204 research outputs found
Heterogeneous Multi-task Learning for Human Pose Estimation with Deep Convolutional Neural Network
We propose an heterogeneous multi-task learning framework for human pose
estimation from monocular image with deep convolutional neural network. In
particular, we simultaneously learn a pose-joint regressor and a sliding-window
body-part detector in a deep network architecture. We show that including the
body-part detection task helps to regularize the network, directing it to
converge to a good solution. We report competitive and state-of-art results on
several data sets. We also empirically show that the learned neurons in the
middle layer of our network are tuned to localized body parts
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Pulmonary diseases induced by ambient ultrafine and engineered nanoparticles in twenty-first century.
Air pollution is a severe threat to public health globally, affecting everyone in developed and developing countries alike. Among different air pollutants, particulate matter (PM), particularly combustion-produced fine PM (PM2.5) has been shown to play a major role in inducing various adverse health effects. Strong associations have been demonstrated by epidemiological and toxicological studies between increases in PM2.5 concentrations and premature mortality, cardiopulmonary diseases, asthma and allergic sensitization, and lung cancer. The mechanisms of PM-induced toxicological effects are related to their size, chemical composition, lung clearance and retention, cellular oxidative stress responses and pro-inflammatory effects locally and systemically. Particles in the ultrafine range (<100 nm), although they have the highest number counts, surface area and organic chemical content, are often overlooked due to insufficient monitoring and risk assessment. Yet, ample studies have demonstrated that ambient ultrafine particles have higher toxic potential compared with PM2.5. In addition, the rapid development of nanotechnology, bringing ever-increasing production of nanomaterials, has raised concerns about the potential human exposure and health impacts. All these add to the complexity of PM-induced health effects that largely remains to be determined, and mechanistic understanding on the toxicological effects of ambient ultrafine particles and nanomaterials will be the focus of studies in the near future
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) Enhance Metastatic Properties of Breast Cancer Cells by Activating Rho-Associated Kinase (ROCK)
Background: Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a family of structurally related chlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons. Numerous studies have documented a wide spectrum of biological effects of PCBs on human health, such as immunotoxicity, neurotoxocity, estrogenic or antiestrogenic activity, and carcinogensis. The role of PCBs as etiologic agents for breast cancer has been intensively explored in a variety of in vivo, animal and epidemiologic studies. A number of investigations indicated that higher levels of PCBs in mammary tissues or sera correlated to breast cancer risk, and PCBs might be implicated in advancing breast cancer progression. Methodology/Principal Findings: In the current study, we for the first time report that PCBs greatly promote the ROCK activity and therefore increase cell motility for both non-metastatic and metastatic human breast cancer cells in vitro. In the in vivo study, PCBs significantly advance disease progression, leading to enhanced capability of metastatic breast cancer cells to metastasize to bone, lung and liver. Additionally, PCBs robustly induce the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in breast cancer cells; ROS mechanistically elevate ROCK activity. Conclusions/Significance: PCBs enhance the metastatic propensity of breast cancer cells by activating the ROCK signaling, which is dependent on ROS induced by PCBs. Inhibition of ROCK may stand for a unique way to restrain metastases in breast cancer upon PCB exposure
The crucial role of environmental coronas in determining the biological effects of engineered nanomaterials
Feature extraction of four-class motor imagery EEG signals based on functional brain network
Objective. A motor-imagery-based brainācomputer interface (MI-BCI) provides an alternative way for people to interface with the outside world. However, the classification accuracy of MI signals remains challenging, especially with an increased number of classes and the presence of high variations with data from multiple individual people. This work investigates electroencephalogram (EEG) signal processing techniques, aiming to enhance the classification performance of multiple MI tasks in terms of tackling the challenges caused by the vast variety of subjects. Approach. This work introduces a novel method to extract discriminative features by combining the features of functional brain networks with two other feature extraction algorithms: common spatial pattern (CSP) and local characteristic-scale decomposition (LCD). After functional brain networks are established from the MI EEG signals of the subjects, the measures of degree in the binary networks are extracted as additional features and fused with features in the frequency and spatial domains extracted by the CSP and LCD algorithms. A real-time BCI robot control system is designed and implemented with the proposed method. Subjects can control the movement of the robot through four classes of MI tasks. Both the BCI competition IV dataset 2a and real-time data acquired in our designed system are used to validate the performance of the proposed method. Main results. As for the offline data experiment results, the average classification accuracy of the proposed method reaches 79.7%, outperforming the majority of popular algorithms. Experimental results with real-time data also prove the proposed method to be highly promising in its real-time performance. Significance. The experimental results show that our proposed method is robust in extracting discriminative brain activity features when performing different MI tasks, hence improving the classification accuracy in four-class MI tasks. The high classification accuracy and low computational demand show a considerable practicality for real-time rehabilitation systems
Airborne fine particles drive H1N1 viruses deep into the lower respiratory tract and distant organs
Circular RNA circNOL10 Inhibits Lung Cancer Development by Promoting SCLM1-Mediated Transcriptional Regulation of the Humanin Polypeptide Family
circNOL10 is a circular RNA expressed at low levels in lung cancer, though its functions in lung cancer remain unknown. Here, the function and molecular mechanism of circNOL10 in lung cancer development are investigated using in vitro and in vivo studies, and it is shown that circNOL10 significantly inhibits the development of lung cancer and that circNOL10 expression is coāregulated by methylation of its parental gene PreāNOL10 and by splicing factor epithelial splicing regulatory protein 1 (ESRP1). circNOL10 promotes the expression of transcription factor sex comb on midlegālike 1 (SCML1) by inhibiting transcription factor ubiquitination and thus also affects regulation of the humanin (HN) polypeptide family by SCML1. circNOL10 also affects mitochondrial function through regulating the humanin polypeptide family and affecting multiple signaling pathways, ultimately inhibiting cell proliferation and cell cycle progression, and promoting the apoptosis of lung cancer cells, thereby inhibiting lung cancer development. This study investigates the functions and molecular mechanisms of circNOL10 in the development of lung cancer and reveals its involvement in the transcriptional regulation of the HN polypeptide family by SCML1. The results also demonstrate the inhibitory effect of HN on lung cancer cells growth. These findings may identify novel targets for the molecular therapy of lung cancer
Pharmacological effects and mechanisms of paeonol on antitumor and prevention of side effects of cancer therapy
Cancer represents one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Conventional clinical treatments include radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. However, these treatments have inherent limitations, such as multidrug resistance and the induction of short- and long-term multiple organ damage, ultimately leading to a significant decrease in cancer survivorsā quality of life and life expectancy. Paeonol, a nature active compound derived from the root bark of the medicinal plant Paeonia suffruticosa, exhibits various pharmacological activities. Extensive research has demonstrated that paeonol exhibits substantial anticancer effects in various cancer, both in vitro and in vivo. Its underlying mechanisms involve the induction of apoptosis, the inhibition of cell proliferation, invasion and migration, angiogenesis, cell cycle arrest, autophagy, regulating tumor immunity and enhanced radiosensitivity, as well as the modulation of multiple signaling pathways, such as the PI3K/AKT and NF-ĪŗB signaling pathways. Additionally, paeonol can prevent adverse effects on the heart, liver, and kidneys induced by anticancer therapy. Despite numerous studies exploring paeonolās therapeutic potential in cancer, no specific reviews have been conducted. Therefore, this review provides a systematic summary and analysis of paeonolās anticancer effects, prevention of side effects, and the underlying mechanisms involved. This review aims to establish a theoretical basis for the adjunctive strategy of paeonol in cancer treatment, ultimately improving the survival rate and enhancing the quality of life for cancer patients
CloudBrain-NMR: An Intelligent Cloud Computing Platform for NMR Spectroscopy Processing, Reconstruction and Analysis
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has served as a powerful
analytical tool for studying molecular structure and dynamics in chemistry and
biology. However, the processing of raw data acquired from NMR spectrometers
and subsequent quantitative analysis involves various specialized tools, which
necessitates comprehensive knowledge in programming and NMR. Particularly, the
emerging deep learning tools is hard to be widely used in NMR due to the
sophisticated setup of computation. Thus, NMR processing is not an easy task
for chemist and biologists. In this work, we present CloudBrain-NMR, an
intelligent online cloud computing platform designed for NMR data reading,
processing, reconstruction, and quantitative analysis. The platform is
conveniently accessed through a web browser, eliminating the need for any
program installation on the user side. CloudBrain-NMR uses parallel computing
with graphics processing units and central processing units, resulting in
significantly shortened computation time. Furthermore, it incorporates
state-of-the-art deep learning-based algorithms offering comprehensive
functionalities that allow users to complete the entire processing procedure
without relying on additional software. This platform has empowered NMR
applications with advanced artificial intelligence processing. CloudBrain-NMR
is openly accessible for free usage at https://csrc.xmu.edu.cn/CloudBrain.htmlComment: 11 pages, 13 figure
Stress-Induced Epinephrine Enhances Lactate Dehydrogenase A and Promotes Breast Cancer Stem-Like Cells
Chronic stress triggers activation of the sympathetic nervous system and drives malignancy. Using an immunodeficient murine system, we showed that chronic stressāinduced epinephrine promoted breast cancer stem-like properties via lactate dehydrogenase Aādependent (LDHA-dependent) metabolic rewiring. Chronic stressāinduced epinephrine activated LDHA to generate lactate, and the adjusted pH directed USP28-mediated deubiquitination and stabilization of MYC. The SLUG promoter was then activated by MYC, which promoted development of breast cancer stem-like traits. Using a drug screen that targeted LDHA, we found that a chronic stressāinduced cancer stem-like phenotype could be reversed by vitamin C. These findings demonstrated the critical importance of psychological factors in promoting stem-like properties in breast cancer cells. Thus, the LDHA-lowering agent vitamin C can be a potential approach for combating stress-associated breast cancer
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