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2. Isolation and characterization of a new human breast cancer cell line, KPL-4, expressing the Erb B family receptors and interleukin-6

Author

M Kurosumi, Takemi Otsuki, S Yamamoto, Katsuhiko Tanaka, Tang Ck, Nakamura H, Junichi Kurebayashi, Mochizuki M, and Hiroshi Sonoo

Subjects
Cancer Research, medicine.medical_specialty, Transcription, Genetic, medicine.drug_class, Receptor, ErbB-2, medicine.medical_treatment, Transplantation, Heterologous, Cell Culture Techniques, Mice, Nude, Breast Neoplasms, Chromosome Disorders, Monoclonal antibody, cachexia, Erb B-2, Mice, Breast cancer, breast cancer, Internal medicine, medicine, Tumor Cells, Cultured, Animals, Humans, RNA, Messenger, Neoplasm Metastasis, skin and connective tissue diseases, Interleukin 6, Receptor, Chromosome Aberrations, biology, Cell growth, Interleukin-6, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Regular Article, cell line, Genes, erbB-2, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, Cytokine, Endocrinology, Oncology, Receptors, Estrogen, Cell culture, Karyotyping, biology.protein, Cancer research, Female, Antibody, Receptors, Progesterone, Cell Division
Abstract

A new human breast cancer cell line, KPL-4, was recently isolated from the malignant pleural effusion of a breast cancer patient with an inflammatory skin metastasis. This cell line can be cultured under serum-free conditions and is tumorigenic in female athymic nude mice. Flow cytometric analysis revealed the expression of Erb B-1, -2 and -3. Dot blot hybridization showed a 15-fold amplification of the erbB-2. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis showed a detectable level of mRNA expression of all the Erb B family receptors. In addition, all the receptors were autophosphorylated under a serum-supplemented condition. Unexpectedly, transplanted KPL-4 tumours induced cachexia of recipient mice. A high concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6) was detected in both the culture medium and the serum of mice. The weight of tumours significantly correlated with the serum IL-6 level. The antiproliferative effect of a humanized anti-Erb B-2 monoclonal antibody, rhuMAbHER2, was investigated. This antibody significantly inhibited the growth of KPL-4 cells in vitro but modestly in vivo. Loss of mouse body weight was partly reversed by rhuMAbHER2. These findings suggest that KPL-4 cells may be useful in the development of new strategies against breast cancer overexpressing the Erb B family receptors and against IL-6-induced cachexia. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaign

Published
1999

3. Police stress in Hong Hong : officers of the Emergency Unit, gender analysis and the needs for the development of stress management

Author

Tang, CK

Abstract

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Stress in policing affects not only serving officers, but also the community they serve. In particular, officers in the Emergency Units may be expected to experience high levels of stress. While there has been a growing body of research on stress and policing among developed countries, there is a lack of comparable research in the Hong Kong context. In response to environmental changes, female officers were admitted to the Emergency Unit since 1997, and now they perform the same duties as their male counterparts. What are the causes and levels of stress of such officers in EU? What are their ways of coping with stress and are such ways effective? Are there any gender differences in police stress? This study investigates these pressing questions with a view to developing understandings and strategies to improve the situation for serving officers and for the Hong Kong Force. The research design consists of an historical overview of stress in Hong Kong policing, together with a combination of quantitative and qualitative investigative approaches, replicating a validated international study by McCreary & Thompson (2006) in order to generate comparable results with other countries. Interviews and focus group discussion provided a more fine-grained analysis of sources of stress and strategies for managing stress, and identified strategies for stress management. Results of the study identify, in general, that organizational stressors are significantly greater than operational stressors. Further, significant differences were found between male and female officers in relation to sources and levels of stress. Implications of these results include an argument for more organizational efforts to address related issues, and further comparative research in other police units. In particular, the thesis argues the need for continuous development of stress management within the Hong Kong situation, and contributes an international comparative reference.

Published
2010

4. Video repairing under variable illumination using cyclic motions

Author

Jia, JY, Tai, YW, Wu, TP, Tang, CK, Jia, JY, Tai, YW, Wu, TP, and Tang, CK

Abstract

This paper presents a complete system capable of synthesizing a large number of pixels that are missing due to occlusion or damage in an uncalibrated input video. These missing pixels may correspond to the static background or cyclic motions of the captured scene. Our system employs user-assisted video layer segmentation, while the main processing in video repair is fully automatic. The input video is first decomposed into the color and illumination videos. The necessary temporal consistency is maintained by tensor voting in the spatio-temporal domain. Missing colors and illumination of the background are synthesized by applying image repairing. Finally, the occluded motions are inferred by spatio-temporal alignment of collected samples at multiple scales. We experimented on our system with some difficult examples with variable illumination, where the capturing camera can be stationary or in motion.

Published
2006

5. A Markov Random Field approach for dense photometric stereo

Author

Tang, KL, Tang, CK, Wong, TT, Tang, KL, Tang, CK, and Wong, TT

Abstract

We present a surprisingly simple system that allows for robust normal reconstruction by photometric stereo using a uniform and dense set of photometric images captured at fixed viewpoint, in the presense of spurious noises caused by highlight, shadows and non-Lambertian reflections. Our system consists of a mirror sphere, a spotlight and a DV camera only. Using this, a dense set of unbiased but noisy photometric data that roughly distributed uniformly on the light direction sphere is produced. To simultaneously recover normal orientations and preserve discontinuities, we model the dense photometric stereo problem into two coupled Markov Random Fields (MRFs): a smooth field for normal orientations, and a spatial line process for normal orientation discontinuities. A very fast tensorial belief propagation method is used to approximate the maximum a posteriori (MAP) solution of the Markov network. We present very encouraging results on a wide range of difficult objects to show the efficacy of our approach.

Published
2005

6. Tensor voting for image correction by global and local intensity alignment

Author

Jia, JY, Tang, CK, Jia, JY, and Tang, CK

Abstract

This paper presents a voting method to perform image correction by global and local intensity alignment. The key to our modeless approach is the estimation of global and local replacement functions by reducing the complex estimation problem to the robust 2D tensor voting in the corresponding voting spaces. No complicated model for replacement function ( curve) is assumed. Subject to the monotonic constraint only, we vote for an optimal replacement function by propagating the curve smoothness constraint using a dense tensor field. Our method effectively infers missing curve segments and rejects image outliers. Applications using our tensor voting approach are proposed and described. The first application consists of image mosaicking of static scenes, where the voted replacement functions are used in our iterative registration algorithm for computing the best warping matrix. In the presence of occlusion, our replacement function can be employed to construct a visually acceptable mosaic by detecting occlusion which has large and piecewise constant color. Furthermore, by the simultaneous consideration of color matches and spatial constraints in the voting space, we perform image intensity compensation and high contrast image correction using our voting framework, when only two defective input images are given.

Published
2005

7. Robust estimation of adaptive tensors of curvature by tensor voting

Author

Tong, WS, Tang, CK, Tong, WS, and Tang, CK

Abstract

Although curvature estimation from a given mesh or regularly sampled point set is a well-studied problem, it is still challenging when the input consists of a cloud of unstructured points corrupted by misalignment error and outlier noise. Such input is ubiquitous in computer vision. In this paper, we propose a three-pass tensor voting algorithm to robustly estimate curvature tensors, from which accurate principal curvatures and directions can be calculated. Our quantitative estimation is an improvement over the previous two-pass algorithm, where only qualitative curvature estimation (sign of Gaussian curvature) is performed. To overcome misalignment errors, our improved method automatically corrects input point locations at subvoxel precision, which also rejects outliers that are uncorrectable. To adapt to different scales locally, we define the RadiusHit of a curvature tensor to quantify estimation accuracy and applicability. Our curvature estimation algorithm has been proven with detailed quantitative experiments, performing better in a variety of standard error metrics (percentage error in curvature magnitudes, absolute angle difference in curvature direction) in the presence of a large amount of misalignment noise.

Published
2005

8. Dense photometric stereo using tensorial belief propagation

Author

Tang, KL, Tang, CK, Wong, TT, Tang, KL, Tang, CK, and Wong, TT

Abstract

We address the normal reconstruction problem by photometric stereo using a uniform and dense set of photometric images captured at fixed viewpoint. Our method is robust to spurious noises caused by highlight and shadows and non-Lambertian reflections. To simultaneously recover normal orientations and preserve discontinuities, we model the dense photometric stereo problem into two coupled Markov Random Fields (MRFs): a smooth field for normal orientations, and a spatial line process for normal orientation discontinuities. We propose a very fast tensorial belief propagation method to approximate the maximum a posteriori (MAP) solution of the Markov network. Our tensor-based message passing scheme not only improves the normal orientation estimation from one of discrete to continuous, but also reduces storage and running time drastically. A convenient handheld device was built to collect a scattered set of photometric samples, from which a dense and uniform set on the lighting direction sphere is obtained. We present very encouraging results on a wide range of difficult objects to show the efficacy of our approach.

Published
2005

9. Dense photometric stereo using a mirror sphere and graph cut

Author

Wu, TP, Tang, CK, Wu, TP, and Tang, CK

Abstract

We present a surprisingly simple system that performs robust normal reconstruction by dense photometric stereo, in the presence of large shadows, highlight, transparencies, complex geometry, variable attenuation in light intensity and inaccurate light directions. Our system consists of a mirror sphere, a spotlight and a DV camera only. Using this, we infer a dense set of unbiased but noisy photometric data uniformly distributed on the light direction sphere. We use this dense set to derive a very robust matching cost for our MRF photometric stereo model, where the Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) solution is estimated To aggregate support for candidate normals in the normal refinement process, we introduce a compatibility function that is translated into a discontinuity-preserving metric, thus speeding up the MAP estimation by energy minimization using graph cut. No reference object of similar material is used We perform detailed comparison on our approach with conventional convex minimization. We show very good normals estimated from very noisy data on a wide range of difficult objects to show the robustness and usefulness of our method.

Published
2005

10. Local color transfer via probabilistic segmentation by expectation-maximization

Author

Tai, YW, Jia, JY, Tang, CK, Tai, YW, Jia, JY, and Tang, CK

Abstract

We address the problem of regional color transfer between two natural images by probabilistic segmentation. We use a new Expectation-Maximization (EM) scheme to impose both spatial and color smoothness to infer natural connectivity among pixels. Unlike previous work, our method takes local color information into consideration, and segment image with soft region boundaries for seamless color transfer and compositing. Our modified EM method has two advantages in color manipulation: First, subject to different levels of color smoothness in image space, our algorithm produces an optimal number of regions upon convergence, where the color statistics in each region can be adequately characterized by a component of a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). Second, we allow a pixel to fall in several regions according to our estimated probability distribution in the EM step, resulting in a transparency-like ratio for compositing different regions seamlessly. Hence, natural color transition across regions can be achieved, where the necessary intraregion and inter-region smoothness are enforced without losing original details. We demonstrate results on a variety ofapplications including image deblurring, enhanced color transfer, and colorizing gray scale images. Comparisons with previous methods are also presented.

Published
2005

11. Bayesian correction of image intensity with spatial consideration

Author

Jia, J., Sun, J., Tang, CK, Shum, HY, Jia, J., Sun, J., Tang, CK, and Shum, HY

Abstract

Under dimly lit condition, it is difficult to take a satisfactory image in long exposure time with a hand-held camera. Despite the use of a tripod, moving objects in the scene still generate ghosting and blurring effect. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to recover a high-quality image by exploiting the tradeoff between exposure time and motion blur, which considers color statistics and spatial constraints simultaneously, by using only two defective input images. A Bayesian framework is adopted to incorporate the factors to generate an optimal color mapping function. No estimation of PSF is performed. Our new approach can be readily extended to handle high contrast scenes to reveal fine details in saturated or highlight regions. An image acquisition system deploying off-the-shelf digital cameras and camera control softwares was built. We present our results on a variety of defective images: global and local motion blur due to camera shake or object movement, and saturation due to high contrast scenes.

Published
2004

12. Inference of segmented color and texture description by tensor voting

Author

Jia, JY, Tang, CK, Jia, JY, and Tang, CK

Abstract

A robust synthesis method is proposed to automatically infer missing color and texture information from a damaged 2D image by ND tensor voting (N > 3). The same approach is generalized to range and 3D data in the presence of occlusion, missing data and noise. Our method translates texture information into an adaptive ND tensor, followed by a voting process that infers noniteratively the optimal color values in the ND texture space. A two-step method is proposed. First, we perform segmentation based on insufficient geometry, color, and texture information in the input, and extrapolate partitioning boundaries by either 2D or 3D tensor voting to generate a complete segmentation for the input. Missing colors are synthesized using ND tensor voting in each segment. Different feature scales in the input are automatically adapted by our tensor scale analysis. Results on a variety of difficult inputs demonstrate the effectiveness of our tensor voting approach.

Published
2004

13. Pop-up light field: An interactive image-based modeling and rendering system

Author

Shum, HY, Sun, JA, Yamazaki, S., Li, Y., Tang, CK, Shum, HY, Sun, JA, Yamazaki, S., Li, Y., and Tang, CK

Abstract

In this article, we present an image-based modeling and rendering system, which we call pop-up light field, that models a sparse light field using a set of coherent layers. In our system, the user specifies how many coherent layers should be modeled or popped up according to the scene complexity A coherent layer is defined as a collection of corresponding planar regions in the light field images. A coherent layer can be rendered free of aliasing all by itself, or against other background layers. To construct coherent layers, we introduce a Bayesian approach, coherence matting, to estimate alpha matting around segmented layer boundaries by incorporating a coherence prior in order to maintain coherence across images. We have developed an intuitive and easy-to-use user interface (UI) to facilitate pop-up light field construction. The key to our UI is the concept of human-in-the-loop where the user specifies where aliasing occurs in the rendered image. The user input is reflected in the input light field images where pop-up layers can be modified. The user feedback is instant through a hardware-accelerated real-time pop-up light field renderer. Experimental results demonstrate that our system is capable of rendering anti-aliased novel views from a sparse light field.

Published
2004

14. Video repairing: Inference of foreground and background under severe occlusion

Author

Jia, JY, Wu, TP, Tai, YW, Tang, CK, Jia, JY, Wu, TP, Tai, YW, and Tang, CK

Abstract

In this paper we propose a new method, video repairing to robustly infer missing static background and moving foreground due to severe damage or occlusion from a video. To recover background pixels, we extend the image repairing method, where layer segmentation and homography blending are used to preserve temporal coherence and avoid flickering. By exploiting the constraint imposed by periodic motion and a subclass of camera and object motions, we adopt a two-phase approach to repair moving foreground pixels: In the sampling phase, motion data are sampled and regularized by 3D tensor voting to maintain temporal coherence and motion periodicity. In the alignment phase, missing moving foreground pixels are inferred by spatial and temporal alignment of the sampled motion data at multiple scales. We experimented our system with some difficult examples, where the camera can be stationary or in motion.

Published
2004

15. First order augmentation to tensor voting for boundary inference and multiscale analysis in 3D

Author

Tong, WS, Tang, CK, Mordohai, P., Medioni, G., Tong, WS, Tang, CK, Mordohai, P., and Medioni, G.

Abstract

Most computer vision applications require the reliable detection of boundaries. In the presence of outliers, missing data, orientation discontinuities, and occlusion, this problem is particularly challenging. We propose to address it by complementing the tensor voting framework, which was limited to second order properties, with first order representation and voting. First order voting fields and a mechanism to vote for 3D surface and volume boundaries and curve endpoints in 3D are defined. Boundary inference is also useful for a second difficult problem in grouping, namely, automatic scale selection. We propose an algorithm that automatically infers the smallest scale that can preserve the finest details. Our algorithm then proceeds with progressively larger scales to ensure continuity where it has not been achieved. Therefore, the proposed approach does not oversmooth features or delay the handling of boundaries and discontinuities until model misfit occurs. The interaction of smooth features, boundaries, and outliers is accommodated by the unified representation, making possible the perceptual organization of data in curves, surfaces, volumes, and their boundaries simultaneously. We present results on a variety of data sets to show the efficacy of the improved formalism.

Published
2004

16. Stereo reconstruction from multiperspective panoramas

Author

Li, Y., Shum, HY, Tang, CK, Szeliski, R., Li, Y., Shum, HY, Tang, CK, and Szeliski, R.

Abstract

A new approach to computing a panoramic (360 degrees) depth map is presented in this paper. Our approach uses a large collection of images taken by a camera whose motion has been constrained to planar concentric circles. We resample regular perspective images to produce a set of multiperspective panoramas and then compute depth maps directly from these resampled panoramas. Our panoramas sample uniformly in three dimensions: rotation angle, inverse radial distance, and vertical elevation. The use of multiperspective panoramas eliminates the limited overlap present in the original input images and, thus, problems as in conventional multibaseline stereo can be avoided. Our approach differs from stereo matching of single-perspective panoramic images taken from different locations, where the epipolar constraints are sine curves. For our multiperspective panoramas, the epipolar geometry, to the first order approximation, consists of horizontal lines. Therefore, any traditional stereo algorithm can be applied to multiperspective panoramas with little modification. In this paper, we describe two reconstruction algorithms. The first is a cylinder sweep algorithm that uses a small number of resampled multiperspective panoramas to obtain dense 3D reconstruction. The second algorithm, in contrast, uses a large number of multiperspective panoramas and takes advantage of the approximate horizontal epipolar geometry inherent in multiperspective panoramas. It comprises a novel and efficient 1 D multibaseline matching technique, followed by tensor voting to extract the depth surface. Experiments show that our algorithms are capable of producing comparable high quality depth maps which can be used for applications such as view interpolation.

Published
2004

17. Simultaneous two-view epipolar geometry estimation and motion segmentation by 4D tensor voting

Author

Tong, WS, Tang, CK, Medioni, G., Tong, WS, Tang, CK, and Medioni, G.

Abstract

We address the problem of simultaneous two-view epipolar geometry estimation and motion segmentation from nonstatic scenes. Given a set of noisy image pairs containing matches of n objects, we propose an unconventional, efficient, and robust method, 4D tensor voting, for estimating the unknown n epipolar geometries, and segmenting the static and motion matching pairs into n independent motions. By considering the 4D isotropic and orthogonal joint image space, only two tensor voting passes are needed, and a very high noise to signal ratio (up to five) can be tolerated. Epipolar geometries corresponding to multiple, rigid motions are extracted in succession. Only two uncalibrated frames are needed, and no simplifying assumption (such as affine camera model or homographic model between images) other than the pin-hole camera model is made. Our novel approach consists of propagating a local geometric smoothness constraint in the 4D joint image space, followed by global consistency enforcement for extracting the fundamental matrices corresponding to independent motions. We have performed extensive experiments to compare our method with some representative algorithms to show that better performance on nonstatic scenes are achieved. Results on challenging data sets are presented.

Published
2004

18. Separating specular, diffuse, and subsurface scattering reflectances from photometric images

Author

Wu, TP, Tang, CK, Wu, TP, and Tang, CK

Abstract

While subsurface scattering is common in many real objects, almost all separation algorithms focus on extracting specular and diffuse components from real images. In this paper, we propose an appearance-based approach to separate non-directional subsurface scattering reflectance from photometric images, in addition to the separation of the off-specular and non-Lambertian diffuse components. Our mathematical model sufficiently accounts for the photometric response due to non-directional subsurface scattering, and allows for a practical image acquisition system to capture its contribution. Relighting the scene is possible by employing the separated reflectances. We argue that it is sometimes necessary to separate subsurface scattering component, which is essential to highlight removal, when the object reflectance cannot be modeled by specular and diffuse components alone.

Published
2004

19. Binary-space-partitioned images for resolving image-based visibility

Author

Fu, CW, Wong, TT, Tong, WS, Tang, CK, Hanson, AJ, Fu, CW, Wong, TT, Tong, WS, Tang, CK, and Hanson, AJ

Abstract

We propose a novel 2D representation for 3D visibility sorting, the Binary-Space-Partitioned Image (BSPI), to accelerate real-time image-based rendering. BSPI is an efficient 2D realization of a 3D BSP tree, which is commonly used in computer graphics for time-critical visibility sorting. Since the overall structure of a BSP tree is encoded in a BSPI, traversing a BSPI is comparable to traversing the corresponding BSP tree. BSPI performs visibility sorting efficiently and accurately in the 2D image space by warping the reference image triangle-by-triangle instead of pixel-by-pixel. Multiple BSPIs can be combined to solve "disocclusion," when an occluded portion of the scene becomes visible at a novel viewpoint. Our method is highly automatic, including a tensor voting preprocessing step that generates candidate image partition lines for BSPIs, filters the noisy input data by rejecting outliers, and interpolates missing information. Our system has been applied to a variety of real data, including stereo, motion, and range images.

Published
2004

20. Image repairing: Robust image synthesis by adaptive ND tensor voting

Author

Jia, JY, Tang, CK, Jia, JY, and Tang, CK

Abstract

We present a robust image synthesis method to automatically infer missing information from a damaged 2D image by tensor voting. Our method translates image color and texture information into an adaptive ND tensor, followed by a voting process that infers non-iteratively the optimal color values in the ND texture space for each defective pixel. ND tensor voting can be applied to images consisting of roughly homogeneous and periodic textures (e.g. a brick wall), as well as difficult images of natural scenes which contain complex color and texture information. To effectively tackle the latter type of difficult images, a two-step method is proposed. First, we perform texture-based segmentation in the input image, and extrapolate partitioning curves to generate a complete segmentation for the image. Then, missing colors are synthesized using ND tensor voting. Automatic tensor scale analysis is used to adapt to different feature scales inherent in the input. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using a difficult set of real images.

Published
2003

21. Curvature-augmented tensor voting for shape inference from noisy 3D data

Author

Tang, CK, Medioni, G., Tang, CK, and Medioni, G.

Abstract

We improve the basic tensor voting formalism to infer the sign and direction of principal curvatures at each input site from noisy 3D data. Unlike most previous approaches, no local surface fitting, partial derivative computation, nor oriented normal vector recovery is performed in our method. These approaches are known to be noise-sensitive since accurate partial derivative information is often required, which is usually unavailable from real data. Also, unlike approaches that detect signs of Gaussian curvature, we can handle points with zero Gaussian curvature uniformly, without first localizing them in a separate process. The tensor voting curvature estimation is noniterative, does not require initialization, and is robust to a considerable amount of outlier noise, as its effect is reduced by collecting a large number of tensor votes. Qualitative and quantitative results on synthetic and real, complex data are presented.

Published
2002

22. Epipolar geometry estimation for non-static scenes by 4D tensor voting

Author

Tong, WS, Tang, CK, Medioni, G., Tong, WS, Tang, CK, and Medioni, G.

Abstract

In the presence of false matches and moving objects, image registration is challenging, as outlier rejection, matching and registration become interdependent. In this paper, we present an efficient and robust method, 4D tensor voting, to estimate epipolar geometries for non-static scenes, and identify matching points due to salient and independent motions. Unlike other optimization techniques, data communication in 4D tensor voting does not involve any iterative search. Thus, initialization, local optimum, convergence, and dimensionality of parameter space are not problematic. Like the 8D counterpart, the only assumption we make is the pinhole camera model. Two advancements are made in this work. First, we reduce the dimensionality, and the 4D joint image space is an isotropic and orthogonal one, validating the general assumptions of tensor voting. This improvement is evidenced by the facts that only two passes are needed, and that 4D tensor voting can tolerate an even larger noise/signal ratio (up to a ratio of five). Second, instead of discarding motion pixels as outliers, we successively extract the epipolar geometries contributed by the static background and by the matching points due to salient motions. Only two,frames are needed, and no simplifying assumption (such as affine camera model or homographic model between images) is made. Our 4D algorithm consists of two stages: local continuity constraint propagation to remove outliers, and global consistency checking to localize a 4D topological point cone. Results on challenging datasets are presented.

Published
2001

23. N-dimensional tensor voting and application to epipolar geometry estimation

Author

Tang, CK, Medioni, G., Lee, MS, Tang, CK, Medioni, G., and Lee, MS

Abstract

We address the problem of epipolar geometry estimation efficiently and effectively, by formulating it as one of hyperplane inference from a sparse and noisy point set in an 8D space. Given a set of noisy point correspondences in two images of a static scene without correspondences, even in the presence of moving objects, our method extracts good matches and rejects outliers. The methodology is novel and unconventional, since, unlike most other methods optimizing certain scalar, objective functions, our approach does not involve initialization or any iterative search in the parameter space. Therefore, it is free of the problem of local optima or poor convergence. Further, since no search is involved, it is unnecessary to impose simplifying assumption (such as affine camera or local planar homography) to the scene being analyzed for reducing the search complexity. Subject to the general epipolar constraint only, we detect wrong matches by a novel computation scheme, 8D Tensor Voting, which is an instance of the more general N-dimensional Tensor Voting framework. In essence, the input set of matches is first transformed into a sparse 8D point set. Dense, 8D tensor kernels are then used to vote for the most salient hyperplane that captures all inliers inherent in the input. With this filtered set of matches, the normalized Eight-Point Algorithm can be used to estimate the fundamental matrix accurately. By making use of efficient data structure and locality, our method is both time and space efficient despite the higher dimensionality. We demonstrate the general usefulness of our method using example image pairs for aerial image analysis, with widely different views, and from nonstatic 3D scenes (e.g., basketball game in an indoor stadium). Each example contains a considerable number of wrong matches.

Published
2001

24. First order tensor voting, and application to 3-D scale analysis

Author

Tong, WS, Tang, CK, Medioni, G., Tong, WS, Tang, CK, and Medioni, G.

Abstract

Many computer vision systems depend on reliable detection of 3-D boundaries and regions in order to proceed In the presence of outliers, missing data, and orientation discontinuities due to occlusion, it is difficult to detect boundaries and interpolate data without over-smoothing important feature curves. In this paper, we address these problems by incorporating first order tensor information into the tensor voting formalism, which is second-order based To propagate an adaptive smoothness constraint at a preferred orientation non-iteratively, we vote for a first order tensor (or vector) to capture polarity and orientation information. To integrate first and second order tensors, we propose an algorithm for inferring the proper scale based on the continuity constraint, and preserving the finest details. Given a noisy 3-D point set, the new and improved formalism can better localize boundary curves and orientation discontinuities. Unlike many approaches that over-smooth features, or delay the handling of boundaries and discontinuities until model misfit occurs, the interaction of smooth features, boundaries, discontinuities, outliers are encoded at the representation level. We present results from a variety of datasets to show the efficacy of the improved formalism.

Published
2001

25. Metastatic lymphoma in the ureter complicated by bacteremia and fungemia

Author

Wang Sy and Tang Ck

Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty, Lymphoma, Delayed diagnosis, Ureter, immune system diseases, hemic and lymphatic diseases, Sepsis, medicine, Humans, Neoplasm Metastasis, Candida albicans, Fungemia, Escherichia coli Infections, biology, business.industry, Ureteral Neoplasms, Clinical course, Candidiasis, General Medicine, Middle Aged, medicine.disease, biology.organism_classification, Surgery, medicine.anatomical_structure, Bacteremia, Female, Retroperitoneal Lymphoma, business
Abstract

A 64-year-old woman presented with retroperitoneal lymphoma metastatic to the left ureter. Lymphoma was not diagnosed and her clinical course was not fully explained until after surgery. The lack of superficial lymphoma delayed diagnosis and therefore prevented effective treatment. Her situation became unmanageable when it was complicated by bacteremia (E coli) and fungemia (Candida albicans).

Published
1979

26. 46, XY gonadal dysgenesis with secondary amenorrhea, virilization, and bilateral gonadoblastomas

Author

Fajer Ab, Barakat By, Ances Ig, and Tang Ck

Subjects
Male, endocrine system, medicine.medical_specialty, endocrine system diseases, Adolescent, Turner Syndrome, Clitoris, Dysgerminoma, Secondary amenorrhea, Y chromosome, XY gonadal dysgenesis, Y Chromosome, medicine, Humans, Amenorrhea, Sex Chromosome Aberrations, Gynecology, Ovarian Neoplasms, business.industry, Virilization, Ovary, General Medicine, medicine.disease, Virilism, medicine.anatomical_structure, Phenotype, Female, medicine.symptom, business, hormones, hormone substitutes, and hormone antagonists
Abstract

A phenotypic girl with secondary amenorrhea, enlargement of the clitoris, XY gonadal dysgenesis, and bilateral gonadoblastomas is described. The presence of secondary amenorrhea does not obviate the existence of a Y chromosome. The presence of the Y chromosome should be a warning that a gonadal tumor may be present and, therefore, gonadectomy must be done as soon as possible and preferably before puberty.

Published
1979

27. Effectiveness of gluteal control training in chronic low back pain patients with functional leg length inequality.

Author

Huang WH, Tang CK, and Shih YF

Subjects
Humans, Female, Male, Middle Aged, Adult, Buttocks physiopathology, Treatment Outcome, Double-Blind Method, Exercise Therapy methods, Chronic Pain therapy, Chronic Pain physiopathology, Pain Measurement, Muscle Strength physiology, Muscle, Skeletal physiopathology, Low Back Pain therapy, Low Back Pain physiopathology, Low Back Pain rehabilitation, Leg Length Inequality physiopathology, Leg Length Inequality rehabilitation
Abstract

Chronic low back pain (LBP) is a common musculoskeletal disorder and is often accompanied by functional leg length inequality (FLLI). However, little was known about the effects of gluteal muscle control training in patients with LBP and FLLI. This study was designed to investigate the effects of gluteal control training in patients with LBP and FLLI. This is a double-blinded, randomized controlled study design. Forty-eight LBP patients with FLLI were randomized to the gluteal control training (GT) (47.58 ± 9.42 years) or the regular training (RT) (47.38 ± 11.31 years) group and received allocated training for six weeks. The outcome measures were pelvic inclination (PI), ilium anterior tilt difference (IATD), FLLI, visual analogue scale (VAS), patient specific-functional scale (PSFS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), hip control ability, global rating of change scale (GRoC), and lower extremity strength and flexibility. The intervention effects were compared using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance and chi-square tests with α = 0.05. The results indicated that the GT group showed greater improvement (P < 0.01) in PI (1.03 ± 0.38∘ vs. 1.57 ± 0.51∘), IATD (0.68 ± 0.66∘ vs. 2.31 ± 0.66∘), FLLI (0.3 ± 0.22 vs. 0.59 ± 0.13 cm), VAS (1.41 ± 1.32 vs. 3.38 ± 1.51), hip control ability (2.20 ± 0.45 vs. 0.89 ± 0.74), GRoC at 3rd and 6th week as compared to the RT group. Hip strength and flexibility also improved more in the GT group (P < 0.05). In conclusion, gluteal control training was more effective in improving low back pain and dysfunctions, and should be integrated in the management plan in patients with LBP and FLLI., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Published
2024
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28. Impact of diet and bacterial supplementation regimes on Orius strigicollis microbiota and life history performance.

Author

Hung YT, Wong AC, Tang CK, Wu MC, and Tuan SJ

Subjects
Animals, Female, Heteroptera microbiology, Diet, Dietary Supplements, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S genetics, Pantoea physiology, Pantoea genetics, Nymph microbiology, Nymph growth & development, Moths microbiology, Moths growth & development, Male, Animal Feed, Longevity, Microbiota
Abstract

Given the growing interest in manipulating microbiota to enhance the fitness of mass-reared insects for biological control, this study investigated the impact of an artificial diet on the microbiota composition and performance of Orius strigicollis. We compared the microbiota of O. strigicollis fed on an artificial diet and moth eggs via culturing and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Subsequently, we assessed life history traits and immune gene expression of O. strigicollis fed on the artificial diet supplemented with Pantoea dispersa OS1. Results showed that microbial diversity remained largely unaffected by the artificial diet, with similar microbiota compositions in both diet groups. OS1, a minor member of the microbiota but significantly enriched in bugs fed on the artificial diet, improved nymphal survival rates and shifted adult longevity-reproduction life history in females. Additionally, OS1 supplementation elevated the transcription of antimicrobial peptide diptericin. According to population parameters, the group receiving OS1 only during the nymphal stage showed higher population growth potential compared to the group supplemented across all life stages. These findings reveal the resilience of O. strigicollis microbiota under distinct dietary conditions and highlight the potential of using natural symbionts and specific supplementation regimes to improve Orius rearing for future biocontrol programs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Published
2024
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29. Cost-effectiveness evaluation of mass-rearing Cadra cautella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) based on harvest theory for sustainable alternative prey production.

Author

Lin YY, Hung YT, Tuan SJ, Güncan A, Saska P, Yao MC, and Tang CK

Subjects
Animals, Female, Male, Ovum physiology, Pest Control, Biological, Larva growth & development, Larva physiology, Diet, Moths physiology, Cost-Benefit Analysis
Abstract

Cadra cautella (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) is a pest in barn, and its eggs are often utilized as an alternative prey or as hosts for mass production of insect predators and parasitoids. To aid in developing a mass-rearing system for C. castella, the suitability of using an artificial diet based on brown rice flour and whole brown rice was compared using the age-stage, 2-sex life table. Compared with those reared on brown rice, the insects reared on an artificial diet had a shorter preadult period (32.08 vs 37.38 d), higher fecundity (468.14 vs 356.20 eggs/female), greater intrinsic rate of increase (0.1509 vs 0.1145 d-1), and higher net reproductive rate (199.28 vs 103.52 offspring). Small populations were required to rear the moth on an artificial diet to achieve the same daily production of C. cautella. Still, the food expense was only 60.2% of that of C. cautella reared on brown rice. Approximately 99.44% of the eggs in each rearing procedure could be supplied as alternative prey for predators, with the remainder served to maintain the colonies for subsequent batches. Only eggs laid within 6 d would be utilized to ensure the high quality of alternative prey for the mass production of predacious bugs. Additionally, a multifunctional device was designed for moth rearing and egg collection, reducing labor input and minimizing health risks for workers coping with inhaled scales. To encourage the production of natural enemies, a cost-effective diet for maintaining a sustainable colony, and a system for daily egg-harvesting of alternative prey were proposed., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Published
2024
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30. The effect of muscle-biased manual therapy on shoulder kinematics, muscle performance, functional impairment, and pain in patients with frozen shoulder.

Author

Tang CK, Shih YF, and Lee CS

Abstract

Background: Frozen shoulder (FS) is characterized by restricted active and passive shoulder mobility and pain., Purpose: Compare the effect of muscle-biased manual therapy (MM) and regular physical therapy (RPT) in patients with FS., Study Design: Pretest-post-test control group study design., Methods: We recruited 34 patients with FS and compared the effect of 12-session MM and RPT. The outcome measures were scapular kinematics and muscle activation, scapular alignment, shoulder range of motion, and pain intensity. Two-way analysis of variance was used to examine the intervention effect with α = 0.05., Results: Both programs resulted in similar improvements in pain and shoulder function. Compared to the RPT, MM resulted in increased posterior tilt (MM: 7.04°-16.09°, RPT: -2.50° to -4.37°; p = 0.002; ES = 0.261) and lower trapezius activation (MM: 260.61%-470.90%, RPT: 322.64%-313.33%; p = 0.033; ES = 0.134) during scaption, and increased posterior tilt (MM: 0.70°-15.16°, RPT: -9.66° to -6.44°; p = 0.007; ES = 0.205) during the hand-to-neck task. The MM group also showed increased GH backward elevation (MM: 37.18°-42.79°, RPT: 43.64°-40.83°; p = 0.004, ES = 0.237) and scapular downward rotation (MM: -2.48° to 6.80°, RPT: 1.93°-1.44°; p < 0.001; ES = 0.404) during the thumb-to-waist task, enhanced shoulder abduction (MM: 84.6°-102.3°, RPT: 85.1°-92.9°; p = 0.02; ES = 0.153), and improved scapular alignment (MM: 10.4-9.65 cm, RPT: 9.41-9.56 cm; p = 0.02; ES = 0.114)., Conclusions: MM was superior to the RPT regarding scapular neuromuscular performance. Clinicians should consider adding muscle-biased treatment when treating FS., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Published
2024
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31. Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation Element Binding Protein 1 and Atherosclerosis: Prospective Target and New Insights.

Author

Zhou J and Tang CK

Subjects
Humans, Animals, Transcription Factors metabolism, Transcription Factors genetics, Gene Expression Regulation, Signal Transduction, Atherosclerosis metabolism, Atherosclerosis genetics, Atherosclerosis pathology, mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors genetics, mRNA Cleavage and Polyadenylation Factors metabolism
Abstract

The ribonucleic acid (RNA)-binding protein Cytoplasmic Polyadenylation Element Binding Protein 1 (CPEB1), a key member of the CPEB family, is essential in controlling gene expression involved in both healthy physiological and pathological processes. CPEB1 can bind to the 3'- untranslated regions (UTR) of substrate messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) and regulate its translation. There is increasing evidence that CPEB1 is closely related to the pathological basis of atherosclerosis. According to recent investigations, many pathological processes, including inflammation, lipid metabolism, endothelial dysfunction, angiogenesis, oxidative stress, cellular senescence, apoptosis, and insulin resistance, are regulated by CPEB1. This review considers the prevention and treatment of atherosclerotic heart disease in relation to the evolution of the physiological function of CPEB1, recent research breakthroughs, and the potential participation of CPEB1 in atherosclerosis., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Published
2024
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32. History and Development of ABCA1.

Author

Wang Y, Guo M, and Tang CK

Subjects
Humans, Cholesterol metabolism, ATP Binding Cassette Transporter 1, ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters metabolism, Neoplasms
Abstract

ATP-binding cassette protein A1 (ABCA1) is a key protein in the transport of intracellular cholesterol to the extracellular and plays an important role in reducing cholesterol accumulation in surrounding tissues. Bibliometric analysis refers to the cross-science of quantitative analysis of a variety of documents by mathematical and statistical methods. It combines an analysis of structural and temporal patterns in scholarly publications with a description of topic concentration and types of uncertainty. This paper analyzes the history, hotspot, and development trend of ABCA1 through bibliometrics. It will provide readers with the research status and development trend of ABCA1 and help the hot research in this field explore new research directions. After screening, the research on ABCA1 is still in a hot phase in the past 20 years. ABCA1 is emerging in previously unrelated disciplines such as cancer. There were 551 keywords and 6888 breakout citations counted by CiteSpace. The relationship between cancer and cardiovascular disease has been linked by ABCA1. This review will guide readers who are not familiar with ABCA1 research to quickly understand the development process of ABCA1 and provide researchers with a possible future research focus on ABCA1., 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 © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Published
2024
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33. Apelin-13: A Protective Role in Vascular Diseases.

Author

Zeng GG, Tang SS, Jiang WL, Yu J, Nie GY, and Tang CK

Subjects
Humans, Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins therapeutic use, Vascular Diseases prevention & control
Abstract

Vascular disease is a common problem with high mortality all over the world. Apelin-13, a key subtype of apelin, takes part in many physiological and pathological responses via regulating many target genes and target molecules or participating in many signaling pathways. More and more studies have demonstrated that apelin-13 is implicated in the onset and progression of vascular disease in recent years. It has been shown that apelin-13 could ameliorate vascular disease by inhibiting inflammation, restraining apoptosis, suppressing oxidative stress, and facilitating autophagy. In this article, we sum up the progress of apelin-13 in the occurrence and development of vascular disease and offer some insightful views about the treatment and prevention strategies of vascular disease., 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 © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Published
2024
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34. A Potential Role of NFIL3 in Atherosclerosis.

Author

Zeng GG, Zhou J, Jiang WL, Yu J, Nie GY, Li J, Zhang SQ, and Tang CK

Subjects
Humans, Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors metabolism, Interleukin-3, Atherosclerosis
Abstract

Nuclear factor interleukin-3 (NFIL3), a proline- and acidic-residue-rich (PAR) bZIP transcription factor, is called the E4 binding protein 4 (E4BP4) as well, which is relevant to regulate the circadian rhythms and the viability of cells. More and more evidence has shown that NFIL3 is associated with different cardiovascular diseases. In recent years, it has been found that NFIL3 has significant functions in the progression of atherosclerosis (AS) via the regulation of inflammatory response, macrophage polarization, some immune cells and lipid metabolism. In this overview, we sum up the function of NFIL3 during the development of AS and offer meaningful views how to treat cardiovascular disease related to AS., 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 © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Published
2024
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35. Income is more protective against pain in more equal countries.

Author

Tang CK, Macchia L, and Powdthavee N

Subjects
Adult, Humans, Policy, Income, Pain
Abstract

It is empirically well-established that the rich suffer less pain on average than the poor. However, much less is known about the factors that moderate the size of the income gradient of pain. Using data from over 1 million adults from 127 countries worldwide, this article conducts a systematic test on whether income inequality moderates the pain gap between the rich and the poor. While pain is negatively associated with income in all but one country, there is strong evidence to suggest that an increase in income is much more protective against pain in countries where the income distribution is relatively more equal. The results are robust to using different measures of income inequality, removing outliers, and accounting for country and year fixed effects. We explain our results through the lens of income rank effects on health outcomes. Overall, our findings suggest that pain-reducing policies through income redistribution may need to take income inequality into consideration when evaluating their effectiveness., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Authors have no conflict of interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Published
2023
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36. GCoNet+: A Stronger Group Collaborative Co-Salient Object Detector.

Author

Zheng P, Fu H, Fan DP, Fan Q, Qin J, Tai YW, Tang CK, and Van Gool L

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel end-to-end group collaborative learning network, termed GCoNet+, which can effectively and efficiently (250 fps) identify co-salient objects in natural scenes. The proposed GCoNet+ achieves the new state-of-the-art performance for co-salient object detection (CoSOD) through mining consensus representations based on the following two essential criteria: 1) intra-group compactness to better formulate the consistency among co-salient objects by capturing their inherent shared attributes using our novel group affinity module (GAM); 2) inter-group separability to effectively suppress the influence of noisy objects on the output by introducing our new group collaborating module (GCM) conditioning on the inconsistent consensus. To further improve the accuracy, we design a series of simple yet effective components as follows: i) a recurrent auxiliary classification module (RACM) promoting model learning at the semantic level; ii) a confidence enhancement module (CEM) assisting the model in improving the quality of the final predictions; and iii) a group-based symmetric triplet (GST) loss guiding the model to learn more discriminative features. Extensive experiments on three challenging benchmarks, i.e., CoCA, CoSOD3k, and CoSal2015, demonstrate that our GCoNet+ outperforms the existing 12 cutting-edge models. Code has been released at https://github.com/ZhengPeng7/GCoNet&#95;plus.

Published
2023
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37. Honey bee foraging ability suppressed by imidacloprid can be ameliorated by adding adenosine.

Author

Lin YC, Lu YH, Tang CK, Yang EC, and Wu YL

Subjects
Bees, Animals, Ecosystem, Neonicotinoids toxicity, Nitro Compounds toxicity, Adenosine Triphosphate, Insecticides toxicity
Abstract

Honey bees are important pollinators in most ecosystem, but they are currently facing many threats, which have led to a reduction in their population. Previous studies have indicated that neonicotinoid pesticide can impair the memory and learning ability of honey bees, which can eventually lead to a decline in their foraging and homing abilities. In this study, we investigated the homing ability barrier from the perspective of energy supply. We believe that when worker bees experience stress, their energy supply may shift from pro-movement to pro-resistance; this will lead to inadequate energy provision to the flight muscles, causing a reduction in wingbeat frequency and impairing the flight ability of the worker bees. To test this, the worker bees were treated with imidacloprid, and wing beats between the treatment groups were compared. Their glucose, glycogen, trehalose, and ATP contents were also measured, and their genes for energy metabolism and resistance were analyzed. The addition of adenosine improved the ATP content and helped recover the wingbeat frequency of the worker bees. The preliminary results obtained showed that wingbeat frequency and glucose content in the worker bees treated with imidacloprid were significantly lower than those in the control group. This result is consistent with our hypothesis and demonstrates that energy supply imbalances can prevent worker bees from returning to their hives., 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 © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Published
2023
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38. Protein tyrosine phosphatase non-receptor type 2 as the therapeutic target of atherosclerotic diseases: past, present and future.

Author

Tang XE, Cheng YQ, and Tang CK

Abstract

Tyrosine-protein phosphatase non-receptor type 2(PTPN2), an important member of the protein tyrosine phosphatase family, can regulate various signaling pathways and biological processes by dephosphorylating receptor protein tyrosine kinases. Accumulating evidence has demonstrated that PTPN2 is involved in the occurrence and development of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Recently, it has been reported that PTPN2 exerts an anti-atherosclerotic effect by regulating vascular endothelial injury, monocyte proliferation and migration, macrophage polarization, T cell polarization, autophagy, pyroptosis, and insulin resistance. In this review, we summarize the latest findings on the role of PTPN2 in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis to provide a rationale for better future research and therapeutic interventions., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Tang, Cheng and Tang.)

Published
2023
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39. Occlusion-Aware Instance Segmentation Via BiLayer Network Architectures.

Author

Ke L, Tai YW, and Tang CK

Subjects
Algorithms, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted methods
Abstract

Segmenting highly-overlapping image objects is challenging, because there is typically no distinction between real object contours and occlusion boundaries on images. Unlike previous instance segmentation methods, we model image formation as a composition of two overlapping layers, and propose Bilayer Convolutional Network (BCNet), where the top layer detects occluding objects (occluders) and the bottom layer infers partially occluded instances (occludees). The explicit modeling of occlusion relationship with bilayer structure naturally decouples the boundaries of both the occluding and occluded instances, and considers the interaction between them during mask regression. We investigate the efficacy of bilayer structure using two popular convolutional network designs, namely, Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) and Graph Convolutional Network (GCN). Further, we formulate bilayer decoupling using the vision transformer (ViT), by representing instances in the image as separate learnable occluder and occludee queries. Large and consistent improvements using one/two-stage and query-based object detectors with various backbones and network layer choices validate the generalization ability of bilayer decoupling, as shown by extensive experiments on image instance segmentation benchmarks (COCO, KINS, COCOA) and video instance segmentation benchmarks (YTVIS, OVIS, BDD100 K MOTS), especially for heavy occlusion cases.

Published
2023
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40. Mechanical transmission of dengue virus by Aedes aegypti may influence disease transmission dynamics during outbreaks.

Author

Li HH, Su MP, Wu SC, Tsou HH, Chang MC, Cheng YC, Tsai KN, Wang HW, Chen GH, Tang CK, Chung PJ, Tsai WT, Huang LR, Yueh YA, Chen HW, Pan CY, Akbari OS, Chang HH, Yu GY, Marshall JM, and Chen CH

Subjects
Humans, Animals, Mice, Disease Outbreaks, Mosquito Vectors, Dengue Virus, Dengue epidemiology, Aedes
Abstract

Background: Dengue virus outbreaks are increasing in number and severity worldwide. Viral transmission is assumed to require a minimum time period of viral replication within the mosquito midgut. It is unknown if alternative transmission periods not requiring replication are possible., Methods: We used a mouse model of dengue virus transmission to investigate the potential of mechanical transmission of dengue virus. We investigated minimal viral titres necessary for development of symptoms in bitten mice and used resulting parameters to inform a new model of dengue virus transmission within a susceptible population., Findings: Naïve mice bitten by mosquitoes immediately after they took partial blood meals from dengue infected mice showed symptoms of dengue virus, followed by mortality. Incorporation of mechanical transmission into mathematical models of dengue virus transmission suggest that this supplemental transmission route could result in larger outbreaks which peak sooner., Interpretation: The potential of dengue transmission routes independent of midgut viral replication has implications for vector control strategies that target mosquito lifespan and suggest the possibility of similar mechanical transmission routes in other disease-carrying mosquitoes., Funding: This study was funded by grants from the National Health Research Institutes, Taiwan (04D2-MMMOST02), the Human Frontier Science Program (RGP0033/2021), the National Institutes of Health (1R01AI143698-01A1, R01AI151004 and DP2AI152071) and the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST104-2321-B-400-016)., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests OSA. is a founder of Agragene, Inc. with equity interest and a founder of Synvect with equity interest. The terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by the University of California, San Diego in accordance with its conflict of interest policies. All remaining authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Published
2023
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41. Role and therapeutic potential of gelsolin in atherosclerosis.

Author

Zhang Q, Wen XH, Tang SL, Zhao ZW, and Tang CK

Subjects
Humans, Actin Cytoskeleton metabolism, Cell Movement, Inflammation metabolism, Gelsolin metabolism, Atherosclerosis drug therapy, Atherosclerosis metabolism
Abstract

Atherosclerosis is the major pathophysiological basis of a variety of cardiovascular diseases and has been recognized as a lipid-driven chronic inflammatory disease. Gelsolin (GSN) is a member of the GSN family. The main function of GSN is to cut and seal actin filaments to regulate the cytoskeleton and participate in a variety of biological functions, such as cell movement, morphological changes, metabolism, apoptosis and phagocytosis. Recently, more and more evidences have demonstrated that GSN is Closely related to atherosclerosis, involving lipid metabolism, inflammation, cell proliferation, migration and thrombosis. This article reviews the role of GSN in atherosclerosis from inflammation, apoptosis, angiogenesis and thrombosis., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Published
2023
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42. Retraction notice to "Betulinic acid downregulates expression of oxidative stress-induced lipoprotein lipase via PKC/ERK/c-Fos pathways in RAW264.7 macrophages" [Biochimie 119C (2015) 192-203].

Author

Peng J, Lv YC, He PP, Tang YY, Xie W, Liu XY, Li Y, Lan G, Zhang M, Zhang C, Shi JF, Zheng XL, Yin WD, and Tang CK

Abstract

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (https://www.elsevier.com/about/policies/article-withdrawal). This article has been retracted at the request of the Editor-in-Chief. Concerns raised by Dr. Sander Kersten in PubPeer pointed out that Figs. 6.1B and 6.2B of this paper were different figures but the legends and Western blots were identical; the quantification was also seen to be different between the two figures. Shortly afterwards, the authors asked to publish a corrigendum for part B of Fig. 6.1, including images of western blots and associated bar plots. Subsequently, the journal conducted an investigation and found evidence that there had been improper manipulation and duplication of images in Fig. 2 E, 6.2 B, 5 A and and 6.2 D, as shown by the reuse of several western blot bands with approximately 180° rotation in each case. After raising the complaint with the authors, the corresponding author agreed that the paper should be retracted. The authors apologise to the readers of the journal., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. and Société Française de Biochimie et Biologie Moléculaire (SFBBM). All rights reserved.)

Published
2023
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43. CTRP1: A novel player in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

Author

Wang Y, Li H, Yu XH, and Tang CK

Subjects
Humans, Adipocytes, Adiponectin, Inflammation, Myocytes, Cardiac, Cardiovascular Diseases, Insulin Resistance physiology
Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a series of diseases induced by inflammation and lipid metabolism disorders, among others. Metabolic diseases can cause inflammation and abnormal lipid metabolism. C1q/TNF-related proteins 1 (CTRP1) is a paralog of adiponectin that belongs to the CTRP subfamily. CTRP1 is expressed and secreted in adipocytes, macrophages, cardiomyocytes, and other cells. It promotes lipid and glucose metabolism but has bidirectional effects on the regulation of inflammation. Inflammation can also inversely stimulate CTRP1 production. A vicious circle may exist between the two. This article introduces CTRP1 from the structure, expression, and different roles of CTRP1 in CVDs and metabolic diseases, to summarize the role of CTRP1 pleiotropy. Moreover, the proteins which may interact with CTRP1 are predicted through GeneCards and STRING, speculating their effects, to provide new ideas for the study of CTRP1., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Yang Wang reports administrative support was provided by University of South China. Yang Wang reports a relationship with University of South China that includes: non-financial support. Yang Wang has patent pending to yang wang. no., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Published
2023
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45. Safety and adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination among people with epilepsy: A cross-sectional study.

Author

Ong MJY, Khoo CS, Lee YX, Poongkuntran V, Tang CK, Choong YJ, Hod R, and Tan HJ

Subjects
Adult, Humans, Cross-Sectional Studies, Immunization adverse effects, Vaccination adverse effects, COVID-19 prevention & control, COVID-19 Vaccines administration & dosage, COVID-19 Vaccines adverse effects, Epilepsy
Abstract

Objective: Epilepsy is a non-communicable disease costing a massive burden globally. It is known that there is increased prevalence of morbidity and mortality following COVID-19 infection among people with epilepsy (PWE). However, there is limited information about the adverse events following COVID-19 immunization among PWE. Hence, this study aimed to assess the safety and adverse events following immunization (AEFI) of various COVID-19 vaccines among PWE from our centre, focusing on neurological AEFI., Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 120 adult PWE from the Neurology Clinic of the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Consent-taking was conducted via synchronous or asynchronous approaches, followed by a phone call interview session. The interview collected socio-demographic information, epilepsy-related variables, and vaccination-related variables. Univariate analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were done to confirm factors associated with the AEFI of COVID-19 vaccination., Results: Among all types of COVID-19 vaccines, most of the PWE received the Cominarty® COVID-19 vaccination (52.5%). Overall, local AEFI was the quickest to develop, with an average onset within a day. PWE with normal body mass index (BMI) had a higher risk of developing both local and systemic AEFI compared to those underweight and obese PWE (OR: 15.09, 95% CI 1.70-134.28, P = 0.02)., Significance: COVID-19 vaccines are safe for PWE. AEFI among PWE are similar to those of the general population following COVID-19 vaccination. Therefore, clinicians should encourage PWE to take COVID-19 vaccines., (© 2022 The Authors. Epilepsia Open published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International League Against Epilepsy.)

Published
2023
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46. CLEC5A mediates Zika virus-induced testicular damage.

Author

Wang HW, Li HH, Wu SC, Tang CK, Yu HY, Chang YC, Sung PS, Liu WL, Su MP, Yu GY, Huang LR, Chen CH, and Hsieh SL

Subjects
Humans, Male, Mice, Animals, Semen metabolism, Mice, Knockout, Inflammation genetics, Lectins, C-Type genetics, Receptors, Cell Surface genetics, Receptors, Cell Surface metabolism, Zika Virus, Zika Virus Infection, Orchitis
Abstract

Background: Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is clinically known to induce testicular swelling, termed orchitis, and potentially impact male sterility, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Previous reports suggested that C-type lectins play important roles in mediating virus-induced inflammatory reactions and pathogenesis. We thus investigated whether C-type lectins modulate ZIKV-induced testicular damage., Methods: C-type lectin domain family 5 member A (CLEC5A) knockout mice were generated in a STAT1-deficient immunocompromised background (denoted clec5a -/- stat1 -/- ) to enable testing of the role played by CLEC5A after ZIKV infection in a mosquito-to-mouse disease model. Following ZIKV infection, mice were subjected to an array of analyses to evaluate testicular damage, including ZIKV infectivity and neutrophil infiltration estimation via quantitative RT-PCR or histology and immunohistochemistry, inflammatory cytokine and testosterone detection, and spermatozoon counting. Furthermore, DNAX-activating proteins for 12 kDa (DAP12) knockout mice (dap12 -/- stat1 -/- ) were generated and used to evaluate ZIKV infectivity, inflammation, and spermatozoa function in order to investigate the potential mechanisms engaged by CLEC5A., Results: Compared to experiments conducted in ZIKV-infected stat1 -/- mice, infected clec5a -/- stat1 -/- mice showed reductions in testicular ZIKV titer, local inflammation and apoptosis in testis and epididymis, neutrophil invasion, and sperm count and motility. CLEC5A, a myeloid pattern recognition receptor, therefore appears involved in the pathogenesis of ZIKV-induced orchitis and oligospermia. Furthermore, DAP12 expression was found to be decreased in the testis and epididymis tissues of clec5a -/- stat1 -/- mice. As for CLEC5A deficient mice, ZIKV-infected DAP12-deficient mice also showed reductions in testicular ZIKV titer and local inflammation, as well as improved spermatozoa function, as compared to controls. CLEC5A-associated DAP12 signaling appears to in part regulate ZIKV-induced testicular damage., Conclusions: Our analyses reveal a critical role for CLEC5A in ZIKV-induced proinflammatory responses, as CLEC5A enables leukocytes to infiltrate past the blood-testis barrier and induce testicular and epididymal tissue damage. CLEC5A is thus a potential therapeutic target for the prevention of injuries to male reproductive organs in ZIKV patients., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Published
2023
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50. Effects of Different Pedaling Positions on Muscle Usage and Energy Expenditure in Amateur Cyclists.

Author

Tang CK, Huang C, Liang KC, Cheng YJ, Hsieh YL, Shih YF, and Lin HC

Subjects
Electromyography, Energy Metabolism, Humans, Muscle, Skeletal physiology, Quadriceps Muscle physiology, Bicycling physiology, Oxygen Consumption
Abstract

Background: Inappropriate cycling positions may affect muscle usage strategy and raise the level of fatigue or risk of sport injury. Dynamic bike fitting is a growing trend meant to help cyclists select proper bikes and adjust them to fit their ergometry. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the "knee forward of foot" (KFOF) distance, an important dynamic bike fitting variable, influences the muscle activation, muscle usage strategy, and rate of energy expenditure during cycling., Methods: Six amateur cyclists were recruited to perform the short-distance ride test (SRT) and the graded exercise tests (GXT) with pedaling positions at four different KFOF distances (+20, 0, -20, and -40 mm). The surface electromyographic (EMG) and portable energy metabolism systems were used to monitor the muscle activation and energy expenditure. The outcome measures included the EMG root-mean-square (RMS) amplitudes of eight muscles in the lower extremity during the SRT, the regression line of the changes in the EMG RMS amplitude and median frequency (MF), and the heart rate and oxygen consumption during the GXT., Results: Our results revealed significant differences in the muscle activation of vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, and semitendinosus among four different pedaling positions during the SRT. During GXT, no statistically significant differences in muscle usage strategy and energy expenditure were found among different KFOF. However, most cyclists had the highest rate of energy expenditure with either KFOF at -40 mm or 20 mm., Conclusions: The KFOF distance altered muscle activation in the SRT; however, no significant influence on the muscle usage strategy was found in the GXT. A higher rate of energy expenditure in the extreme pedaling positions of KFOF was observed in most amateur cyclists, so professional assistance for proper bike fitting was recommended.

Published
2022
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