Functional mapping of somatostatin receptors in the retina: a review

AbstractThe peptide somatostatin is one of many neuroactive agents that influence retinal physiology. It is synthesized primarily in a subclass of amacrine cells and believed to function as a neurotransmitter, neuromodulator or trophic factor. The cloning of the somatostatin receptors (sst1–5) in the early nineties provided the appropriate tools for the study of ssts in many tissues, including the retina. In this review, emphasis is given to recent studies that have provided significant information on the functional role of somatostatin in retinal circuitry and the retinal pigment epithelium. The important role of somatostatin in retinal disease therapeutics is also discussed

Multimodal Affective State Recognition in Serious Games Applications

A challenging research issue, which has recently attracted a lot of attention, is the incorporation of emotion recognition technology in serious games applications, in order to improve the quality of interaction and enhance the gaming experience. To this end, in this paper, we present an emotion recognition methodology that utilizes information extracted from multimodal fusion analysis to identify the affective state of players during gameplay scenarios. More specifically, two monomodal classifiers have been designed for extracting affective state information based on facial expression and body motion analysis. For the combination of different modalities a deep model is proposed that is able to make a decision about player’s affective state, while also being robust in the absence of one information cue. In order to evaluate the performance of our methodology, a bimodal database was created using Microsoft’s Kinect sensor, containing feature vectors extracted from users' facial expressions and body gestures. The proposed method achieved higher recognition rate in comparison with mono-modal, as well as early-fusion algorithms. Our methodology outperforms all other classifiers, achieving an overall recognition rate of 98.3%

Blockade of CB1 or Activation of CB2 Cannabinoid Receptors Is Differentially Efficacious in the Treatment of the Early Pathological Events in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Oxidative stress, neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, and vascular leakage are believed to play a key role in the early stage of diabetic retinopathy (ESDR). The aim of this study was to investigate the blockade of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) and activation of cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R) as putative therapeutics for the treatment of the early toxic events in DR. Diabetic rats [streptozotocin (STZ)-induced] were treated topically (20 μL, 10 mg/mL), once daily for fourteen days (early stage DR model), with SR141716 (CB1R antagonist), AM1710 (CB2R agonist), and the dual treatment SR141716/AM1710. Immunohistochemical-histological, ELISA, and Evans-Blue analyses were performed to assess the neuroprotective and vasculoprotective properties of the pharmacological treatments on diabetes-induced retinal toxicity. Activation of CB2R or blockade of CB1R, as well as the dual treatment, attenuated the nitrative stress induced by diabetes. Both single treatments protected neural elements (e.g., RGC axons) and reduced vascular leakage. AM1710 alone reversed all toxic insults. These findings provide new knowledge regarding the differential efficacies of the cannabinoids, when administered topically, in the treatment of ESDR. Cannabinoid neuroprotection of the diabetic retina in ESDR may prove therapeutic in delaying the development of the advanced stage of the disease

Blockade of CB1 or Activation of CB2 Cannabinoid Receptors Is Differentially Efficacious in the Treatment of the Early Pathological Events in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats

Oxidative stress, neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, and vascular leakage are believed to play a key role in the early stage of diabetic retinopathy (ESDR). The aim of this study was to investigate the blockade of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1R) and activation of cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2R) as putative therapeutics for the treatment of the early toxic events in DR. Diabetic rats [streptozotocin (STZ)-induced] were treated topically (20 μL, 10 mg/mL), once daily for fourteen days (early stage DR model), with SR141716 (CB1R antagonist), AM1710 (CB2R agonist), and the dual treatment SR141716/AM1710. Immunohistochemical-histological, ELISA, and Evans-Blue analyses were performed to assess the neuroprotective and vasculoprotective properties of the pharmacological treatments on diabetes-induced retinal toxicity. Activation of CB2R or blockade of CB1R, as well as the dual treatment, attenuated the nitrative stress induced by diabetes. Both single treatments protected neural elements (e.g., RGC axons) and reduced vascular leakage. AM1710 alone reversed all toxic insults. These findings provide new knowledge regarding the differential efficacies of the cannabinoids, when administered topically, in the treatment of ESDR. Cannabinoid neuroprotection of the diabetic retina in ESDR may prove therapeutic in delaying the development of the advanced stage of the disease

D3.1 User data acquisition and mapping in game environments for gamification of prosocial learning

This document describes algorithms for person-dependent affect analysis using gameplay interaction features, video, text analysis and evaluation on already existing datasets

D3.2 1st Prosocial affect fusion and player modelling for gamification of prosocial learning

This document presents a snapshot of the work carried out in WP3 up to M10. It starts with an extensive discussion on the possible approaches to multimodality and on the different facets of multimodal data fusion. It then expands the user model briefly introduced in D2.3 1st User requirements and Architecture and also includes the first attempt of operationalizing the Prosocial Core Domains presented in D2.1 User requirements. Finally the first outline of the user graphical interface is also discussed