UnrealEgo: A New Dataset for Robust Egocentric 3D Human Motion Capture

We present UnrealEgo, i.e., a new large-scale naturalistic dataset for egocentric 3D human pose estimation. UnrealEgo is based on an advanced concept of eyeglasses equipped with two fisheye cameras that can be used in unconstrained environments. We design their virtual prototype and attach them to 3D human models for stereo view capture. We next generate a large corpus of human motions. As a consequence, UnrealEgo is the first dataset to provide in-the-wild stereo images with the largest variety of motions among existing egocentric datasets. Furthermore, we propose a new benchmark method with a simple but effective idea of devising a 2D keypoint estimation module for stereo inputs to improve 3D human pose estimation. The extensive experiments show that our approach outperforms the previous state-of-the-art methods qualitatively and quantitatively. UnrealEgo and our source codes are available on our project web page.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, 10 tables; project page: https://4dqv.mpi-inf.mpg.de/UnrealEgo

Role of Sphingomyelinase in Infectious Diseases Caused by Bacillus cereus

Bacillus cereus (B. cereus) is a pathogen in opportunistic infections. Here we show that Bacillus cereus sphingomyelinase (Bc-SMase) is a virulence factor for septicemia. Clinical isolates produced large amounts of Bc-SMase, grew in vivo, and caused death among mice, but ATCC strains isolated from soil did not. A transformant of the ATCC strain carrying a recombinant plasmid containing the Bc-SMase gene grew in vivo, but that with the gene for E53A, which has little enzymatic activity, did not. Administration of an anti-Bc-SMase antibody and immunization against Bc-SMase prevented death caused by the clinical isolates, showing that Bc-SMase plays an important role in the diseases caused by B. cereus. Treatment of mouse macrophages with Bc-SMase resulted in a reduction in the generation of H2O2 and phagocytosis of macrophages induced by peptidoglycan (PGN), but no effect on the release of TNF-α and little release of LDH under our experimental conditions. Confocal laser microscopy showed that the treatment of mouse macrophages with Bc-SMase resulted in the formation of ceramide-rich domains. A photobleaching analysis suggested that the cells treated with Bc-SMase exhibited a reduction in membrane fluidity. The results suggest that Bc-SMase is essential for the hydrolysis of SM in membranes, leading to a reduction in phagocytosis

Role of Nitrogen on Growth and Seed Yield of Soybean and a New Fertilization Technique to Promote Nitrogen Fixation and Seed Yield

Soybean is an important crop for human food and feed for livestock. World soybean production is increasing especially in North and South America. Soybean seeds contain a high percentage of protein about 35–40%, and they require a large amount of nitrogen compared with other crops. Soybean plants make root nodules with rhizobia, and rhizobia can fix atmospheric N2 and give the fixed N to the host soybean plants. Also, soybean can absorb nitrogen usually nitrate from soil or fertilizers. The amount of total assimilated nitrogen in shoot is proportional to the soybean seed yield either from nitrogen fixation or from nitrogen absorption, and the nitrogen availability is very important for soybean cultivation. Maintenance of a high and long-term nitrogen fixation activity is very important for a high production of soybean. However, application of chemical nitrogen fertilizers usually depresses nodule formation and nitrogen fixation. Nitrate in direct contact with a nodulated part of roots causes severe inhibition of nodule growth and nitrogen fixation, although a distant part of nodules from nitrate application gives no or little effect. Deep placement of slow-release nitrogen fertilizers, coated urea, or lime nitrogen promoted the growth and seed yield and quality of soybean without depressing nitrogen fixation

Discovery of a Long-duration Superflare on a Young Solar-type Star EK Draconis with Nearly Similar Time Evolution for H alpha and White-light Emissions

Young solar-type stars are known to show frequent "superflares, " which may severely influence the habitable worlds on young planets via intense radiation and coronal mass ejections. Here we report an optical spectroscopic and photometric observation of a long-duration superflare on the young solar-type star EK Draconis (50-120 Myr age) with the Seimei telescope and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. The flare energy 2.6 x 10³⁴ erg and white-light flare duration 2.2 hr are much larger than those of the largest solar flares, and this is the largest superflare on a solar-type star ever detected by optical spectroscopy. The H alpha emission profile shows no significant line asymmetry, meaning no signature of a filament eruption, unlike the only previous detection of a superflare on this star. Also, it did not show significant line broadening, indicating that the nonthermal heating at the flare footpoints is not essential or that the footpoints are behind the limb. The time evolution and duration of the H alpha flare are surprisingly almost the same as those of the white-light flare, which is different from general M-dwarf (super-)flares and solar flares. This unexpected time evolution may suggest that different radiation mechanisms than general solar flares are predominant, such as: (1) radiation from (off-limb) flare loops and (2) re-radiation via radiative back-warming, in both of which the cooling timescales of flare loops could determine the timescales of H alpha and white light

Probable detection of an eruptive filament from a superflare on a solar-type star

太陽型星のスーパーフレアから噴出する巨大フィラメントを初検出 --昔の、そして今の惑星環境や文明に与える脅威--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-12-10.Solar flares are often accompanied by filament/prominence eruptions (~10⁴ K and ~10¹⁰⁻¹¹ cm⁻³), sometimes leading to coronal mass ejections that directly affect the Earth’s environment. ‘Superflares’ are found on some active solar-type (G-type main-sequence) stars, but the filament eruption–coronal mass ejection association has not been established. Here we show that our optical spectroscopic observation of the young solar-type star EK Draconis reveals evidence for a stellar filament eruption associated with a superflare. This superflare emitted a radiated energy of 2.0 × 10³³ erg, and a blueshifted hydrogen absorption component with a high velocity of −510 km s⁻¹ was observed shortly afterwards. The temporal changes in the spectra strongly resemble those of solar filament eruptions. Comparing this eruption with solar filament eruptions in terms of the length scale and velocity strongly suggests that a stellar coronal mass ejection occurred. The erupted filament mass of 1.1 × 10¹⁸ g is ten times larger than those of the largest solar coronal mass ejections. The massive filament eruption and an associated coronal mass ejection provide the opportunity to evaluate how they affect the environment of young exoplanets/the young Earth6 and stellar mass/angular momentum evolution

Relationship between workplace social capital and suicidal ideation in the past year among employees in Japan: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundA growing body of evidence has demonstrated the associations between social capital and health. In residential or geographical areas, social capital has attracted attention for its protective effects against suicide. However, to this date, the relationship between social capital and suicidal ideation is not fully elaborated in the occupational setting. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the association between workplace social capital and suicidal ideation in the past year among employees in Japan.MethodsA cross-sectional, web-based survey was conducted in February/March 2017 via an anonymous self-administered questionnaire distributed to workers in Tsukuba Science City, Japan. Binomial logistic regressions were used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for suicidal ideation in the past year, controlling for age group, marital status, educational attainment, and annual household income. The results were shown stratified by sex and occupation.ResultsIn total, 7255 of 19,481 workers responded, out of which we could analyze 6325 responses (4030 men, 2295 women). The prevalence of suicidal ideation in the past year was 5.9% for men and 7.8% for women. Low workplace social capital was statistically significantly associated with suicidal ideation both for men (OR = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.72–3.83) and for women (OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.15–2.66), compared with high workplace social capital after controlling for socioeconomic factors.ConclusionHigher workplace social capital was associated with a reduced risk of suicidal ideation in the past year. Promoting workplace social capital could contribute to preventing suicide among employees in Japan

Biomarkers identified by serum metabolomic analysis to predict biologic treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Objectives. Biologic treatment has recently revolutionized the management of RA. Despite this success, ∼30-40% of the patients undergoing biologic treatment respond insufficiently. The aim of this study was to identify several specific reliable metabolites for predicting the response of RA patients to TNF-α inhibitors (TNFi) and abatacept (ABT), using capillary electrophoresis-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (CE-TOFMS). Methods. We collected serum from RA patients with moderate or high disease activity prior to biologic treatment, and obtained the serum metabolomic profiles of these samples using CE-TOFMS. The patients' response was determined 12 weeks after starting biologic treatment, according to the EULAR response criteria. We compared the metabolites between the response and non-response patient groups and analysed their discriminative ability. Results. Among 43 total patients, 14 of 26 patients in the TNFi group and 6 of 17 patients in the ABT group responded to the biologic treatment. Of the metabolites separated by CE-TOFMS, 196 were identified as known substances. Using an orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis, we identified five metabolites as potential predictors of TNFi responders and three as predictors of ABT responders. Receiver operating characteristic analyses for multiple biomarkers revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.941, with a sensitivity of 85.7% and specificity of 100% for TNFi, and an AUC of 0.985, with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 90.9% for ABT. Conclusion. By metabolomic analysis, we identified serum biomarkers that have a high ability to predict the response of RA patients to TNFi or ABT treatment