Search

3D reconstruction is a long-standing research topic in the photogrammetric and computer vision communities; although a plethora of open-source and commercial solutions for 3D reconstruction have been released in the last few years, several open challenges and limitations still exist. Undoubtedly, deep learning algorithms have demonstrated great potential in several remote sensing tasks, including image-based 3D reconstruction. State-of-the-art monocular and stereo algorithms leverage deep learning techniques and achieve increased performance in depth estimation and 3D reconstruction. However, one of the limitations of such methods is that they highly rely on large training sets that are often tedious to obtain; even when available, they typically refer to indoor, close-range scenarios and low-resolution images. Especially while considering UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) scenarios, such data are not available and domain adaptation is not a trivial challenge. To fill this gap, the UAV-based multi-sensor dataset for geospatial research (UseGeo - https://usegeo.fbk.eu/home) is introduced in this paper. It contains both image and LiDAR data and aims to support relevant research in photogrammetry and computer vision with a useful training set for both stereo and monocular 3D reconstruction algorithms. In this regard, the dataset provides ground truth data for both point clouds and depth maps. In addition, UseGeo can be also a valuable dataset for other tasks such as feature extraction and matching, aerial triangulation, or image and LiDAR co-registration. The paper introduces the UseGeo dataset and validates some state-of-the-art algorithms to assess their usability for both monocular and multi-view 3D reconstruction.

Depth estimation and 3D model reconstruction from aerial imagery is an important task in photogrammetry, remote sensing, and computer vision. To compare the performance of different image-based approaches, this study presents a benchmark for UAV-based aerial imagery using the UseGeo dataset. The contributions include the release of various evaluation routines on GitHub, as well as a comprehensive comparison of baseline approaches, such as methods for offline multi-view 3D reconstruction resulting in point clouds and triangle meshes, online multi-view depth estimation, as well as single-image depth estimation using self-supervised deep learning. With the release of our evaluation routines, we aim to provide a universal protocol for the evaluation of depth estimation and 3D reconstruction methods on the UseGeo dataset. The conducted experiments and analyses show that each method excels in a different category: the depth estimation from COLMAP outperforms that of the other approaches, ACMMP achieves the lowest error and highest completeness for point clouds, while OpenMVS produces triangle meshes with the lowest error. Among the online methods for depth estimation, the approach from the Plane-Sweep Library outperforms the FaSS-MVS approach, while the latter achieves the lowest processing time. And even though the particularly challenging nature of the dataset and the small amount of training data leads to a significantly higher error in the results of the self-supervised single-image depth estimation approach, it outperforms all other approaches in terms of processing time and frame rate. In our evaluation, we have also considered modern learning-based approaches that can be used for image-based 3D reconstruction, such as NeRFs. However, due to the significantly lower quality of the resulting 3D models, we have only included a qualitative comparison between NeRF-based and conventional approaches in the scope of this work.

Background: The use of mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining has negative effects on human health and the environment. In Suriname, the current gold rush resulted in estimated mercury emissions up to 63t per year. To reduce the use of mercury and the subsequent health impact to gold miners and local inhabitants, knowledge and awareness in the community should be increased. Methods: This study evaluated the effects of a health education programme (HEP) on the levels of knowledge and awareness among local inhabitants and small-scale gold miners in active gold mining areas in the interior of Suriname, South-America. Baseline knowledge levels were assessed with a survey prior to the implementation of the HEP. Thereafter, the exact same questions were asked to evaluate the effects. A total of 959 local inhabitants and 140 gold miners completed the survey including five topics: general knowledge on mercury, potential routes of exposure, health risks for children versus adults, mercury related health effects, and reproductive risks. Additionally, participants were asked in a separate survey (n = 107) about potential exposure reduction techniques and their willingness to be involved in a future human biomonitoring programme. Results: The HEP influenced knowledge on exposure routes of mercury (increase from 64% to 78% of respondents who could name the relevant exposure routes) and on health effects attributed to mercury (increase from 48% to 70% of respondents who were able to list the correct health effects). After the HEP, 70% of the respondents affirmed the higher sensitivity of children, while knowledge on reproductive health effects increased from 39% to 63%. Self-estimated levels of knowledge also increased, indicating lower anxiety regarding potential risks of mercury. Gold miners reported to be willing to improve their work procedures (e.g. burning amalgam with a retort), although suitable tools were not always available. Consistent results were found for individuals included in both surveys, before and after the health education programme. Almost all respondents in the separate survey reported to be willing to give consent for participation in a future human biomonitoring programme, for themselves and their children. Conclusion: The implementation of a health education programme within an existing local healthcare structure proved effective and levels of knowledge and awareness improved. Most improved was the knowledge on health effects attributable to mercury, more specifically reproductive health effects. Keywords: Mercury, Artisanal and small-scale gold mining, Risk communication, Health education, Public health, Human biomonitoring

In this article newly synthesized azide derivative of hemin and DNA-hemin conjugate are characterized. Hemin-azide was purified using HPLC and characterized using elemental analysis, IR and NMR. The DNA-hemin conjugate was obtained via click chemistry [1] and click reaction was carried out using traditional Cu-catalyzed and Cu-free approaches. The final product was successfully obtained using Cu-free cycloaddition. The identity of product was confirmed using Maldi TOF spectrometry. Obtained hemin-DNA conjugate exhibited peroxidase-like activity.

The use of low atomic number liquid metals has been shown to have the potential to solve many of the prevalent problems like erosion and radiation losses associated with the interaction of fusion plasma with the plasma facing component (PFC) structures in tokamaks. Since the first evidence of lithium increasing plasma performance in TFTR [1], the benefits of using lithium in fusion environments have been seen in many devices, including CDX-U [2], NSTX [3], LTX [4], and DIII-D [5]. While both fast flow and slow flow concepts have been studied with regards to liquid lithium first wall alternatives, this report will focus on efforts placed on fast flow research and will mainly focus on advancements in the LiMIT device that help to eliminate concerns over the broad use of liquid lithium. Due to the promising TFTR results along with results obtained at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [6], suitably designed trench structures holding liquid lithium could be an appropriate fast flow candidate for PFC modules in future fusion devices. There are four potential shortcomings of this approach: (1) Droplet ejection, (2) Wetting control, (3) Tritium retention, and (4) Limited heat flux handling. Droplet ejection is discussed in a companion publication [7], while this paper addresses the topics of wetting control and heat flux handling. Limitations in wetting and prevention of lithium creep (i.e. getting and keeping the lithium only where it should be) have been solved by laser-texturing the base material with extreme short laser pulses (pico – femto second) of high power (several 10s of W). Micro- and nano-structuring results indicate that the textured substrates displayed significant change in their wetting properties, increasing the temperature needed to wet from 310 °C to 390 °C. Lastly, initial designs for the Lithium Metal Infused Trenches (LiMIT) [6] showed dryout above 3 MW/m2, but new designs of the trench shaping show potential to be able to handle up to 10MW/m2. Dryout is accompanied by lithium evaporation which is shown to mitigate the incident heat flux, which may be viewed as beneficial [8]. The advances shown here will increase the viability of the LiMIT system in large-scale testing, and allow for extensive design iteration to begin tackling the large powers and heat fluxes present in reactor-relevant systems. Keywords: Liquid lithium, Plasma-facing components, Thermoelectric magnetohydrodynamics

Despite the significant advances in antiretroviral therapy (ART), HIV-1 is able to persist in cellular reservoirs. Preclinical studies suggest that the latent reservoir is established within days of virus exposure, even before virus can be detected in peripheral blood. Latently infected cells remain undetectable by the immune system and can persist for years without losing their ability to produce infectious virus when ART is discontinued. Novel concepts for viral eradication strategies combine pharmacological induction of latently infected cells to produce virus together with immune-enhancing interventions to enable the host to clear these cells. In this review, we describe the early establishment of HIV-1 latency and discuss current strategies to disrupt latency and potentially enable clearance of these persistently infected cells.

La muerte fetal es un evento poco frecuente pero de gran repercusión afectiva para los padres involucrados y su entorno. En el presente artículo revisaremos la epidemiología, las causas, orientaremos a los médicos en los pasos a seguir para realizar adecuadamente el estudio, la resolución del embarazo y el manejo del embarazo siguiente junto con las estrategias para prevenirlo.

La evaluación de un paciente con dolor crónico, que a menudo ha pasado por diversas consultas médicas y ha seguido múltiples tratamientos ineficaces, siempre es un reto para el facultativo. La visita a un especialista en dolor puede representar una luz de esperanza que facilite su recuperación, si se consigue ganar la confianza del paciente con una actitud proactiva, interés y dedicación. Se comienza en la primera visita realizando una historia clínica completa que abarque tanto los aspectos físicos como los psicológicos. En este artículo se explican los principios generales de evaluación inicial del paciente con dolor crónico, incluyendo los antecedentes, la anamnesis del dolor y la exploración física. Se mencionan las escalas de valoración del dolor validadas más importantes. El objetivo es diagnosticar la causa del dolor descartando patología grave, identificar las posibles ganancias secundarias y elaborar en consecuencia, un plan de tratamiento sin descuidar la esfera psicológica.

Las trombofilias son un grupo de enfermedades que favorecen la formación de trombosis, tanto arteriales como venosas, y han sido asociadas con diferentes complicaciones durante el embarazo, entre las cuales podemos mencionar: aborto recurrente, preclampsia, restricción de crecimiento intrauterino y muerte fetal in útero, entre otras. Recientemente, se ha sugerido una asociación entre trombofilias e infertilidad. Las mutaciones de la enzima Metilentetrahidrofolato Reductasa (MTHFR) y de Leiden se encuentran con mayor frecuencia en pacientes con infertilidad de causa desconocida, al compararlas con grupos controles. Durante la etapa de estimulación ovárica diversas trombofilias han sido vinculadas con la aparición de sindrome de hiperestimulación ovárica severo. Por último, las pacientes con historia de falla recurrente de implantación, luego de múltiples ciclos de fertilización in Vitro, demuestran una mayor prevalencia de trombofilias que las pacientes con éxito en dichas terapias. Este artículo presenta una revisión de las publicaciones relevantes que abordaran los distintos aspectos de la relación entre trombofilias e infertilidad hasta agosto de 2009. El objetivo es describir los estudios utilizados y sus implicancias en el manejo de la pareja infértil.

The global health implications of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) underscore the imperative need for research into its toxicity and chemical composition. In this study, zebrafish embryos exposed to the water-soluble components of PM 2.5 from two cities (Harbin and Hangzhou) with differences in air quality, underwent microscopic examination to identify primary target organs. The Harbin PM 2.5 induced dose-dependent organ malformation in zebrafish, indicating a higher level of toxicity than that of the Hangzhou sample. Harbin PM 2.5 led to severe deformities such as pericardial edema and a high mortality rate, while the Hangzhou sample exhibited hepatotoxicity, causing delayed yolk sac absorption. The experimental determination of PM 2.5 constituents was followed by the application of four algorithms for predictive toxicological assessment. The random forest algorithm correctly predicted each of the effect classes and showed the best performance, suggesting that zebrafish malformation rates were strongly correlated with water-soluble components of PM 2.5 . Feature selection identified the water-soluble ions F - and Cl - and metallic elements Al, K, Mn, and Be as potential key components affecting zebrafish development. This study provides new insights into the developmental toxicity of PM 2.5 and offers a new approach for predicting and exploring the health effects of PM 2.5 ., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There are no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Breast cancer in different molecular subtypes, which is determined by the overexpression rates of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and Ki67, exhibit distinct symptom characteristics and sensitivity to different treatment. The immunohistochemical method, one of the most common detecting tools for tumour markers, is heavily relied on artificial judgment and in clinical practice, with an inherent limitation in interpreting stability and operating efficiency. Here, a holistic intelligent breast tumour diagnosis system has been developed for tumour-markeromic analysis, combining the automatic interpretation and clinical suggestion., Methods: The holistic intelligent breast tumour diagnosis system included two main modules. The interpreting modules were constructed based on convolutional neural network, for comprehensively extracting and analyzing the multi-features of immunostaining. Referring to the clinical classification criteria, the interpreting results were encoded in a low-dimensional feature representation in the subtyping module, to efficiently output a holistic detecting result of the critical tumour-markeromic with diagnosis suggestions on molecular subtypes., Results: The overexpression rates of HER2, ER, PR, and Ki67, as well as an effective determination of molecular subtypes were successfully obtained by this diagnosis system, with an average sensitivity of 97.6 % and an average specificity of 96.1 %, among those, the sensitivity and specificity for interpreting HER2 were up to 99.8 % and 96.9 %., Conclusion: The holistic intelligent breast tumour diagnosis system shows improved performance in the interpretation of immunohistochemical images over pathologist-level, which can be expected to overcome the limitations of conventional manual interpretation in efficiency, precision, and repeatability., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Despite covalent adaptable networks (CANs) imparting the favorable features of crosslinked polymers, as well as the functionality of reprocessing, reshaping and welding, due to exchange reaction enabled topology changes; it is still a huge challenge to design catalyst-free, fast reprocessing, controlled degradation and polymer recyclable biomass base CANs. Herein, for the first time, acetal-based covalent adaptable cellulose networks (ACCs) were utilized to synthesize readily reconstructable cellulose-based thermosets with mechanical tunability. ACCs were synthesized via catalyst-free "click" addition of cellulose and divinyl ether without releasing small molecule byproducts. Different crosslinking densities and crosslinkers were used to explore the structure-property relationship, the mechanical and thermal properties of the ACCs were strongly influenced by these factors. ACCs can obtain enhanced tensile strength or elongation at break by changing the structure of the crosslinker. Furthermore, the reworking, welding and shape memory properties of these ACCs, based on the dynamic exchange reaction of acetal bonds, were investigated. In addition, these ACCs can be degraded under acidic conditions, and closed-loop utilization of polymer was possible. Thus, ACCs can be mechanically and chemically double-cycled, which will contribute to solving the white pollution problem and resource waste as a new class of sustainable plastics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To reduce the influence of a sulfate-based starch water-reducing agent on the setting time of cement, a novel starch-based water-reducing agent, namely sulfate-based starch maleic acid monoester (SAMAS), was designed to adjust its hydrophilicity by maleic acid monoester. Gel permeation chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and 1 H NMR nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy were used to characterize the prepared SAMAS, while Zeta potential, UV-Vis absorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, cement paste fluidity, and setting time measurements were conducted to investigate its dispersion performance, retardation performance, adsorption behavior, and mechanism of action. SAMAS exhibited good dispersion performance and did not significantly prolong the setting time of the cement. In addition, the dispersion performance of SAMAS was found to depend mainly on steric hindrance, and its weak retardation performance originated from the hydrophilic regulation of the maleic acid monoester groups, which ensures the normal progress of the cement hydration reaction by hindering the formation of a hydration film., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Cellulose-based vitrimers were prepared using a crosslinkable macromolecular plasticizer and acetylated carboxymethyl cellulose via twin-screw extrusion. The cellulose-based material was toughened by the entanglement between the macromolecular plasticizer segments, and the exudation of the plasticizer was avoided by crosslinking. The prepared materials exhibited excellent hydrophobicity and shape memory properties. The plasticizer was evidently effective, and the reprocessing was completed at 130 °C within 15 min. The materials could be reprocessed at a lower temperature over a short period of time without any obvious degradation. After reprocessing three times, the material performance did not decrease significantly, thus showing good potential for regeneration and recycling., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest No conflict of interest exits in the submission of this manuscript, and manuscript is approved by all authors for publication., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Although acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is highly responsive to chemotherapy, it is unknown how or which host immune factors influence the long-term remission of this cancer. To this end, we systematically evaluated the effects of T-cell immunity on Ph+ ALL therapy outcomes. Using a murine Arf-/-BCR-ABL1 B-cell ALL model, we showed that loss of T cells in the host drastically increased leukemia relapse after dasatinib or cytotoxic chemotherapy. Although ABL1 mutations emerged early during dasatinib treatment in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts, T-cell immunity was essential for suppressing the outgrowth of drug-resistant leukemia. Bulk and single-cell transcriptome profiling of T cells during therapy pointed to the activation of type 1 immunity-related cytokine signaling being linked to long-term leukemia remission in mice. Consistent with these observations, interferon γ and interleukin 12 directly modulated dasatinib antileukemia efficacy in vivo. Finally, we evaluated peripheral blood immune cell composition in 102 children with ALL during chemotherapy and observed a significant association of T-cell abundance with treatment outcomes. Together, these results suggest that T-cell immunity plays pivotal roles in maintaining long-term remission of ALL, highlighting that the interplay between host immunity and drug resistance can be harnessed to improve ALL chemotherapy outcomes., (© 2022 by The American Society of Hematology.)

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) plays a vital role in the central nervous system (CNS). A comprehensive understanding of BBB development has been hampered by difficulties in observing the differentiation of brain endothelial cells (BECs) in real-time. Here, we generated two transgenic zebrafish line, Tg(glut1b:mCherry) and Tg(plvap:EGFP), to serve as in vivo reporters of BBB development. We showed that barriergenesis (i.e. the induction of BEC differentiation) occurs immediately as endothelial tips cells migrate into the brain parenchyma. Using the Tg(glut1b:mCherry) transgenic line, we performed a genetic screen and identified a zebrafish mutant with a nonsense mutation in gpr124, a gene known to play a role in CNS angiogenesis and BBB development. We also showed that our transgenic plvap:EGFP line, a reporter of immature brain endothelium, is initially expressed in newly formed brain endothelial cells, but subsides during BBB maturation. Our results demonstrate the ability to visualize the in vivo differentiation of brain endothelial cells into the BBB phenotype and establish that CNS angiogenesis and barriergenesis occur simultaneously., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Interleukin-21 (IL-21), which belongs to IL-2 γ chain receptor cytokine family, is as an important regulator of immune responses. In this study, we developed a novel strategy for immunizing mice with a DNA/vaccinia/protein vaccine in the presence or absence of mouse IL-21 (mIL-21) to evaluate whether mIL-21 could enhance immune responses. Our results demonstrated that co-immunization with mIL-21 did not increase significantly the capacity of vaccine induced antibodies to bind to HIV-1 GP140. An effect of mIL-21 in adjusting the efficacy of HIV-1 vaccine through enhancing Th1 type immune response was however observed. The frequencies of HIV-1-specific cytokine-producing CD4+ T and CD4+ TEM cells, especially multifunctional T cell responses, were significantly increased by co-administrating with mIL-21. A significant increase was also observed in the frequency of NK cells in mIL-21 adjuvant groups. Taken together, combination of mIL-21 with HIV-1 vaccines led to distinct enhancement of NK cells and T cell immune responses associated with immune protection., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 subtype CRF01_AE is one of the major HIV-1 subtypes that dominate the global epidemic. However, its drug resistance, associated mutations, and viral fitness have not been systemically studied, because available chimeric simian-HIVs (SHIVs) usually express the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (rt) gene of subtype B HIV-1, which is different from subtype CRF01_AE HIV-1. In this study, a recombinant plasmid, pRT-SHIV/AE, was constructed to generate a chimeric RT-SHIV/AE by replacing the rt gene of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIVmac239) with the counterpart of Chinese HIV-1 subtype CRF01_AE. The infectivity, replication capacity, co-receptor tropism, drug sensitivity, and genetic stability of RT-SHIV/AE were characterized. The new chimeric RT-SHIV/AE effectively infected and replicated in human T cell line and rhesus peripheral blood mononuclear cells (rhPBMC). The rt gene of RT-SHIV/AE lacked the common mutation (T215I) associated with drug resistance. RT-SHIV-AE retained infectivity and immunogenicity, similar to that of its counterpart RT-SHIV/TC virus following intravenous inoculation in Chinese rhesus macaque. RT-SHIV-AE was more sensitive to nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) than the RT-SHIV/TC. RT-SHIV/AE was genetically stable in Chinese rhesus macaque. The new chimeric RT-SHIV/AE may be a valuable tool for evaluating the efficacy of the rt-based antiviral drugs against the subtype CRF01_AE HIV-1., (Copyright © 2014 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)