PVSNet: Palm Vein Authentication Siamese Network Trained using Triplet Loss and Adaptive Hard Mining by Learning Enforced Domain Specific Features

Designing an end-to-end deep learning network to match the biometric features with limited training samples is an extremely challenging task. To address this problem, we propose a new way to design an end-to-end deep CNN framework i.e., PVSNet that works in two major steps: first, an encoder-decoder network is used to learn generative domain-specific features followed by a Siamese network in which convolutional layers are pre-trained in an unsupervised fashion as an autoencoder. The proposed model is trained via triplet loss function that is adjusted for learning feature embeddings in a way that minimizes the distance between embedding-pairs from the same subject and maximizes the distance with those from different subjects, with a margin. In particular, a triplet Siamese matching network using an adaptive margin based hard negative mining has been suggested. The hyper-parameters associated with the training strategy, like the adaptive margin, have been tuned to make the learning more effective on biometric datasets. In extensive experimentation, the proposed network outperforms most of the existing deep learning solutions on three type of typical vein datasets which clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed method.Comment: Accepted in 5th IEEE International Conference on Identity, Security and Behavior Analysis (ISBA), 2019, Hyderabad, Indi

Synthesis, Characterization, and Magnetic Studies of α

Very fine nanosized metal oxide, namely, iron oxide (α-Fe2O3) has been synthesized by precipitation method using ammonia as precipitating agent and characterized by using XRD (X-ray diffraction), TGA/DTA, surface area measurement, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and magnetic measurements techniques. XRD studies show that iron oxide was formed as α-Fe2O3 instead of the commonly formed magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) or a mixture of magnetite (Fe3O4) and maghemite (γ-Fe2O3, cubic), and it has rhombohedral structure. Magnetic measurements showed that iron oxide has five unpaired electrons and is ferromagnetic in nature, Ms value being 1.7 emu/g. The particle size of the synthesized iron oxide was determined by TEM. TEM images show that the size of particles of Fe2O3 varied from 15 nm to 49 nm with average crystallite size 35 nm

A single coronary artery with left circumflex artery crossing right ventricular outflow tract in tetralogy of Fallot with absent left pulmonary artery

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) with unilateral absence of pulmonary artery and the anomalous coronary artery is a rare combination. Detailed preoperative evaluation of coronary artery anatomy is must to prevent injury to the major vessels crossing right ventricular outflow tract. We report a rare association of single coronary artery with left circumflex artery crossing right ventricular outflow tract close to the pulmonary annulus in tetralogy of Fallot with absent left pulmonary artery in 11-year-old girl. Though there is a great diversity of coronary anomalies in tetralogy of Fallot, the prepulmonic course of left circumflex artery crossing the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) close to the pulmonary annulus has rarely been described in the literature. The patient underwent successful primary single lung intracardiac repair. Right ventricular outflow tract obstruction was treated by handmade valved pericardial autologous conduit and release of the tethering of hypoplastic native unicuspid pulmonary valve leaflet maintaining its integrity

Phloretin, as a Potent Anticancer Compound: From Chemistry to Cellular Interactions

Phloretin is a natural dihydrochalcone found in many fruits and vegetables, especially in apple tree leaves and the Manchurian apricots, exhibiting several therapeutic properties, such as antioxidant, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor activities. In this review article, the diverse aspects of the anticancer potential of phloretin are addressed, presenting its antiproliferative, proapoptotic, antimetastatic, and antiangiogenic activities in many different preclinical cancer models. The fact that phloretin is a planar lipophilic polyphenol and, thus, a membrane-disrupting Pan-Assay Interference compound (PAIN) compromises the validity of the cell-based anticancer activities. Phloretin significantly reduces membrane dipole potential and, therefore, is expected to be able to activate a number of cellular signaling pathways in a non-specific way. In this way, the effects of this minor flavonoid on Bax and Bcl-2 proteins, caspases and MMPs, cytokines, and inflammatory enzymes are all analyzed in the current review. Moreover, besides the anticancer activities exerted by phloretin alone, its co-effects with conventional anticancer drugs are also under discussion. Therefore, this review presents a thorough overview of the preclinical anticancer potential of phloretin, allowing one to take the next steps in the development of novel drug candidates and move on to clinical trials