced diabetic nephropathy

金沢大学医薬保健研究域医学系Background There have been a limited number of biopsy-based studies on diabetic nephropathy, and therefore the clinical importance of renal biopsy in patients with diabetes in late-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) is still debated. We aimed to clarify the renal prognostic value of pathological information to clinical information in patients with diabetes and advanced CKD. Methods We retrospectively assessed 493 type 2 diabetics with biopsy-proven diabetic nephropathy in four centers in Japan. 296 patients with stage 3–5 CKD at the time of biopsy were identified and assigned two risk prediction scores for end-stage renal disease (ESRD): the Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE, a score composed of clinical parameters) and the Diabetic Nephropathy Score (D-score, a score integrated pathological parameters of the Diabetic Nephropathy Classification by the Renal Pathology Society (RPS DN Classification)). They were randomized 2:1 to development and validation cohort. Hazard Ratios (HR) of incident ESRD were reported with 95% confidence interval (CI) of the KFRE, D-score and KFRE+D-score in Cox regression model. Improvement of risk prediction with the addition of D-score to the KFRE was assessed using c-statistics, continuous net reclassification improvement (NRI), and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). Results During median follow-up of 1.9 years, 194 patients developed ESRD. The cox regression analysis showed that the KFRE,D-score and KFRE+D-score were significant predictors of ESRD both in the development cohort and in the validation cohort. The c-statistics of the D-score was 0.67. The c-statistics of the KFRE was good, but its predictive value was weaker than that in the miscellaneous CKD cohort originally reported (c-statistics, 0.78 vs. 0.90) and was not significantly improved by adding the D-score (0.78 vs. 0.79, p = 0.83). Only continuous NRI was positive after adding the D-score to the KFRE (0.4%; CI: 0.0–0.8%). Conclusions We found that the predict values of the KFRE and the D-score were not as good as reported, and combining the D-score with the KFRE did not significantly improve prediction of the risk of ESRD in advanced diabetic nephropathy. To improve prediction of renal prognosis for advanced diabetic nephropathy may require different approaches with combining clinical and pathological parameters that were not measured in the KFRE and the RPS DN Classification. © 2018 Yamanouchi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Current status of rocket developments in universities -development of a small hybrid rocket with a swirling oxidizer flow type engine

To develop an experimental small hybrid rocket with a swirling gaseous oxygen flow type engine, we made a flight model engine. Burning tests of the engine showed that a maximum thrust of 692 N and a specific impulse of 263 s (at sea level) were achieved. We designed a small hybrid rocket with this engine. The rocket measured 1.8 m in length and 15.4 kg in mass. To confirm the flight stability of the rocket, wind tunnel tests using a 112-scale model of the rocket and simulations of the flight attitude and trajectory were carried out. A flight test was conducted at Taiki-cho, Hokkaido, Japan on March 2001. The rocket reached an altitude of about 600 m, thus recording the first successful flight of a hybrid rocket in Japan. For the next stage, future issues to develop larger hybrid rockets using a swirling liquid oxygen flow type engine are discussed, and preliminary burning tests of the engine have been carried out

The Emerging Role of ncRNAs and RNA-Binding Proteins in Mitotic Apparatus Formation

Mounting experimental evidence shows that non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) serve a wide variety of biological functions. Recent studies suggest that a part of ncRNAs are critically important for supporting the structure of subcellular architectures. Here, we summarize the current literature demonstrating the role of ncRNAs and RNA-binding proteins in regulating the assembly of mitotic apparatus, especially focusing on centrosomes, kinetochores, and mitotic spindles

Combustion characteristics of Mg vapor jet flames in CO2 atmospheres

An experimental study was performed on the combustion characteristics of a jet diffusion flame of Mg vapor injected through a small nozzle into CO2 atmospheres at low pressures from 8 to 48 kPa with a view to using Mg as fuel for a CO2-breathing turbojet engine in the Mars atmosphere. The Mg vapor jet produced three types of the flame. At lower pressures and higher injection velocities, a red-heated jet flame formed, in which the injected Mg vapor was heated by spontaneous reactions, turning red. At medium pressures and injection velocities, a stable luminous lifted-like flame developed above the rim of the chimney, a tube-like combustion product for the Mg vapor passage that grew on the nozzle during combustion. The flame had similar flame length properties to laminar jet diffusion flames of gaseous fuels. At higher pressures and lower injection velocities, a stable luminous attached flame developed at the rim of the chimney. The same reactions, producing MgO(g), CO and MgO(c), proceeded preferentially for all flames and chimneys. Carbon was only subordinately generated. Burning behavior of Mg vapor jets in a CO2 atmosphere has been represented, including the homogeneous reaction of Mg vapor with CO2, the diffusion of CO2, and the condensation and deposit of MgO. The injection velocity of Mg vapor at the rim of the chimney and the exothermic reactions with diffused CO2 that occur there play a crucial role in the attachment and development of the flames. The flame structure may be explained in terms of the relatively low gas-phase reaction rate of Mg with CO2