Robust face recognition by combining projection-based image correction and decomposed eigenface

This work presents a robust face recognition method, which can work even when an insufficient number of images are registered for each person. The method is composed of image correction and image decomposition, both of which are specified in the normalized image space (NIS). The image correction [(F. Sakaue and T. Shakunaga, 2004), (T. Shakunaga and F. Sakaue, 2002)] is realized by iterative projections of an image to an eigenspace in NIS. It works well for natural images having various kinds of noise, including shadows, reflections, and occlusions. We have proposed decomposition of an eigenface into two orthogonal eigenspaces [T. Shakunaga and K. Shigenari, 2001], and have shown that the decomposition is effective for realizing robust face recognition under various lighting conditions. This work shows that the decomposed eigenface method can be refined by projection-based image correction

Decomposed eigenface for face recognition under various lighting conditions

Face recognition under various lighting condition's is discussed to cover cases when too few images are available for registration. This paper proposes decomposition of an eigenface into two orthogonal eigenspaces for realizing robust face recognition under such conditions. The decomposed eigenfaces consisting of two eigenspaces are constructed for each person even if only one image is available. A universal eigenspace called the canonical space (CS) plays an important role in creating the eigenspaces by way of decomposition, where CS is constructed a priori by principal component analysis (PCA) over face images of many people under many lighting conditions. In the registration stage, an input face image is decomposed to a projection image in CS and the residual of the projection. Then two eigenspaces are created independently in CS and in the orthogonal complement CS/sup /spl perp//. Some refinements of the two eigenspaces are also discussed. By combining the two eigenspaces, we can easily realize face identification that is robust to illumination change, even when too few images are registered. Through experiments, we show the effectiveness of the decomposed eigenfaces as compared with conventional methods.</p

The whole blood transcriptional regulation landscape in 465 COVID-19 infected samples from Japan COVID-19 Task Force

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19患者由来の血液細胞における遺伝子発現の網羅的解析 --重症度に応じた遺伝子発現の変化には、ヒトゲノム配列の個人差が影響する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-23.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a recently-emerged infectious disease that has caused millions of deaths, where comprehensive understanding of disease mechanisms is still unestablished. In particular, studies of gene expression dynamics and regulation landscape in COVID-19 infected individuals are limited. Here, we report on a thorough analysis of whole blood RNA-seq data from 465 genotyped samples from the Japan COVID-19 Task Force, including 359 severe and 106 non-severe COVID-19 cases. We discover 1169 putative causal expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) including 34 possible colocalizations with biobank fine-mapping results of hematopoietic traits in a Japanese population, 1549 putative causal splice QTLs (sQTLs; e.g. two independent sQTLs at TOR1AIP1), as well as biologically interpretable trans-eQTL examples (e.g., REST and STING1), all fine-mapped at single variant resolution. We perform differential gene expression analysis to elucidate 198 genes with increased expression in severe COVID-19 cases and enriched for innate immune-related functions. Finally, we evaluate the limited but non-zero effect of COVID-19 phenotype on eQTL discovery, and highlight the presence of COVID-19 severity-interaction eQTLs (ieQTLs; e.g., CLEC4C and MYBL2). Our study provides a comprehensive catalog of whole blood regulatory variants in Japanese, as well as a reference for transcriptional landscapes in response to COVID-19 infection

DOCK2 is involved in the host genetics and biology of severe COVID-19

「コロナ制圧タスクフォース」COVID-19疾患感受性遺伝子DOCK2の重症化機序を解明 --アジア最大のバイオレポジトリーでCOVID-19の治療標的を発見--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2022-08-10.Identifying the host genetic factors underlying severe COVID-19 is an emerging challenge. Here we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) involving 2, 393 cases of COVID-19 in a cohort of Japanese individuals collected during the initial waves of the pandemic, with 3, 289 unaffected controls. We identified a variant on chromosome 5 at 5q35 (rs60200309-A), close to the dedicator of cytokinesis 2 gene (DOCK2), which was associated with severe COVID-19 in patients less than 65 years of age. This risk allele was prevalent in East Asian individuals but rare in Europeans, highlighting the value of genome-wide association studies in non-European populations. RNA-sequencing analysis of 473 bulk peripheral blood samples identified decreased expression of DOCK2 associated with the risk allele in these younger patients. DOCK2 expression was suppressed in patients with severe cases of COVID-19. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (n = 61 individuals) identified cell-type-specific downregulation of DOCK2 and a COVID-19-specific decreasing effect of the risk allele on DOCK2 expression in non-classical monocytes. Immunohistochemistry of lung specimens from patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia showed suppressed DOCK2 expression. Moreover, inhibition of DOCK2 function with CPYPP increased the severity of pneumonia in a Syrian hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, characterized by weight loss, lung oedema, enhanced viral loads, impaired macrophage recruitment and dysregulated type I interferon responses. We conclude that DOCK2 has an important role in the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe COVID-19, and could be further explored as a potential biomarker and/or therapeutic target