Intelligent Playful Environments for Animals

© Owner/Author 2015. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive Version of Record was published in Interacción '15 Proceedings of the XVI International Conference on Human Computer Interaction, http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/2829875.2829879We are evolving towards an interconnected and ubiquitous world, where digital devices and interfaces progressively adapt themselves to fit our needs and ease our daily activities. Although we coexist with plenty of animal species, such as our pets, we are approaching the evolution of technology in a strictly human-centric manner. A new field in Computer Science, called Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI), aims at filling this technological gap by developing systems and interfaces specifically designed for animals. Supporting animals' natural behavior and habits with suitable technology could improve both humans and animals' wellbeing. As a consequence, this doctoral research aims to explore, design and develop animal-centered intelligent systems that focus on enhancing one of the most natural animal behaviors: play. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to expand ACI with the ability of automatically manage and adapt animals play activity in order to improve their wellbeing.Work supported by MINECO (TIN2010-20488 and TIN2014-60077-R), UPV (UPV-FE-2014-24), MECD (FPU13/03831) and GVA (APOSTD/2013/013).Pons Tomás, P.; Jaén Martínez, FJ.; Catalá Bolós, A. (2015). Intelligent Playful Environments for Animals. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/2829875.2829879SHu, F., Silver, D., and Trude, A. LonelyDog@Home. 2007 IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conferences on Web Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology - Workshops, IEEE (2007), 333--337.Huizinga, J.Homo ludens. Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, The Nederlands, 1985.Mancini, C. Animal-computer interaction: a manifesto. Magazine interactions 18, 4 (2011), 69--73.Mancini, C. Animal-computer interaction (ACI): changing perspective on HCI, participation and sustainability. CHI '13 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press (2013), 2227--2236.Matsuzawa, T. The Ai project: historical and ecological contexts. Animal cognition 6, 4 (2003), 199--211.Pons, P., Jaen, J., and Catala, A. Animal Ludens: Building Intelligent Playful Environments for Animals. 11th Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment - Workshop on Animal Human Computer Interaction, (2014).Pons, P., Jaen, J., and Catala, A. Envisioning Future Playful Interactive Environments for Animals. In A. Nijholt, ed., More Playful User Interfaces. Springer, 2015.Robinson, C., Mancini, C., van der Linden, J., Guest, C., and Harris, R. Empowering assistance dogs: an alarm interface for canine use. Intelligent Systems for Animal Welfare, (2014).Rumbaugh, D.M., Gill, T. V., Brown, J. V., et al. A computer-controlled language training system for investigating the language skills of young apes. Behavior Research Methods & Instrumentation 5, 5 (1973), 385--392.Westerlaken, M. and Gualeni, S. Felino: The Philosophical Practice of Making an Interspecies Videogame. The Philosophy of Computer Games Conference, (2014), 1--12.Wingrave, C.A., Rose, J., Langston, T., and LaViola, J.J.J. Early explorations of CAT: canine amusement and training. CHI '10 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, (2010), 2661--2669.SpeakDolphin. http://www.speakdolphin.com

IL-1RL1a serum levels and IL1RL1 SNPs in the prediction of food allergy

Food allergy is a common disorder in the Western world, with increasing prevalence and substantial healthcare costs(1). Food allergy is often accompanied by the presence of specific IgE against harmless proteins in food, but not all sensitized children show clinical reactions upon exposure. Therefore, double-blind placebo-controlled food challenges (DBPCFC) remain the gold standard to diagnose food allergy, yet this test is demanding. Biomarkers that can predict clinical response to food are urgently needed

Likely questionnaire-diagnosed food allergy in 78, 890 adults from the northern Netherlands

Background It is challenging to define likely food allergy (FA) in large populations which limited the number of large studies regarding risk factors for FA. Objective We studied the prevalence and characteristics of self-reported FA (s-rFA) in the large, population-based Dutch Lifelines cohort and identified associated risk factors. Methods Likely food allergic cases (LikelyFA) were classified based on questionnaire reported characteristics consistent with FA. Subjects with atypical characteristics were classified as Indeterminate. We investigated 13 potential risk factors for LikelyFA such as birth mode and living on a farm and addressed health-related quality of life (H-RQOL). Results Of the 78, 890 subjects, 12.1% had s-rFA of which 4.0% and 8.1% were classified as LikelyFA and Indeterminate, respectively. Younger age, female sex, asthma, eczema and nasal allergy increased the risk of LikelyFA (p-value range <1.00*10−250–1.29*10−7). Living in a small city/large village or suburb during childhood was associated with a higher risk of LikelyFA than living on a farm (p-value = 7.81*10−4 and p = 4.84*10−4, respectively). Subjects classified as Indeterminate more often reported depression and burn-out compared to those without FA (p-value = 1.46*10−4 and p = 8.39*10−13, respectively). No association was found with ethnicity, (duration of) breastfeeding, birth mode and reported eating disorder. Mental and physical component scores measuring H-RQOL were lower in both those classified as LikelyFA and Indeterminate compared to those without FA. Conclusion The prevalence of s-rFA among adults is considerable and one-third reports characteristics consistent with LikelyFA. Living on a farm decreased the risk of LikelyFA. The association of poorer H-RQOL as well as depression and burn-out with questionable self-perceived FA is striking and a priority for future study

Agricultural Microcredit and Household Vulnerability in Rural Malawi

textabstractSixteen girls with Turner syndrome (TS) were treated for 4 years with biosynthetic growth hormone (GH). The dosage was 4IU/m2 body surface s.c. per day over the first 3 years. In the 4th year the dosage was increased to 61 U/m2 per day in the 6 girls with a poor height increment and in 1 girl oxandrolone was added. Ethinyl oestradiol was added after the age of 13. Mean (SD) growth velocities were 3.4 (0.9), 7.2 (1.7), 5.3 (1.3), 4.3 (2.0) and 3.6 (1.5) cm/year before and in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year of treatment. Skeletal maturation advanced faster than usual in Turner patients especially in the youger children. Although the mean height prediction increased by 5.6 cm and 11 of the 16 girls have now exceeded their predicted height, the height of the 4 girls who stopped GH treatment exceeded the predicted adult height by only 0 to 3.4 cm

On the development of extragonadal and gonadal human germ cells

Human germ cells originate in an extragonadal location and have to migrate to colonize the gonadal primordia at around seven weeks of gestation (W7, or five weeks post conception). Many germ cells are lost along the way and should enter apoptosis, but some escape and can give rise to extragonadal germ cell tumors. Due to the common somatic origin of gonads and adrenal cortex, we investigated whether ectopic germ cells were present in the human adrenals. Germ cells expressing DDX4 and/or POU5F1 were present in male and female human adrenals in the first and second trimester. However, in contrast to what has been described in mice, where 'adrenal' and 'ovarian' germ cells seem to enter meiosis in synchrony, we were unable to observe meiotic entry in human 'adrenal' germ cells until W22. By contrast, 'ovarian' germ cells at W22 showed a pronounced asynchronous meiotic entry. Interestingly, we observed that immature POU5F1+ germ cells in both first and second trimester ovaries still expressed the neural crest marker TUBB3, reminiscent of their migratory phase. Our findings highlight species- specific differences in early gametogenesis between mice and humans. We report the presence of a population of ectopic germ cells in the human adrenals during development

Recognition of S100 proteins by signal inhibitory receptor on leukocytes-1 negatively regulates human neutrophils

Signal inhibitory receptor on leukocytes-1 (SIRL-1) is an inhibitory receptor with a hitherto unknown ligand, and is expressed on human monocytes and neutrophils. SIRL-1 inhibits myeloid effector functions such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. In this study, we identify S100 proteins as SIRL-1 ligands. S100 proteins are composed of two calcium-binding domains. Various S100 proteins are damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) released from damaged cells, after which they initiate inflammation by ligating activating receptors on immune cells. We now show that the inhibitory SIRL-1 recognizes individual calcium-binding domains of all tested S100 proteins. Blocking SIRL-1 on human neutrophils enhanced S100 protein S100A6-induced ROS production, showing that S100A6 suppresses neutrophil ROS production via SIRL-1. Taken together, SIRL-1 is an inhibitory receptor recognizing the S100 protein family of DAMPs. This may help limit tissue damage induced by activated neutrophils.Chemical Immunolog

Single-cell reconstruction of follicular remodeling in the human adult ovary

The ovary is perhaps the most dynamic organ in the human body, only rivaled by the uterus. The molecular mechanisms that regulate follicular growth and regression, ensuring ovarian tissue homeostasis, remain elusive. We have performed single-cell RNA-sequencing using human adult ovaries to provide a map of the molecular signature of growing and regressing follicular populations. We have identified different types of granulosa and theca cells and detected local production of components of the complement system by (atretic) theca cells and stromal cells. We also have detected a mixture of adaptive and innate immune cells, as well as several types of endothelial and smooth muscle cells to aid the remodeling process. Our results highlight the relevance of mapping whole adult organs at the single-cell level and reflect ongoing efforts to map the human body. The association between complement system and follicular remodeling may provide key insights in reproductive biology and (in) fertility