Human motion tracking based on complementary Kalman filter

Miniaturized Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) has been widely used in many motion capturing applications. In order to overcome stability and noise problems of IMU, a lot of efforts have been made to develop appropriate data fusion method to obtain reliable orientation estimation from IMU data. This article presents a method which models the errors of orientation, gyroscope bias and magnetic disturbance, and compensate the errors of state variables with complementary Kalman filter in a body motion capture system. Experimental results have shown that the proposed method significantly reduces the accumulative orientation estimation errors

The optical microscopy with virtual image breaks a record: 50-nm resolution imaging is demonstrated

We demonstrate a new 'microsphere nanoscope' that uses ordinary SiO2 microspheres as superlenses to create a virtual image of the object in near field. The magnified virtual image greatly overcomes the diffraction limit. We are able to resolve clearly 50-nm objects under a standard white light source in both transmission and reflection modes. The resolution achieved for white light opens a new opportunity to image viruses, DNA and molecules in real time

Dysbiosis of intestinal microbiota mediates tubulointerstitial injury in diabetic nephropathy via the disruption of cholesterol homeostasis

BACKGROUND: Our previous study demonstrated that the disruption of cholesterol homeostasis promotes tubulointerstitial injury in diabetic nephropathy (DN). This study aimed to further investigate the effects of gut microbiota dysbiosis on this process and explored its potential mechanism. METHODS: Diabetic rats treated with broad-spectrum oral antibiotics or faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from the healthy donor group and human kidney 2 (HK-2) cells stimulated with sodium acetate were used to observe the effects of gut microbiota on cholesterol homeostasis. The gut microbiota distribution was measured by 16S rDNA sequencing with faeces. Serum acetate level was examined by gas chromatographic analysis. Protein expression of G protein coupled receptor 43 (GPR43) and molecules involved in cholesterol homeostasis were assessed by immunohistochemical staining, immunofluorescence staining, and Western Blotting. RESULTS: Depletion of gut microbiota significantly attenuated albuminuria and tubulointerstitial injury. Interestingly, serum acetate levels were also markedly decreased in antibiotics-treated diabetic rats and positively correlated with the cholesterol contents in kidneys. An in vitro study demonstrated that acetate significantly increased cholesterol accumulation in HK-2 cells, which was caused by increased expression of proteins mainly modulating cholesterol synthesis and uptake. As expected, FMT effectively decreased serum acetate levels and alleviated tubulointerstitial injury in diabetic rats through overriding the disruption of cholesterol homeostasis. Furthermore, GPR43 siRNA treatment blocked acetate-mediated cholesterol homeostasis dysregulation in HK-2 cells through decreasing the expression of proteins governed cholesterol synthesis and uptake. CONCLUSIONS: Our studies for the first time demonstrated that the acetate produced from gut microbiota mediated the dysregulation of cholesterol homeostasis through the activation of GPR43, thereby contributing to the tubulointerstitial injury of DN, suggesting that gut microbiota reprogramming might be a new strategy for DN prevention and therapy

Superresolution observed from evanescent waves transmitted through nano-corrugated metallic films

Plane EM waves transmitted through nano-corrugated metallic thin films produce evanescent waves which include the information on the nano-structures. The production of the evanescent waves at the metallic surface are analyzed. A microsphere located above the metallic surface collects the evanescent waves which are converted into propagating waves. The equations for the refraction at the boundary of the microsphere and the use of Snell's law for evanescent waves are developed. The magnification of the nano-structure images is explained by a geometric optics description, but the high resolution is related to the evanescent waves properties.Comment: 12 page

MiR-155 has a protective role in the development of non-alcoholic hepatosteatosis in mice

Hepatic steatosis is a global epidemic that is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes. MicroRNAs (miRs) are regulators that can functionally integrate a range of metabolic and inflammatory pathways in liver. We aimed to investigate the functional role of miR-155 in hepatic steatosis. Male C57BL/6 wild-type (WT) and miR-155−/− mice were fed either normal chow or high fat diet (HFD) for 6 months then lipid levels, metabolic and inflammatory parameters were assessed in livers and serum of the mice. Mice lacking endogenous miR-155 that were fed HFD for 6 months developed increased hepatic steatosis compared to WT controls. This was associated with increased liver weight and serum VLDL/LDL cholesterol and alanine transaminase (ALT) levels, as well as increased hepatic expression of genes involved in glucose regulation (Pck1, Cebpa), fatty acid uptake (Cd36) and lipid metabolism (Fasn, Fabp4, Lpl, Abcd2, Pla2g7). Using miRNA target prediction algorithms and the microarray transcriptomic profile of miR-155−/− livers, we identified and validated that Nr1h3 (LXRα) as a direct miR-155 target gene that is potentially responsible for the liver phenotype of miR-155−/− mice. Together these data indicate that miR-155 plays a pivotal role regulating lipid metabolism in liver and that its deregulation may lead to hepatic steatosis in patients with diabetes

Zinc oxide nanoparticle-coated films: fabrication, characterization, and antibacterial properties

In this article, novel antibacterial PVC-based films coated with ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were fabricated, characterized, and studied for their antibacterial properties. It was shown that the ZnO NPs were coated on the surface of the PVC films uniformly and that the coating process did not affect the size and shape of the NPs on the surface of PVC films. Films coated with concentrations of either 0.2 or 0.075 g/L of ZnO NPs exhibited antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria, but exhibited no antifungal activity against Aspergillus flavus and Penicillium citrinum. Smaller particles (100 nm) exhibited more potent antibacterial activity than larger particles (1000 nm). All ZnO-coated films maintained antibacterial activity after 30 days in water

7,8-dihydroxy-3-methyl-10-oxo-1H,10H-pyrano[4,3-b]chromene-9-carboxylic acid

The structure of the title compound, anhydrofulvic acid, C14H10O7, a yellow acidic metabolite isolated from Paecilomyces sp. was determined by X-ray analysis. The chromone ring system is essentially planar, with the carboxylic acid group coplanar with the ring

Hormonal regulation of ovarian bursa fluid in mice and involvement of aquaporins.

In rodent species, the ovary and the end of oviduct are encapsulated by a thin membrane called ovarian bursa. The biological functions of ovarian bursa remain unexplored despite its structural arrangement in facilitating oocytes transport into oviduct. In the present study, we observed a rapid fluid accumulation and reabsorption within the ovarian bursa after ovarian stimulation (PMSG-primed hCG injection), suggesting that the ovarian bursa might play an active role in regulating local fluid homeostasis around the timing of ovulation. We hypothesized that the aquaporin proteins, which are specialized channels for water transport, might be involved in this process. By screening the expression of aquaporin family members (Aqp1-9) in the ovarian tissue and isolated ovarian bursa (0, 1, 2 and 5 h after hCG injection), we found that AQP2 and AQP5 mRNA showed dynamic changes after hCG treatment, showing upregulation at 1-2 h followed by gradually decrease at 5 h, which is closely related with the intra-bursa fluid dynamics. Further immunofluorescence examinations of AQP2 and AQP5 in the ovarian bursa revealed that AQP2 is specifically localized in the outer layer (peritoneal side) while AQP5 localized in the inner layer (ovarian side) of the bursa, such cell type specific and spatial-temporal expressions of AQP2 and 5 support our hypothesis that they might be involved in efficient water transport through ovarian bursa under ovulation related hormonal regulation. The physiological significance of aquaporin-mediated water transport in the context of ovarian bursa still awaits further clarification

Structure of hadron resonances with a nearby zero of the amplitude

We discuss the relation between the analytic structure of the scattering amplitude and the origin of an eigenstate represented by a pole of the amplitude.If the eigenstate is not dynamically generated by the interaction in the channel of interest, the residue of the pole vanishes in the zero coupling limit. Based on the topological nature of the phase of the scattering amplitude, we show that the pole must encounter with the Castillejo-Dalitz-Dyson (CDD) zero in this limit. It is concluded that the dynamical component of the eigenstate is small if a CDD zero exists near the eigenstate pole. We show that the line shape of the resonance is distorted from the Breit-Wigner form as an observable consequence of the nearby CDD zero. Finally, studying the positions of poles and CDD zeros of the KbarN-piSigma amplitude, we discuss the origin of the eigenstates in the Lambda(1405) region.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, v2: published versio

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics