{SelfPose}: {3D} Egocentric Pose Estimation from a Headset Mounted Camera

We present a solution to egocentric 3D body pose estimation from monocular images captured from downward looking fish-eye cameras installed on the rim of a head mounted VR device. This unusual viewpoint leads to images with unique visual appearance, with severe self-occlusions and perspective distortions that result in drastic differences in resolution between lower and upper body. We propose an encoder-decoder architecture with a novel multi-branch decoder designed to account for the varying uncertainty in 2D predictions. The quantitative evaluation, on synthetic and real-world datasets, shows that our strategy leads to substantial improvements in accuracy over state of the art egocentric approaches. To tackle the lack of labelled data we also introduced a large photo-realistic synthetic dataset. xR-EgoPose offers high quality renderings of people with diverse skintones, body shapes and clothing, performing a range of actions. Our experiments show that the high variability in our new synthetic training corpus leads to good generalization to real world footage and to state of theart results on real world datasets with ground truth. Moreover, an evaluation on the Human3.6M benchmark shows that the performance of our method is on par with top performing approaches on the more classic problem of 3D human pose from a third person viewpoint.Comment: 14 pages. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1907.1004

N-Acetylcysteine Serves as Substrate of 3-Mercaptopyruvate Sulfurtransferase and Stimulates Sulfide Metabolism in Colon Cancer Cells

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an endogenously produced signaling molecule. The enzymes 3-mercaptopyruvate sulfurtransferase (MST), partly localized in mitochondria, and the inner mitochondrial membrane-associated sulfide:quinone oxidoreductase (SQR), besides being respectively involved in the synthesis and catabolism of H2S, generate sulfane sulfur species such as persulfides and polysulfides, currently recognized as mediating some of the H2S biological effects. Reprogramming of H2S metabolism was reported to support cellular proliferation and energy metabolism in cancer cells. As oxidative stress is a cancer hallmark and N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was recently suggested to act as an antioxidant by increasing intracellular levels of sulfane sulfur species, here we evaluated the effect of prolonged exposure to NAC on the H2S metabolism of SW480 colon cancer cells. Cells exposed to NAC for 24 h displayed increased expression and activity of MST and SQR. Furthermore, NAC was shown to: (i) persist at detectable levels inside the cells exposed to the drug for up to 24 h and (ii) sustain H2S synthesis by human MST more effectively than cysteine, as shown working on the isolated recombinant enzyme. We conclude that prolonged exposure of colon cancer cells to NAC stimulates H2S metabolism and that NAC can serve as a substrate for human MST

Detection of the Cherenkov light diffused by Sea Water with the ULTRA Experiment

The study of Ultra High Energy Cosmic Rays represents one of the most challenging topic in the Cosmic Rays and in the Astroparticle Physics fields. The interaction of primary particles with atmospheric nuclei produces a huge Extensive Air Shower together with isotropic emission of UV fluorescence light and highly directional Cherenkov photons, that are reflected/diffused isotropically by the impact on the Earth's surface or on high optical depth clouds. For space-based observations, detecting the reflected Cherenkov signal in a delayed coincidence with the fluorescence light improves the accuracy of the shower reconstruction in space and in particular the measurement of the shower maximum, giving a strong signature for discriminating hadrons and neutrinos, and helping to estimate the primary chemical composition. Since the Earth's surface is mostly covered by water, the ULTRA (UV Light Transmission and Reflection in the Atmosphere)experiment has been designed to provide the diffusing properties of sea water, overcoming the lack of information in this specific field. A small EAS array, made up of 5 particle detectors, and an UV optical device, have been coupled to detect in coincidence both electromagnetic and UV components. The detector was in operation from May to December, 2005, in a small private harbor in Capo Granitola (Italy); the results of these measurements in terms of diffusion coefficient and threshold energy are presented here.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, PDF format, Proceedings of 30th ICRC, International Cosmic Ray Conference 2007, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, 3-11 July 200

Modelagem de funções no cálculo dos índices DRIS.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi modelar o fator k e as funções DRIS para a diagnose foliar de mangueirascultivadas. Dez pomares comerciais, no estágio de produção, localizados no vale do Rio São Francisco, forammonitorados, mensalmente, durante dois anos, por meio da coleta de amostras foliares para determinação dosteores de N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Fe, Mn, Zn e Cu. Os dados foram testados quanto à normalidade e as relações entreas concentrações dos nutrientes foram usadas para calcular as normas DRIS, obtendo-se média, variância elimites máximo e mínimo de cada relação dentro da população amostrada. Os nutrientes foram classificadoscomo macronutrientes de resposta freqüente (MAF) (N, P e K), macronutrientes de resposta rara (MAR) (Ca eMg); micronutrientes de resposta freqüente (MIF) (B, Fe, Mn e Zn) e, micronutrientes de resposta rara (MIR)(Cu). Funções DRIS foram desenvolvidas para cada classe de nutrientes. O modelo desenvolvido expressa obalanço nutricional das plantas cultivadas ajustado a cada nutriente e reflete o comportamento biológico dasplantas como resultado da variação da disponibilidade dos nutrientes

Modelagem de funções no cálculo dos índices DRIS.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi modelar o fator k e as funções DRIS para a diagnose foliar de mangueiras cultivadas. Dez pomares comerciais, no estágio de produção, localizados no vale do Rio São Francisco, foram monitorados, mensalmente, durante dois anos, por meio da coleta de amostras foliares para determinação dos teores de N, P, K, Ca, Mg, B, Fe, Mn, Zn e Cu. Os dados foram testados quanto à normalidade e as relações entre as concentrações dos nutrientes foram usadas para calcular as normas DRIS, obtendo-se média, variância e limites máximo e mínimo de cada relação dentro da população amostrada. Os nutrientes foram classificados como macronutrientes de resposta freqüente (MAF) (N, P e K), macronutrientes de resposta rara (MAR) (Ca e Mg); micronutrientes de resposta freqüente (MIF) (B, Fe, Mn e Zn) e, micronutrientes de resposta rara (MIR) (Cu). Funções DRIS foram desenvolvidas para cada classe de nutrientes. O modelo desenvolvido expressa o balanço nutricional das plantas cultivadas ajustado a cada nutriente e reflete o comportamento biológico das plantas como resultado da variação da disponibilidade dos nutrientes

Rendimento e composição química de cultivares de milho em moagem a seco e produção de grits.

O milho é uma das principais matérias-primas para a indústria de alimentos. Desse cereal, é possível obter óleo, fubá, canjica, grits, farelo, amido e zeína. Conduziu-se este trabalho com o objetivo de avaliar o rendimento de moagem a seco, produção de grits e composição química de 16 cultivares de milho. Os grãos de milho das 16 cultivares avaliadas tiveram a sua umidade padronizada para 12% e foram submetidos a um processo de limpeza em uma mesa gravimétrica. Encerrada a etapa de limpeza, foram colocados 10 kg de grãos de cada cultivar em degerminador de facas com rotação de 600 rpm por um período de 10 minutos. Após a degerminação, o endosperma foi passado por moinho de rolos corrugados com distância entre rolos de 30 ?m. O material moído foi submetido à tamisação em peneiras de 14, 20, 25 e 30 mesh por um período de 10 minutos. Para a degerminação, o delineamento experimental utilizado foi o inteiramente casualizado, com um fator de 16 cultivares e 2 repetições. Na tamisação, o delineamento usado foi com dois fatores: 16 cultivares, 5 peneiras e 2 repetições. A cultivar BR-106, o híbrido duplo BRS-2114 e o híbrido triplo BR-3123 registraram maiores rendimentos (P<0,05) na fração endosperma. Na tamisação, a fração avaliada foi a retida em peneira de 20 mesh, por causa da utilização de grits com essas dimensões como matéria-prima na indústria de snacks. Os híbridos triplos BR-3123, BRS-3101 e BR 106 foram os mais produtivos na peneira de 20 mesh, sendo os mais indicados para a indústria produtora de grits, fornecedora de matéria-prima para a indústria de alimentos, entre essas, as de snacks e a de bebida

MSH3 polymorphisms and protein levels affect CAG repeat instability in huntington's disease mice

Expansions of trinucleotide CAG/CTG repeats in somatic tissues are thought to contribute to ongoing disease progression through an affected individual's life with Huntington's disease or myotonic dystrophy. Broad ranges of repeat instability arise between individuals with expanded repeats, suggesting the existence of modifiers of repeat instability. Mice with expanded CAG/CTG repeats show variable levels of instability depending upon mouse strain. However, to date the genetic modifiers underlying these differences have not been identified. We show that in liver and striatum the R6/1 Huntington's disease (HD) (CAG)~100 transgene, when present in a congenic C57BL/6J (B6) background, incurred expansion-biased repeat mutations, whereas the repeat was stable in a congenic BALB/cByJ (CBy) background. Reciprocal congenic mice revealed the Msh3 gene as the determinant for the differences in repeat instability. Expansion bias was observed in congenic mice homozygous for the B6 Msh3 gene on a CBy background, while the CAG tract was stabilized in congenics homozygous for the CBy Msh3 gene on a B6 background. The CAG stabilization was as dramatic as genetic deficiency of Msh2. The B6 and CBy Msh3 genes had identical promoters but differed in coding regions and showed strikingly different protein levels. B6 MSH3 variant protein is highly expressed and associated with CAG expansions, while the CBy MSH3 variant protein is expressed at barely detectable levels, associating with CAG stability. The DHFR protein, which is divergently transcribed from a promoter shared by the Msh3 gene, did not show varied levels between mouse strains. Thus, naturally occurring MSH3 protein polymorphisms are modifiers of CAG repeat instability, likely through variable MSH3 protein stability. Since evidence supports that somatic CAG instability is a modifier and predictor of disease, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that variable levels of CAG instability associated with polymorphisms of DNA repair genes may have prognostic implications for various repeat-associated diseases

Anterior T-Wave Inversion in Young White Athletes and Nonathletes: Prevalance and Significance

BACKGROUND: Anterior T-wave inversion (ATWI) on electrocardiography (ECG) in young white adults raises the possibility of cardiomyopathy, specifically arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC). Whereas the 2010 European consensus recommendations for ECG interpretation in young athletes state that ATWI beyond lead V1 warrants further investigation, the prevalence and significance of ATWI have never been reported in a large population of asymptomatic whites. OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the prevalence and significance of ATWI in a large cohort of young, white adults including athletes. METHODS: Individuals 16 to 35 years of age (n = 14,646), including 4,720 females (32%) and 2,958 athletes (20%), were evaluated by using a health questionnaire, physical examination, and 12-lead ECG. ATWI was defined as T-wave inversion in ≥2 contiguous anterior leads (V1 to V4). RESULTS: ATWI was detected in 338 individuals (2.3%) and was more common in women than in men (4.3% vs. 1.4%, respectively; p < 0.0001) and more common among athletes than in nonathletes (3.5% vs. 2.0%, respectively; p < 0.0001). T-wave inversion was predominantly confined to leads V1 to V2 (77%). Only 1.2% of women and 0.2% of men exhibited ATWI beyond V2. No one with ATWI fulfilled diagnostic criteria for ARVC after further evaluation. During a mean follow-up of 23.1 ± 12.2 months none of the individuals with ATWI experienced an adverse event. CONCLUSIONS: ATWI confined to leads V1 to V2 is a normal variant or physiological phenomenon in asymptomatic white individuals without a relevant family history. ATWI beyond V2 is rare, particularly in men, and may warrant investigation