Special Issue on “Advances in Condition Monitoring, Optimization and Control for Complex Industrial Processes’’

Complex industrial automation systems and processes, such as chemical processes, manufacturing systems, wireless network systems, power and energy systems, smart grids and so forth, have greatly contributed to our daily life. Complex engineering systems are rather expensive, with a high requirement for system reliability and control and production performance ..

Face liveness detection by exploring multiple scenic clues

Abstract—Liveness detection is an indispensable guarantee for reliable face recognition, which has recently received enormous attention. In this paper we propose three scenic clues, which are non-rigid motion, face-background consistency and imaging banding effect, to conduct accurate and efficient face liveness detection. Non-rigid motion clue indicates the facial motions that a genuine face can exhibit such as blink, and a low rank matrix decomposition based image alignment approach is designed to extract this non-rigid motion. Face-background consistency clue believes that the motion of face and background has high consistency for fake facial photos while low consistency for genuine faces, and this consistency can serve as an efficient liveness clue which is explored by GMM based motion detec-tion method. Image banding effect reflects the imaging quality defects introduced in the fake face reproduction, which can be detected by wavelet decomposition. By fusing these three clues, we thoroughly explore sufficient clues for liveness detection. The proposed face liveness detection method achieves 100 % accuracy on Idiap print-attack database and the best performance on self collected face antispoofing database. I

Co-Evolution of Primate SAMHD1 and Lentivirus Vpx Leads to the Loss of the vpx Gene in HIV-1 Ancestor

Cross-species transmission and adaptation of simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs) to humans have given rise to human immunodeficiency viruses (HIVs). HIV type 1 (HIV-1) and type 2 (HIV-2) were derived from SIVs that infected chimpanzee (SIVcpz) and sooty mangabey (SIVsm), respectively. The HIV-1 restriction factor SAMHD1 inhibits HIV-1 infection in human myeloid cells and can be counteracted by the Vpx protein of HIV-2 and the SIVsm lineage. However, HIV-1 and its ancestor SIVcpz do not encode a Vpx protein and HIV-1 has not evolved a mechanism to overcome SAMHD1-mediated restriction. Here we show that the co-evolution of primate SAMHD1 and lentivirus Vpx leads to the loss of the vpx gene in SIVcpz and HIV-1. We found evidence for positive selection of SAMHD1 in orangutan, gibbon, rhesus macaque, and marmoset, but not in human, chimpanzee and gorilla that are natural hosts of Vpx-negative HIV-1, SIVcpz and SIVgor, respectively, indicating that vpx drives the evolution of primate SAMHD1. Ancestral host state reconstruction and temporal dynamic analyses suggest that the most recent common ancestor of SIVrcm, SIVmnd, SIVcpz, SIVgor and HIV-1 was a SIV that had a vpx gene; however, the vpx gene of SIVcpz was lost approximately 3643 to 2969 years ago during the infection of chimpanzees. Thus, HIV-1 could not inherit the lost vpx gene from its ancestor SIVcpz. The lack of Vpx in HIV-1 results in restricted infection in myeloid cells that are important for antiviral immunity, which could contribute to the AIDS pandemic by escaping the immune responses

Disrupted Functional Brain Connectivity in Partial Epilepsy: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Examining the spontaneous activity to understand the neural mechanism of brain disorder is a focus in recent resting-state fMRI. In the current study, to investigate the alteration of brain functional connectivity in partial epilepsy in a systematical way, two levels of analyses (functional connectivity analysis within resting state networks (RSNs) and functional network connectivity (FNC) analysis) were carried out on resting-state fMRI data acquired from the 30 participants including 14 healthy controls(HC) and 16 partial epilepsy patients. According to the etiology, all patients are subdivided into temporal lobe epilepsy group (TLE, included 7 patients) and mixed partial epilepsy group (MPE, 9 patients). Using group independent component analysis, eight RSNs were identified, and selected to evaluate functional connectivity and FNC between groups. Compared with the controls, decreased functional connectivity within all RSNs was found in both TLE and MPE. However, dissociating patterns were observed within the 8 RSNs between two patient groups, i.e, compared with TLE, we found decreased functional connectivity in 5 RSNs increased functional connectivity in 1 RSN, and no difference in the other 2 RSNs in MPE. Furthermore, the hierarchical disconnections of FNC was found in two patient groups, in which the intra-system connections were preserved for all three subsystems while the lost connections were confined to intersystem connections in patients with partial epilepsy. These findings may suggest that decreased resting state functional connectivity and disconnection of FNC are two remarkable characteristics of partial epilepsy. The selective impairment of FNC implicated that it is unsuitable to understand the partial epilepsy only from global or local perspective. We presumed that studying epilepsy in the multi-perspective based on RSNs may be a valuable means to assess the functional changes corresponding to specific RSN and may contribute to the understanding of the neuro-pathophysiological mechanism of epilepsy

Multiple-Clade H5N1 Influenza Split Vaccine Elicits Broad Cross Protection against Lethal Influenza Virus Challenge in Mice by Intranasal Vaccination

Background: The increase in recent outbreaks and unpredictable changes of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in birds and humans highlights the urgent need to develop a cross-protective H5N1 vaccine. We here report our development of a multiple-clade H5N1 influenza vaccine tested for immunogenicity and efficacy to confer cross-protection in an animal model. Methodology/Principal Findings: Mice received two doses of influenza split vaccine with oil-in-water emulsion adjuvant SP01 by intranasal administration separated by two weeks. Single vaccines (3 mg HA per dose) included rg-A/Vietnam/1203/ 2004(Clade 1), rg-A/Indonesia/05/2005(Clade 2.1), and rg-A/Anhui/1/2005(Clade 2.3.4). The trivalent vaccine contained 1 mg HA per dose of each single vaccine. Importantly, complete cross-protection was observed in mice immunized using trivalent vaccine with oil-in-water emulsion adjuvant SP01 that was subsequently challenged with the lethal A/OT/SZ/097/03 influenza strain (Clade 0), whereas only the survival rate was up to 60 % in single A/Anhui/1/2005 vaccine group. Conclusion/Significance: Our findings demonstrated that the multiple-clade H5N1 influenza vaccine was able to elicit a cross-protective immune response to heterologous HPAI H5N1 virus, thus giving rise to a broadly cross-reactive vaccine to potential prevention use ahead of the strain-specific pandemic influenza vaccine in the event of an HPAI H5N1 influenza outbreak. Also, the multiple-clade adjuvanted vaccine could be useful in allowing timely initiation of vaccination agains

Lignosulfonic Acid Exhibits Broadly Anti-HIV-1 Activity – Potential as a Microbicide Candidate for the Prevention of HIV-1 Sexual Transmission

Some secondary metabolites from plants show to have potent inhibitory activities against microbial pathogens, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), Treponema pallidum, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, etc. Here we report that lignosulfonic acid (LSA), a polymeric lignin derivative, exhibits potent and broad activity against HIV-1 isolates of diverse subtypes including two North America strains and a number of Chinese clinical isolates values ranging from 21.4 to 633 nM. Distinct from other polyanions, LSA functions as an entry inhibitor with multiple targets on viral gp120 as well as on host receptor CD4 and co-receptors CCR5/CXCR4. LSA blocks viral entry as determined by time-of-drug addiction and cell-cell fusion assays. Moreover, LSA inhibits CD4-gp120 interaction by blocking the binding of antibodies specific for CD4-binding sites (CD4bs) and for the V3 loop of gp120. Similarly, LSA interacts with CCR5 and CXCR4 via its inhibition of specific anti-CCR5 and anti-CXCR4 antibodies, respectively. Interestingly, the combination of LSA with AZT and Nevirapine exhibits synergism in viral inhibition. For the purpose of microbicide development, LSA displays low in vitro cytotoxicity to human genital tract epithelial cells, does not stimulate NF-κB activation and has no significant up-regulation of IL-1α/β and IL-8 as compared with N-9. Lastly, LSA shows no adverse effect on the epithelial integrity and the junctional protein expression. Taken together, our findings suggest that LSA can be a potential candidate for tropical microbicide

Tumor-Initiating Cells Are Enriched in CD44hi Population in Murine Salivary Gland Tumor

Tumor-initiating cells (T-ICs) discovered in various tumors have been widely reported. However, T-IC populations in salivary gland tumors have yet to be elucidated. Using the established Pleomorphic Adenoma Gene-1 (Plag1) transgenic mouse model of a salivary gland tumor, we identified CD44high (CD44hi) tumor cells, characterized by high levels of CD44 cell surface expression, as the T-ICs for pleomorphic adenomas. These CD44hi tumor cells incorporated 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU), at a lower rate than their CD44negative (CD44neg) counterparts, and also retained BrdU for a long period of time. Cell surface maker analysis revealed that 25% of the CD44hi tumor cells co-express other cancer stem cell markers such as CD133 and CD117. As few as 500 CD44hi tumor cells were sufficient to initiate pleomorphic adenomas in one third of the wildtype mice, whereas more than 1×104 CD44neg cells were needed for the same purpose. In NIH 3T3 cells, Plag1 was capable of activating the gene transcription of Egr1, a known upregulator for CD44. Furthermore, deletion of sequence 81–96 in the Egr1 promoter region abolished the effect of Plag1 on Egr1 upregulation. Our results establish the existence of T-ICs in murine salivary gland tumors, and suggest a potential molecular mechanism for CD44 upregulation

A Novel Replication-Competent Vaccinia Vector MVTT Is Superior to MVA for Inducing High Levels of Neutralizing Antibody via Mucosal Vaccination

Mucosal vaccination offers great advantage for inducing protective immune response to prevent viral transmission and dissemination. Here, we report our findings of a head-to-head comparison of two viral vectors modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) and a novel replication-competent modified vaccinia Tian Tan (MVTT) for inducing neutralizing antibodies (Nabs) via intramuscular and mucosal vaccinations in mice. MVTT is an attenuated variant of the wild-type VTT, which was historically used as a smallpox vaccine for millions of Chinese people. The spike glycoprotein (S) of SARS-CoV was used as the test antigen after the S gene was constructed in the identical genomic location of two vectors to generate vaccine candidates MVTT-S and MVA-S. Using identical doses, MVTT-S induced lower levels (∼2-3-fold) of anti- SARS-CoV neutralizing antibodies (Nabs) than MVA-S through intramuscular inoculation. MVTT-S, however, was capable of inducing consistently 20-to-100-fold higher levels of Nabs than MVA-S when inoculated via either intranasal or intraoral routes. These levels of MVTT-S-induced Nab responses were substantially (∼10-fold) higher than that induced via the intramuscular route in the same experiments. Moreover, pre-exposure to the wild-type VTT via intranasal or intraoral route impaired the Nab response via the same routes of MVTT-S vaccination probably due to the pre-existing anti-VTT Nab response. The efficacy of intranasal or intraoral vaccination, however, was still 20-to-50-fold better than intramuscular inoculation despite the subcutaneous pre-exposure to wild-type VTT. Our data have implications for people who maintain low levels of anti-VTT Nabs after historical smallpox vaccination. MVTT is therefore an attractive live viral vector for mucosal vaccination