Search

Segmenting three dimensional microscopy images is essential for understanding phenomena like morphogenesis, cell division, cellular growth and genetic expression patterns. Recently, deep learning (DL) pipelines have been developed which claim to provide high accuracy segmentation of cellular images and are increasingly considered as the state-of-the-art for image segmentation problems. However, it remains difficult to define their relative performances as the concurrent diversity and lack of uniform evaluation strategies makes it difficult to know how their results compare. In this paper, we first made an inventory of the available DL methods for 3 dimensional (3D) cell segmentation. We next implemented and quantitatively compared a number of representative DL pipelines, alongside a highly efficient non-DL method named MARS. The DL methods were trained on a common dataset of 3D cellular confocal microscopy images. Their segmentation accuracies were also tested in the presence of different image artifacts. A specific method for segmentation quality evaluation was adopted which isolates segmentation errors due to under/over segmentation. This is complemented with a 3D visualization strategy for interactive exploration of segmentation quality. Our analysis shows that the DL pipelines have different levels of accuracy. Two of them, which are end to end 3D and were originally designed for cell boundary detection, show high performance, and offer clear advantages in terms of adaptability to new data.Author summaryIn recent years a number of deep learning (DL) algorithms based on computational neural networks have been developed which claim to achieve high accuracy and automatic segmentation of 3D microscopy images. Although these algorithms have received considerable attention in the literature, it is difficult to evaluate their relative performances, while it remains unclear whether they really perform better than other, more classical segmentation methods.To clarify these issues, we performed a detailed, quantitative analysis of a number of representative DL pipelines for cell instance segmentation from 3D confocal microscopy image datasets. We developed a protocol for benchmarking the performances of such DL based segmentation pipelines using common training and test datasets, evaluation metrics and visualizations. Using this protocol, we evaluated and compared four different DL pipelines to identify their strengths and limitations. A high performance non-DL method was also included in the evaluation. We show that DL pipelines may show significant differences in their performances depending on their model architecture and pipeline components but overall show excellent adaptability to unseen data. We also show that our benchmarking protocol could be extended to a variety of segmentation pipelines and datasets.

Per aquest treball, s'han obtingut 9 noves datacions realitzades sobre mostres de vida curta. Es tracta de llavors (identificació de Ferran Antolín), fauna (identificació de Jordi Nadal), carbó (identificació d'Ethel Allué i Bàrbara Mas) i una resta humana (identificació de M. Eulàlia Subirà) que procedeixen de nivells que, en major part, ja havien estat datats amb anterioritat. El criteri per escollir datar aquests nivells ha estat la representativitat cultural dels mateixos i/o la correcció de les antigues datacions, Les datacions han estat sufragades pels projectes SGR2017-00011 i HAR2017- 86509 del SERP de la Universitat de Barcelona. La datació de la inhumació de C3T de D/E-104 ha anat a càrrec del projecte HAR2015-67323-C2-1-P del GRAPAC-CETEC de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

BackgroundThe proportion of older people has dramatically increased in recent decades. Moreover, social and demographic trends show a global increase of older people at risk of loneliness and lack of social relationships. The objective of this study was to evaluate the process, the effectiveness and the cost-effectiveness of a planned 22 weekly group sessions called School of Health for Older People to reduce social isolation.MethodsThis is a mixed methods multi-approach evaluation that includes: 1) A qualitative evaluation among coordinators and participants taking part in the intervention, through in depth-interviews and focus groups, respectively. The main topics covered will be positive and negative aspects of the intervention, suggestions for its improvement, opinions on different aspects of the intervention, and perceived benefits; 2) A quantitative quasi-experimental design, comparing a group of individuals taking part in the intervention with another group with similar characteristics not receiving the intervention. Data will be collected at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Social support will be measured through questions drawn from the Medical Outcomes Study and the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project questionnaires. Psychological morbidity will be measured through Goldberg's General Health Questionnaire, and Health-related Quality of Life will be measured through the EuroQoL questionnaire. Information on visits to the primary care center in the years before and after the intervention will be obtained from the electronic records of the primary care centers; 3) A cost-utility analysis, which will be conducted from a health system (primary care) perspective, including direct costs of the program and the primary care health services used. The effects of the intervention will be measured on quality-adjusted life years.DiscussionThere is an urgent need for studies assessing the effectiveness and the efficiency of potential interventions to reduce social isolation among older persons. The results of this study will help to fill the knowledge gap in this area and might be especially useful for the development of social and public health policies and programs for older people in disadvantaged neighborhoods in urban areas.Trial registrationNCT03142048 retrospectively registered (April 11, 2017).

International audience; Trade in food and agricultural products have a special place in the political consciousness of most countries. Few governments let the market alone decide on what and how much food is imported or the conditions for agricultural exports. The motives driving trade policy are various. In this chapter the authors will: 1) describe the main objectives that drive trade policy in farm and food products and the instruments used; 2) discuss the linkages between domestic and international trade policies in agricultural and food markets; 3) use a political economy approach to explain the process of change in farm and food policies; and 4) explore the interrelationship between domestic policies and the negotiation of trade agreements. The chapter looks at the reasons why various trade policies have survived and continue to dominate the international trade arena, even when they are costly and ineffective. Understanding the linkages between domestic and trade policies and the conflicting interests of governments and stakeholders is important to the understanding of international trade problems and the difficulties in negotiating rules for agricultural trade policies.

A nanofabrication process for realizing optical nanoantennas carved from a single-crystal gold plate is presented in this communication. The method relies on synthesizing two-dimensional micron-size gold crystals followed by the dry etching of a desired antenna layout. The fabrication of single-crystal optical nanoantennas with standard electron-beam lithography tool and dry etching reactor represents an alternative technological solution to focused ion beam milling of the objects. The process is exemplified by engineering nanorod antennas. Dark-field spectroscopy indicates that optical antennas produced from single crystal flakes have reduced localized surface plasmon resonance losses compared to amorphous designs of similar shape. The present process is easily applicable to other metals such as silver or copper and offers a design flexibility not found in crystalline particles synthesized by colloidal chemistry.

Various research topics are emerging as the demand for intelligent lifelong interactions between robot and humans increases. Among them, we can find the examination of persistent storage, the continuous unsupervised annotation of memories and the usage of data at high-frequency over long periods of time. We recently proposed a lifelong autobiographical memory architecture tackling some of these challenges, allowing the iCub humanoid robot to 1) create new memories for both actions that are self-executed and observed from humans, 2) continuously annotate these actions in an unsupervised manner, and 3) use reasoning modules to augment these memories a-posteriori. In this paper, we present a reasoning algorithm which generalises the robots’ understanding of actions by finding the point of commonalities with the former ones. In particular, we generated and labelled templates of pointing actions in different directions. This represents a first step towards the emergence of a procedural memory within a long-term autobiographical memory framework for robots.

In the future, robots will support humans in their every day activities. One particular challenge that robots will face is understanding and reasoning about the actions of other agents in order to cooperate effectively with humans. We propose to tackle this using a developmental framework, where the robot incrementally acquires knowledge, and in particular 1) self-learns a mapping between motor commands and sensory consequences, 2) rapidly acquires primitives and complex actions by verbal descriptions and instructions from a human partner, 3) discovers correspondences between the robots body and other articulated objects and agents, and 4) employs these correspondences to transfer the knowledge acquired from the robots point of view to the viewpoint of the other agent. We show that our approach requires very little a-priori knowledge to achieve imitation learning, to find correspondent body parts of humans, and allows taking the perspective of another agent. This represents a step towards the emergence of a mirror neuron like system based on self-learned representations.

ObjectiveTo assess bone-muscle (B-M) indices as risk factors for incident fractures in men.MethodsParticipants of the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study completed a peripheral quantitative computed tomography scan at 66% of their tibial length. Bone macrostructure, estimates of bone strength, and muscle area were computed. Areal bone mineral density (aBMD) and body composition were assessed with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Four year incident non-spine and clinical vertebral fractures were ascertained. B-M indices were expressed as bone-to-muscle ratios for: strength, mass and area. Discriminative power and hazards ratios (HR) for fractures were reported.ResultsIn 1163 men (age: 77.2±5.2 years, body mass index (BMI): 28.0±4.0 kg/m(2), 4.1±0.9 follow-up years, 7.7% of men ⋝1 fracture), B-M indices were smaller in fractured men except for bending and areal indices. Smaller B-M indices were associated with increased fracture risk (HR: 1.30 to 1.74) independent of age and BMI. Strength and mass indices remained significant after accounting for lumbar spine but not total hip aBMD. However, aBMD correlated significantly with B-M indices.ConclusionMass and bending B-M indices are risk factors for fractures in men, but may not improve fracture risk prediction beyond that provided by total hip aBMD.

This study was carried out in the framework of the research project ‘Approach to the first Neolithic communities in north-east Iberia through funerary practices (HAR2011-23149)’. We would like to thank the Sabadell History Museum and the Catalonian Museum of Archaeology in Barcelona for kindly allowing us to consult the collections from the Bòbila Madurell site studied here, as well as Lluís Sant (Archaeology and Palaeontology Service of the Catalonian Government) for providing the plans of the site.

In order to measure the energy of neutron fields, with energy ranging from 8 keV to 1 MeV, a new primary standard is being developed at the IRSN (Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety). This project, micro-TPC (Micro Time Projection Chamber), carried out in collaboration with the LPSC (Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie), is based on the nuclear recoil detector principle. The instrument is presented with the associated method to measure the neutron energy. This article emphasizes the proton energy calibration procedure and energy measurements of a neutron field produced at 127 keV with the IRSN facility AMANDE., Comment: 7 pages. Submitted in IEEE TNS/ Special Issue ANIMMA 2013

In this paper, we describe an innovative approach for aligning the business layer and the application layer of ArchiMate to ensure that applications manage access rights consistently with enterprise goals and risk tolerances. The alignment is realized by using the responsibility of the employees, which we model using ReMoLa. The main focus of the alignment targets the definition and the assignment of the access rights needed by the employees according to business specification. The approach is illustrated and validated with a case study in a municipal hospital in Luxembourg.

The AMANDE facility produces monoenergetic neutron fields from 2 keV to 20 MeV for metrological purposes. To be considered as a reference facility, fluence and energy distributions of neutron fields have to be determined by primary measurement standards. For this purpose, a micro Time Projection Chamber is being developed to be dedicated to measure neutron fields with energy ranging from 8 keV up to 1 MeV. In this work we present simulations showing that such a detector, which allows the measurement of the ionization energy and the 3D reconstruction of the recoil nucleus, provides the determination of neutron energy and fluence of these neutron fields.

The Central Spain plains have a great paleoclimatic interest. They are located around 40° N and at heights of 450/650 m.a.s.l. During the Pleistocene their paleosedimentary environment developed under Mediterranean climates, degraded or separated by small hiatus. In these plains, loess represents one of the most suitable surface deposits to reconstruct past environments and for the determination of climate changes. For this study, over one hundred samples from such deposits were collected, in which the determination of physical properties was carried out through mechanical analysis. The age of the loess has been obtained by thermoluminescence and can be linked to the Oxygen isotope (OIS) 3 and 2 (Würm period and Late Glacial) phases. The loess are correlated with other cold features in this area. Among them, are the «stratified debris slope deposits» related to breakdown by seasonal freezing and thawing. Las llanuras del centro de España muestran un gran interés paleoclimático. Se sitúan en torno a los 40° de latitud Norte y entre 450-650 metros de altitud. Durante el Pleistoceno, sus condiciones sedimentarias se han desarrollado bajo climas mediterráneos, degradados o separados por pequeños hiatos. En estas llanuras, el loess es una de las acumulaciones superficiales más adecuadas para la reconstrucción de ambientes pasados y para la determinación de cambios climáticos. Se han analizado, para el presente estudio, más de un centenar de muestras en estos depósitos eólicos, en el que la determinación de las propiedades físicas se ha llevado a cabo por medio de análisis mecánicos. La edad del loess ha sido obtenida por termoluminiscencia y se puede asociar a las fases isotópicas del oxígeno (OIS) 3 y 2 (período Würm y tardiglaciar). Los loess están correlacionados con otras formaciones frías de estos ambientes y, entre ellas, con los depósitos estratificados sobre las laderas en relación con intensos fríos y bruscos cambios térmicos y estacionales.

The transdisciplinary study of the EE1 pit of the Cova Colomera has provided a group of data that can bring some important information about the domestic and economical practices developed in the cave and also about the paleoenvironmental characteristics of this area of the Northeast of the peninsula during the third to second millennia cal. BC. The data show that this cave was used by small groups of people with a mixed farming economy, who also had recourse to mobile activities to complete their diet. Moreover, some structures dug in the floor of the cavity were dug by these groups and went out of use during their short stays in the Cova Colomera. The functionality of these structures is discussed in this article. They could have used them to store surpluses and later to contain refuse or to remove the domestic waste.El estudio transdisciplinar de la fosa EE1 de la Cova Colomera ha proporcionado un conjunto de datos que aportan importante información sobre las prácticas domésticas y económicas desarrolladas en ella, y sobre las características paleoambientales de esta zona del noreste peninsular en el tránsito III-II milenio cal. AC. Los resultados apuntan a que esta cueva fue ocupada por grupos reducidos, con una economía mixta agropecuaria, que recurrían también a actividades cinegéticas para completar su dieta. En sus cortas estancias en la Cova Colomera, crearon y amortizaron estructuras excavadas en el suelo de la cavidad, como la fosa EE1, bien para almacenar excedentes y después desechar basura, o bien para eliminar residuos de origen doméstico.

The proliferative response of PBMC to hepatitis B virus (HBV) envelope, core, and e Ag was analyzed prospectively in 21 patients with acute self-limited HBV infection and compared with the response of patients with chronic HBV infection and different levels of HBV replication (i.e., hepatitis e Ag (HBeAg)- or anti-HBe-positive) and liver damage (i.e., chronic active hepatitis or chronic asymptomatic carriers). Our results indicate that: 1) HBV-infected subjects who develop a self-limited acute hepatitis show a vigorous PBMC response to hepatitis B core Ag and HBeAg, as expression of T cell activation; 2) appearance of a detectable lymphocyte response to HBV nucleocapsid Ag is temporally associated with the clearance of HBV envelope Ag; 3) in patients with chronic HBV infection the level of T cell responsiveness to hepatitis B core Ag and to HBeAg is significantly lower than that observed during acute infection; 4) T cell sensitization to HBV envelope Ag in acute and chronic HBV infection is usually undetectable and when measurable is expressed transiently and at low levels. These results may reflect immune events of pathogenetic relevance with respect to evolution of disease and viral clearance.

In this paper we present an approach for specifying and prioritizing information security requirements in organizations. It is important to prioritize security requirements since hundred per cent security is not achievable and the limited resources available should be directed to satisfy the most important ones. We propose to link explicitly security requirements with the organization’s business vision, i.e. to provide business rationale for security requirements. The rationale is then used as a basis for comparing the importance of different security requirements. A conceptual framework is presented, where the relationships between business vision, critical impact factors and valuable assets (together with their security requirements) are shown.

We investigated the frequency of a rare variant of a common microsatellite tetrarepeat allele in the tyrosine hydroxylase gene in 2 independent ethnic groups of schizophrenic patients and their matched controls. In a French population we found the rare variant allele in 5 of 94 (5%) unrelated chronic schizophrenic patients and in none of 145 unaffected controls, thus yielding a significant association (p0.01) between schizophrenia and the tyrosine hydroxylase gene. Similarly, in a replication study, we found the rare allele in 4 of 44 (9%) unrelated chronic schizophrenic patients and in none of 44 unaffected controls in a Tunisian population. Albeit the reason of this association is at the moment unknown, it is possible that this polymorphism in the tyrosine hydroxylase gene may be involved in the regulation of its activity.

The authors present the results of a pilot study of the use of bromocriptine in affective disorders. Twelve inpatients suffering from endogenous depression (9 bipolar, 1 schizoaffective and 2 unipolar patients) and 3 excited inpatients (2 schizo-affective and one bipolar manic patient) were treated for 15 days with doses of bromocriptine that varied between 10–15 mg for depressed patients and 5–10 mg for excited patients. The limited improvement is discussed.

For 16 years we have used segmental urethrectomy with end-to-end urethrorrhaphy for treatment of traumatic urethral lesions, in preference to two-stage urethroplasties. The approach has been transperineal, retropubic, and if necessary transpubic. Good results in 41 cases with long-term follow-up allow us to say that this is a good operation. It provides in two thirds of the patients a correct and stable urethral stream, complete bladder emptying, and does not affect urinary control or sexual function if this was normal following the injury.

The trans-symphyseal or transpubic approach is a useful technique which gives a very good exposure of the prostatic and membraneous urethra. We have used it on seven patients, for repair of post-traumatic strictures of the posterior urethra, complementary to the transperineal route in most difficult cases. This technique has allowed a correct anastomosis between the distal and the prostatic urethra in all these cases. The short-term results are good and no lasting orthopaedic sequelae have been observed.

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Communication orale (M. Petit) intitulée : Novel phosphate-phosphonate hybrid nanomaterials appied to biology

The success of electrification will rely on the development of new electric vehicles able to tackle main challenges being high cost, autonomy and also safety. As a consequence, critical choices need to be made as soon as the development and prototyping phase. Modelling can then play a crucial role in order to anticipate and validate the choices made. This is the guideline of the DEMOBASE Project in order to develop an innovating EV concept meeting new market demand. In this poster we will focus on the 0D modelling of the battery thermal behaviour in nominal and abuse conditions. Can 0D approaches give a help for the pack design in the first steps of conception?

International audience

Despite the effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs in schizophrenia, many patients continue to have persistent positive symptoms like hallucinations. It has provided new interest for coping strategies used by hallucinated patients. Therefore the aim of the study was to explore the existence of such strategies in 50 schizophrenic patients defined by the presence of hallucinations. A specific questionnaire about coping strategies and a scale for the assessment of positive and negative symptoms were used. Our results showed that each patient developed at least one strategy, even rudimentary. Moreover, whenever the type of hallucinations, they developed specific coping strategies, most of the time logically used: they used them as much as they were efficace. So coping strategies should be taken into account for the clinical management of hallucinated patients. Learning of these strategies through behavioural and cognitive therapy could help patients suffering from resistant hallucinations.

Since the Bleuler's early writings, studies in schizophrenia have often shown a frequent occurrence of depression in the context of schizophrenia and also its implications for the morbidity and mortality of schizophrenic patients. The wide variability in the prevalence of depression (between 7 to 70% in post-psychotic period) is due in part to the difficulty in clearly separating depressive symptoms from akinesia induced by neuroleptic or negative symptoms and to the lack of a valid assessment of depressive symptoms in schizophrenic patients. Under these conditions, a better understanding of depressive symptomatology in schizophrenia seems to be necessary to go further in this area of research with clinical and therapeutical purposes. The "Echelle de Ralentissement Dépressif" (ERD, Widlöcher, 1983) was studied in a sample of 53 schizophrenic patients to determinate whether ERD composed of three subscores (motor, ideic and subjective) could be able to evaluate the subjective depressive symptomatology and whether its measure would be independent of negative symptoms or akinesia. Pearson's correlations and correlations with variables partialled out were used to compare ERD to Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS, 1979) and to establish their relationship with Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSSKay, 1987) and an Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale (ESRS, ChouinardRoss-Chouinard, 1980). Fifty three in or outpatients (35 males and 18 females, mean age +/- standard deviation = 38.26 +/- 9.82) were evaluated in a stable condition (i.e., when the psychotic symptomatology and the neuroleptic treatment have been stabilized since 4 weeks). According to DESM III-R criteria, 49 patients met the diagnosis of schizophrenia (2 schizoaffective disorders and 2 schizophreniform disorders).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The discrepancies of studies on symptomatology and treatment of schizophrenia could be related to the selection of different patients diagnosed by one diagnostic system, different from a study to another. Therefore, we tested whether 14 diagnostic systems could include 51 patients differently as regard to the intensity of positive, negative or depressive symptomatology and to the phase of illness. The distribution of the patients in different sets of diagnosis has been carried out by a computer program and the symptomatology has been evaluated with PANSS and MADRS. Some diagnostic criteria like DSMIII-R, Langfeldt, Taylor, ICD 9 include negative and depressive patients preferentially. Others systems like Berner, Catego, ICD 9, New-Haven, Schneider, include more patients with acute than residual symptoms. These results show the importance of the choice of one or more diagnostic criteria depending on the aim of the study.

With a polydiagnostic approach of schizophrenia in mind, the authors present, in french language, a computer-diagnostic instrument, essential for any research at the present time. This includes a 183-item checklist constructed from 14 diagnostic systems for schizophrenia and from Chronic Hallucinatory Psychosis (CHP), a typically french diagnostic entity, not recognized by English-speaking countries which do not individualize it from schizophrenia. This study tested the reliability in interviewing the patients simultaneously by 2 examiners with the checklist. The interrater agreement was excellent (Kappa from 0.75 to 1) for schizophrenic diagnoses under the systems CATEGO, DSM III-R, Feighner, ICD9, Langfeldt, Pull, Schneider and Taylor-Abrams. It was good (Kappa from 0.40 to 0.75) for the 6 other schizophrenic systems, Bleuler (k = 0.52; p0.01), Carpenter with a cut-off at 6 (k = 0.52; p0.05), ICD10 (k = 0.70; p0.01), New-Haven (k = 0.58), RDC (k = 0.59; p0.01), Vienne (k = 0.68; p0.01), and the Chronic Hallucinatory Psychosis (Pull) (k = 0.71; p0.01). The validity of the computer program was tested by the concordance (Cohen's Kappa) between the diagnoses established by a medical examiner and by computer, both obtained from the same collected data (the checklist). The tests show that the concordances were excellent for the 15 diagnoses for schizophrenia and CHP (Kappa form 0.75 to 1) and always above those obtained by the tests of interreliability.

International audience