Preterm infants' limb-pose estimation from depth images using convolutional neural networks

Preterm infants' limb-pose estimation is a crucial but challenging task, which may improve patients' care and facilitate clinicians in infant's movements monitoring. Work in the literature either provides approaches to whole-body segmentation and tracking, which, however, has poor clinical value, or retrieve a posteriori limb pose from limb segmentation, increasing computational costs and introducing inaccuracy sources. In this paper, we address the problem of limb-pose estimation under a different point of view. We proposed a 2D fully-convolutional neural network for roughly detecting limb joints and joint connections, followed by a regression convolutional neural network for accurate joint and joint-connection position estimation. Joints from the same limb are then connected with a maximum bipartite matching approach. Our analysis does not require any prior modeling of infants' body structure, neither any manual interventions. For developing and testing the proposed approach, we built a dataset of four videos (video length = 90 s) recorded with a depth sensor in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during the actual clinical practice, achieving median root mean square distance [pixels] of 10.790 (right arm), 10.542 (left arm), 8.294 (right leg), 11.270 (left leg) with respect to the ground-truth limb pose. The idea of estimating limb pose directly from depth images may represent a future paradigm for addressing the problem of preterm-infants' movement monitoring and offer all possible support to clinicians in NICUs

Covert brand recognition engages emotion-specific brain networks

Consumer goods' brands have become a major driver of consumers' choice: they have got symbolic, relational and even social properties that add substantial cultural and affective value to goods and services. Therefore, measuring the role of brands in consumers' cognitive and affective processes would be very helpful to better understand economic decision making. This work aimed at finding the neural correlates of automatic, spontaneous emotional response to brands, showing how deeply integrated are consumption symbols within the cognitive and affective processes of individuals. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was measured during a visual oddball paradigm consisting in the presentation of scrambled pictures as frequent stimuli, colored squares as targets, and brands and emotional pictures (selected from the International Affective Picture System [IAPS]) as emotionally-salient distractors. Affective rating of brands was assessed individually after scanning by a validated questionnaire. Results showed that, similarly to IAPS pictures, brands activated a well-defined emotional network, including amygdala and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, highly specific of affective valence. In conclusion, this work identified the neural correlates of brands within cognitive and affective processes of consumers

The babyPose dataset

none5noThe database here described contains data relevant to preterm infants' movement acquired in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The data consists of 16 depth videos recorded during the actual clinical practice. Each video consists of 1000 frames (i.e., 100s). The dataset was acquired at the NICU of the Salesi Hospital, Ancona (Italy). Each frame was annotated with the limb-joint location. Twelve joints were annotated, i.e., left and right shoul- der, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle. The database is freely accessible at http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3891404. This dataset represents a unique resource for artificial intelligence researchers that want to develop algorithms to provide healthcare professionals working in NICUs with decision support. Hence, the babyPose dataset is the first annotated dataset of depth images relevant to preterm infants' movement analysis.openMigliorelli L.; Moccia S.; Pietrini R.; Carnielli V.P.; Frontoni E.Migliorelli, L.; Moccia, S.; Pietrini, R.; Carnielli, V. P.; Frontoni, E

Le basi neurologiche del rapporto tra il consumatore e la marca. Il contributo del neuro-imaging alle ricerche di marketing

Consumer develop very tight relationships with brands. In many cases, consumers develop positive relationships with their preferred brands and goods. In some of these cases true “love” relationship may occur. Sometimes, also negative relationships arise, often as a reaction toward unsatisfactory experiences, bad practices, etc. Companies aim at developing strong and positive emotional relationships between their brands and their customers. When they succeed, the brand is immediately recognized, it elicits positive affective responses, it is more difficult to be substituted for by competitors. The aim of the present study is to measure behavioral and emotional brain responses to covert visual recognition of brands. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity in 15 healthy subjects (7 females, 23-33 years) that were exposed to four stimulus types: coloured scrambled pictures, coloured squares, brand logos, and IAPS pictures with positive and negative valence scores. Sixty-three popular brands were selected among 8 different product categories. Two specific patterns of activation emerged for like (amygdale) and dislike brands (anterior medial cingulate, left inferior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, medial cuneus). Implications for interpreting the role of brands in consumer mental processes are given, with special reference to the asymmetry between positive and negative evaluations

Radiographic parameters of the digit in a cohort population of amiata donkeys

Background: The most common musculoskeletal conditions reported in donkeys are related to the foot. Radiographic examinations are clinically important in the diagnosis of foot abnormalities and are commonly used. However, few studies have been conducted to establish the normal radiographic appearance of a donkey’s foot. Aim: To determine the radiographic features of the front digit in healthy Amiata donkeys. Methods: Radiographic examinations were performed on 56 forefeet of 28 Amiata donkeys. Three radiographic views of each front foot were taken: lateromedial, dorsopalmar and dorso-65°proximal/palmarodistal oblique. Seventeen angular and linear radiographic parameters and the crena solearis were evaluated in all forefeet, and 18 morphometric parameters were evaluated in 16 out of 56 forefeet. Statistical analysis was carried out on all the measures assessed. Results: The radiographic appearance of the forefoot was ascertained, and data were reported as median ± standard error, minimum and maximum values. No statistical differences were obtained between the right and left forefeet. Conclusion: The normal baseline parameters of the forefeet of Amiata donkeys were recorded and described and compared with other donkey breeds and horses. The findings highlighted that the donkey breed affects the radiographic parameters of the digit

Morphometric Changes of the Corpus Callosum in Congenital Blindness

We examined the effects of visual deprivation at birth on the development of the corpus callosum in a large group of congenitally blind individuals. We acquired high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans in 28 congenitally blind and 28 normal sighted subjects matched for age and gender. There was no overall group effect of visual deprivation on the total surface area of the corpus callosum. However, subdividing the corpus callosum into five subdivisions revealed significant regional changes in its three most posterior parts. Compared to the sighted controls, congenitally blind individuals showed a 12 reduction in the splenium, and a 20 increase in the isthmus and the posterior part of the body. A shape analysis further revealed that the bending angle of the corpus callosum was more convex in congenitally blind compared to the sighted control subjects. The observed morphometric changes in the corpus callosum are in line with the well-described cross-modal functional and structural neuroplastic changes in congenital blindness

Implementation of the Damages Directive in England & Wales

The Dossier discusses the questions arising from the need to implement the EU Damages Directive 2014/104/EU in several European Member States. My contribution focuses on the need for implementation in England & Wales

The Role of Cyclo(His-Pro) in Neurodegeneration

Neurodegenerative diseases may have distinct genetic etiologies and pathological manifestations, yet share common cellular mechanisms underpinning neuronal damage and dysfunction. These cellular mechanisms include excitotoxicity, calcium dysregulation, oxidative damage, ER stress and neuroinflammation. Recent data have identified a dual role in these events for glial cells, such as microglia and astrocytes, which are able both to induce and to protect against damage induced by diverse stresses. Cyclo(His-Pro), a cyclic dipeptide derived from the hydrolytic removal of the amino-terminal pyroglutamic acid residue of the hypothalamic thyrotropin-releasing hormone, may be important in regulating the nature of the glial cell contribution. Cyclo(His-Pro) is ubiquitous in the central nervous system and is a key substrate of organic cation transporters, which are strongly linked to neuroprotection. The cyclic dipeptide can also cross the brain-blood-barrier and, once in the brain, can affect diverse inflammatory and stress responses by modifying the Nrf2-NF-B signaling axis. For these reasons, cyclo(His-Pro) has striking potential for therapeutic application by both parenteral and oral administration routes and may represent an important new tool in counteracting neuroinflammation-based degenerative pathologies. In this review, we discuss the chemistry and biology of cyclo(His-Pro), how it may interact with the biological mechanisms driving neurodegenerative disease, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and thereby act to preserve or restore neuronal function

A statistical approach to detect protein complexes at X-ray free electron laser facilities

The Flash X-ray Imaging (FXI) technique, under development at X-ray free electron lasers (XFEL), aims to achieve structure determination based on diffraction from individual macromolecular complexes. We report an FXI study on the first protein complex-RNA polymerase II-ever injected at an XFEL. A successful 3D reconstruction requires a high number of observations of the sample in various orientations. The measured diffraction signal for many shots can be comparable to background. Here we present a robust and highly sensitive hit-identification method based on automated modeling of beamline background through photon statistics. It can operate at controlled false positive hit-rate of 3 x10(-5). We demonstrate its power in determining particle hits and validate our findings against an independent hit-identification approach based on ion time-of-flight spectra. We also validate the advantages of our method over simpler hit-identification schemes via tests on other samples and using computer simulations, showing a doubled hit-identification power