Enhancing marine debris identification with convolutional neural networks

Oceanic debris, predominantly plastic, inflicts catastrophic damage on marine ecosystems, threatens aquatic life through entanglement, strangulation, and starvation, and increasingly accumulates as microplastics within the tissues of marine species consumed by humans. Assessing and mitigating this crisis is complicated by the wide-ranging distribution of waste by ocean currents to remote and deep-sea locations. In this study, we developed a deep learning model to discern and identify components of images captured by an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV). We hypothesized that the model would achieve an 80% accuracy. We utilized image segmentation, a process that groups or "masks" all pixels associated with a specific object in the image, to recognize and delineate image components (trash, animal, plant, ROV). We trained our model using the established TrashCan 1.0 dataset, which comprises images captured by ROVs in the Sea of Japan. Our model, a convolutional neural network employing U-Net architecture, formulated feature maps for each object within the images, enabling prediction of object classes. During the testing phase, we compared the model-generated object masks against reference masks to establish the Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) for each object class (trash = 0.81 ± 0.38, animal = 0.85 ± 0.35, plant = 0.88 ± 0.31, ROV = 0.86 ± 0.29, overall average = 0.84 ± 0.36). The consistent categorization of image components by our model demonstrates its potential as an effective ROV-borne tool capable of identifying and targeting hitherto inaccessible ocean trash. Our study lays a robust foundation for future research and additional applications

Analysis of Neptune's 2017 Bright Equatorial Storm

We report the discovery of a large ($\sim$8500 km diameter) infrared-bright storm at Neptune's equator in June 2017. We tracked the storm over a period of 7 months with high-cadence infrared snapshot imaging, carried out on 14 nights at the 10 meter Keck II telescope and 17 nights at the Shane 120 inch reflector at Lick Observatory. The cloud feature was larger and more persistent than any equatorial clouds seen before on Neptune, remaining intermittently active from at least 10 June to 31 December 2017. Our Keck and Lick observations were augmented by very high-cadence images from the amateur community, which permitted the determination of accurate drift rates for the cloud feature. Its zonal drift speed was variable from 10 June to at least 25 July, but remained a constant $237.4 \pm 0.2$ m s$^{-1}$ from 30 September until at least 15 November. The pressure of the cloud top was determined from radiative transfer calculations to be 0.3-0.6 bar; this value remained constant over the course of the observations. Multiple cloud break-up events, in which a bright cloud band wrapped around Neptune's equator, were observed over the course of our observations. No "dark spot" vortices were seen near the equator in HST imaging on 6 and 7 October. The size and pressure of the storm are consistent with moist convection or a planetary-scale wave as the energy source of convective upwelling, but more modeling is required to determine the driver of this equatorial disturbance as well as the triggers for and dynamics of the observed cloud break-up events.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables; Accepted to Icaru

Phytochemical composition and bioactive potential of Melissa officinalis L., Salvia officinalis L. and Mentha spicata L. extracts

Plants are rich in bioactive phytochemicals that often display medicinal properties. These can play an important role in the production of health-promoting food additives and the replacement of artificial ones. In this sense, this study aimed to characterise the polyphenolic profile and bioactive properties of the decoctions, infusions and hydroethanolic extracts of three plants: lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.), sage (Salvia officinalis L.) and spearmint (Mentha spicata L.). Total phenolic content ranged from 38.79 mg/g extract to 84.51 mg/g extract, depending on the extract. The main phenolic compound detected in all cases was rosmarinic acid. The results highlighted that some of these extracts may have the ability to prevent food spoilage (due to antibacterial and antifungal effects) and promote health benefits (due to anti-inflammatory and antioxidant capacities) while not displaying toxicity against healthy cells. Furthermore, although no anti-inflammatory capacity was observed from sage extracts, these stood out for often displaying the best outcomes in terms of other bioactivities. Overall, the results of our research provide insight into the potential of plant extracts as a source of active phytochemicals and as natural food additives. They also support the current trends in the food industry of replacing synthetic additives and developing foods with added beneficial health effects beyond basic nutrition.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antitumor activity of colloidal silver on MCF-7 human breast cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Colloidal silver has been used as an antimicrobial and disinfectant agent. However, there is scarce information on its antitumor potential. The aim of this study was to determine if colloidal silver had cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 breast cancer cells and its mechanism of cell death.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>MCF-7 breast cancer cells were treated with colloidal silver (ranged from 1.75 to 17.5 ng/mL) for 5 h at 37°C and 5% CO₂atmosphere. Cell Viability was evaluated by trypan blue exclusion method and the mechanism of cell death through detection of mono-oligonucleosomes using an ELISA kit and TUNEL assay. The production of NO, LDH, and Gpx, SOD, CAT, and Total antioxidant activities were evaluated by colorimetric assays.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Colloidal silver had dose-dependent cytotoxic effect in MCF-7 breast cancer cells through induction of apoptosis, shown an LD₅₀(3.5 ng/mL) and LD₁₀₀(14 ng/mL) (*P < 0.05), significantly decreased LDH (*P < 0.05) and significantly increased SOD (*P < 0.05) activities. However, the NO production, and Gpx, CAT, and Total antioxidant activities were not affected in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. PBMC were not altered by colloidal silver.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The present results showed that colloidal silver might be a potential alternative agent for human breast cancer therapy.</p

Reduced transcription of TCOF1 in adult cells of Treacher Collins syndrome patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) is an autosomal dominant craniofacial disorder caused by frameshift deletions or duplications in the <it>TCOF1 </it>gene. These mutations cause premature termination codons, which are predicted to lead to mRNA degradation by nonsense mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Haploinsufficiency of the gene product (treacle) during embryonic development is the proposed molecular mechanism underlying TCS. However, it is still unknown if <it>TCOF1 </it>expression levels are decreased in post-embryonic human cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We have estimated <it>TCOF1 </it>transcript levels through real time PCR in mRNA obtained from leucocytes and mesenchymal cells of TCS patients (n = 23) and controls (n = 18). Mutational screening and analysis of NMD were performed by direct sequencing of gDNA and cDNA, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All the 23 patients had typical clinical features of the syndrome and pathogenic mutations were detected in 19 of them. We demonstrated that the expression level of <it>TCOF1 </it>is 18-31% lower in patients than in controls (<it>p < 0.05</it>), even if we exclude the patients in whom we did not detect the pathogenic mutation. We also observed that the mutant allele is usually less abundant than the wild type one in mesenchymal cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This is the first study to report decreased expression levels of <it>TCOF1 </it>in TCS adult human cells, but it is still unknown if this finding is associated to any phenotype in adulthood. In addition, as we demonstrated that alleles harboring the pathogenic mutations have lower expression, we herein corroborate the current hypothesis of NMD of the mutant transcript as the explanation for diminished levels of <it>TCOF1 </it>expression. Further, considering that <it>TCOF1 </it>deficiency in adult cells could be associated to pathologic clinical findings, it will be important to verify if TCS patients have an impairment in adult stem cell properties, as this can reduce the efficiency of plastic surgery results during rehabilitation of these patients.</p