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The single image super-resolution (SISR) technique refers to improving the resolution over the original image. In recent years, we use deep learning-based convolutional neural networks to improve the spatial resolution of images more reasonably. To train such deep learning models, we use training samples consisting of the original HR images and LR images obtained by bicubic downsampling. However, this method of training data using downsampling has a negative impact when applying the trained model to real images. That is because the downsampling function that occurs in the real image is unknown, and the hypothetically created LR image does not represent the resolution degradation that can realistically occur. Therefore, SISR methods that use realistic degradation called real-world super-resolution (RWSR) have been proposed. In this paper, we investigate how such RWSR methods using realistic degradation affect the SISR performance of satellite images. The results of applying the trained model to optical satellite images show that the RWSR method is not the most effective way to handle optical satellite images when compared to the deep learning method without modeling the degradation. In particular, we showed that the effect of RWSR with not only upsampling but also noise and blur removal is significant in the visibility of optical satellite images. Moreover, pre-trained RWSR models can be an aid in visually deciphering ground objects.

The PTEN tumor suppressor gene encodes a multifunctional phosphatase that plays an important role in inhibiting the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase pathway and downstream functions that include activation of Akt/protein kinase B, cell survival, and cell proliferation. Enforced expression of PTEN in various cancer cell lines decreases cell proliferation through arrest of the cell cycle, accompanied in some cases by induction of apoptosis. We used cDNA microarrays containing 4009 cDNAs to examine changes in gene-expression profiles when exogenous PTEN was induced in PTEN-defective cells. The microarrays and subsequent semi-quantitative reverse transcription-PCR analysis revealed transcriptional stimulation of 99 genes and repression of 72 genes. Some of the differentially expressed genes already had been implicated in cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, or cell cycle control, e.g., overexpression of PTEN-induced transactivation of cyclin-dependent inhibitor 1B (p27Kip1) and 2B (p15INK4B), members of the TNF receptor family, tumor necrosis factor-associated genes, and members of the Notch-signaling and Mad families. To our knowledge this is the first report of transactivation of those genes by PTEN. The genes differentially expressed in our experiments also included many whose correlation with cancer development had not been recognized before. Our data should contribute to a greater understanding of the broad spectrum of ways in which PTEN affects intracellular signaling pathways. Analysis of expression profiles with microarrays appears to be a powerful approach for identifying anticancer genes and/or disease-specific targets for cancer therapy.

We study the oscillation spectrum and acoustic properties of a liquid drop in the phase-separated fluid when the interfacial dynamics of phase conversion can be described in terms of the kinetic growth coefficient. For a readily mobile interface, i.e., as the growth coefficient becomes comparable with a reciprocal of the acoustic impedance, anomalous behavior is found in the oscillation spectrum of a drop as well as in the velocity and absorption of a sound wave propagating through a suspension of drops in the two-phase system. Compared with the known case of two immiscible fluids, the high interface mobility leads to an anomalous softening of the radial drop pulsations and to the frequency- and temperature-dependent behavior for the sound velocity and absorption coefficient in a two-phase suspension., Comment: 6 pages

To study the effects of the intrathecal administered glutamate receptor antagonists on the bladder and urethral activities during isovolumetric bladder contraction in conscious normal and chronic spinal rats.Twenty-eight female Wistar rats with and without previous spinal cord transection were used. Before and after intrathecal administration of glutamate receptor antagonist, urodynamic parameters under isovolmetric condition of the bladder were analyzed.In normal rats, MK-801 (noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate [NMDA] receptor antagonist) and LY 293558 (competitive AMPA receptor antagonist) produced a decrease in bladder contraction pressure and urethral activity with dose dependent manner. In chronic spinal rats, detrusor-sphincter dyssynergia (DSD) was developed before drug administration. MK-801 and LY 293558 partially inhibited bladder contraction pressure, and markedly depressed urethral contraction concomitant with bladder contraction. LY 293558 produced urethral relaxation concomitant with bladder contraction.In both normal rats and chronic spinal rats, two subtypes of glutamate receptors (NMDA and AMPA receptors) in the spinal cord were involved in the control of bladder and urethral activities. The AMPA receptor in the spinal cord seems to take an important role in the development of DSD.

The effectiveness of second harmonic manipulation for power performance improvement at millimeter-wave frequencies is experimentally demonstrated. The new power amplifier stage clearly demonstrates superior performance with respect to a standard tuned load approach, both in terms of output power and power-added efficiency. Moreover, the IM3 test showed no significant differences in the two cases.

Cytoreductive resection (RST), chemohyperthermic peritoneal perfusion (CHPP) and/or intra-aortic chemotherapy (IA-chemo) were performed for peritoneal dissemination in gastric cancer. Ninety-six patients with peritoneal dissemination were grouped into tubercular (TB), 40; nodular (ND), 31; diffuse (DF) type, 19; and others, 6, respectively, by the gross findings. Sixty-three patients underwent RST. Fifty-nine patients received CHPP by 10-liter heated saline. Thirty patients underwent intra-aortic catheterization for the IA-chemo. The 1-year and 2-year survival rate (1-ysr and 2-ysr) of the RST(+) group were 47% and 10% significantly greater than the 9% and 0% of the RST(-) group (p

The electrodynamic interaction between lo and the Jovian magnetosphere drives currents to and from the planet's ionosphere, where H(3)(+) emission is excited. Direct images of this phenomenon were obtained with the ProtoCAM infrared camera at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's 3-m Infrared Telescope Facility. The emissions are localized to the instantaneous foot of the lo flux tube, approximately 8 degrees equatorward of the more intense auroral H(3)(+) emission associated with higher magnetic latitudes. The foot of the lo flux tube leads that of (undisturbed) model magnetic field lines passing through lo by 15 degrees to 20 degrees in longitude and is less visible in the northern hemisphere at longitudes where the surface magnetic field strength is greatest. These data favor the unipolar inductor model of the lo interaction and provide insight into the source location and generation of Jovian decameter radio emission.

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The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using oligonucleotides based on the repetitive sequence (IS6110) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Amplicor Mycobacterium, which combines a PCR with the hybridization assay, were evaluated for detection of M. tuberculosis in pleural fluid and gastric juice. The detection limits of these two assay systems for cultured M. tuberculosis were less than 2 cells/ml, as compared with 200 cells/ml by culture. A total of 42 pleural fluid and 94 gastric juice specimens were examined. A total of 5 pleural fluid and 5 gastric juice were culture positive for M. tuberculosis. Only the PCR gave positive results in 2 pleural fluid of which laboratory findings are characteristic of tuberculous pleuritis, and in one gastric juice of the patient who was diagnosed as having pulmonary tuberculosis. Sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value for IS6110 gene were 75%, 94% and 71.1%, respectively, in pleural fluid. Two of three positive specimens for IS6110 gene from pleural fluid were negative for Amplicor Mycobacterium. These specimens resulted in positive with Amplicor Mycobacterium when solvent extracted DNA was used. Both the PCR systems had the same sensitivity (80%), specificity (98.8%) and positive predictive value (83.3%) in gastric juice. The PCR systems would be useful for rapid detection of M. tuberculosis without long term culture and for detection of non-cultured one from pleural fluid as well as gastric juice. However, when the presence of an inhibitor of PCR is suspected in a specimen, DNA should be purified from the specimen before amplification.

The Ca2+ mobilization effect of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, the second messenger generated via receptor-stimulated hydrolysis of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate, is mediated by binding to intracellular receptors, which are expressed in high concentration in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Partially conflicting previous reports localized the receptor to various subcellular structures: elements of ER, both rough and smooth-surfaced, the nuclear envelope, and even the plasma membrane. We have now reinvestigated the problem quantitatively by using cryosections of rat cerebellar tissue immunolabeled with polyclonal monospecific antibodies against the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor. By immunofluorescence the receptor was detected only in Purkinje cells, whereas the other cells of the cerebellar cortex remained negative. In immunogold-decorated ultrathin cryosections of the Purkinje cell body, the receptor was concentrated in cisternal stacks (piles of up to 12 parallel cisternae separated by regularly spaced bridges, located both in the deep cytoplasm and beneath the plasma membrane; average density, greater than 5 particles/micron of membrane profile); in cisternal singlets and doublets adjacent to the plasma membrane (average density, approximately 2.5 particles/micron); and in other apparently smooth-surfaced vesicular and tubular profiles. Additional smooth-surfaced elements were unlabeled. Perinuclear and rough-surfaced ER cisternae were labeled much less by themselves (approximately 0.5 particles/micron, two- to threefold the background), but were often in direct membrane continuity with heavily labeled, smooth-surfaced tubules and cisternal stacks. Finally, mitochondria, Golgi cisternae, multivesicular bodies, and the plasma membrane were unlabeled. In dendrites, approximately half of the nonmitochondrial, membrane-bound structures (cisternae, tubules, and vesicles), as well as small cisternal stacks, were labeled. Dendritic spines always contained immunolabeled cisternae and vesicles. The dendritic plasma membrane, of both shaft and spines, was consistently unlabeled. These results identify a large, smooth-surfaced ER subcompartment that appears equipped to play a key role in the control of Ca2+ homeostasis: in particular, in the generation of [Ca2+]i transients triggered by activation of specific receptors, such as the quisqualate-preferring trans(+/-)-1-amino-1,3-cyclopentamedicarboxylic acid glutamatergic receptors, which are largely expressed by Purkinje cells.