Thermal infrared image processing profiles for speech anxiety monitoring

Multimedia Tools and Applications - This study relates to a method for analyzing speech anxiety by processing biosignals in real time. In the previous study, the effect of galvanic skin response...     

Poly(cyclodextrin)‐Polydrug Nanocomplexes as Synthetic Oncolytic Virus for Locoregional Melanoma Chemoimmunotherapy

Despite the approval of oncolytic virus (OV) therapy for advanced melanoma, its intrinsic limitations that include the risk of persistent viral infection and cost‐intensive manufacturing motivate the development of analogous approaches that are free from the disadvantages of virus‐based therapies. Herein, reported is a nanoassembly comprised of multivalent host–guest interactions between polymerized paclitaxel (pPTX) and nitric oxide‐incorporated polymerized β‐cyclodextrin (pCD‐pSNO) that through its bioactive components and when used locoregionally recapitulates the therapeutic effects of OV. The resultant pPTX/pCD‐pSNO exhibits significantly enhanced cytotoxicity, immunogenic cell death, dendritic cell (DC) activation, and T cell expansion in vitro compared to free agents alone or in combination. In vivo, intratumoral administration of pPTX/pCD‐pSNO results in activation and expansion of DCs systemically, but with a corresponding expansion of myeloid‐derived suppressor cells and suppression of CD8⁺ T cell expansion. When combined with antibody targeting cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen‐4 that blunts this molecule's signaling effects on T cells, intratumoral pPTX/pCD‐pSNO treatment elicits potent anticancer effects that significantly prolong animal survival. This formulation thus leverages the chemo‐ and immunotherapeutic synergies of PTX and nitric oxide and suggests the potential for virus‐free nanoformulations to mimic the therapeutic action and benefits of OVs.     

Correlations between histopathologic and dermoscopic findings in Korean actinic keratosis

Skin biopsy for AK diagnosis is usually performed on only a limited part of the whole lesion. Therefore, a clinical diagnosis is important. According to a study, there is no significant correlation between histopathological and clinical classification system. We examined the correlation between microscopic information and dermoscopic findings to deduce if dermoscopic information reflects histopathologic grade severity. Forty seven patients with histologically confirmed AK were enrolled and positive ratio of red pseudonetwork, rosette, red background and targetoid signs, white‐to‐yellow scale, white structureless area, and pigmentation from dermoscopic findings were investigated. Furthermore, viable epidermal thickness, vessel lumen dimensions, existence and thickness of ortho‐ and parakeratosis, degree of sola elastosis, flag sign existence, and Roewert‐Huber classification were measured as histologic findings. Red background did not show a significant correlation with vascular dimension or viable epidermal thickness. When targetoid sign was present, vascular dimension was significantly larger but showed no correlation with viable epidermal thickness, parakeratosis or orthokeratosis. Solar elastosis level was significantly higher when white‐to‐yellow scale was present. According to Spearman's correlation analysis, ortho/parakeratotic thickness showed correlations with each other. The negative correlation between viable epidermal thickness and vascular dimension was also shown. Roewert‐Huber histologic AK classification showed no correlation with any factors we checked. Factors considered to be characteristic features of AK in dermoscopy seemed unassociated with histologic AK classification and additional research is needed to determine degree of dysplasia of AK lesions using dermoscopy.     

Influence of iron doping towards the physicochemical and biological characteristics of hydroxyapatite

Hydroxyapatite (HAP) is the naturally occurring mineral form of calcium apatite and the most studied material as a bone substituent. Considering HAP's inherent properties, this study explored changes in HAP's characteristics from doping with other metals such as Fe. To form pure HAP and Fe-HAP with different amounts of Fe, we used the hydrothermal approach, and the composites that formed were thoroughly analyzed for their crystallinity, surface bonding, morphology, magnetic behavior, mechanical strength, biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and in vitro cytotoxicity. The powder XRD studies confirmed the samples' crystallinity, and the lowest crystalline size was 19.7 nm in 10Fe-HAP. The FTIR analysis confirmed the formation of HAP by the hydroxyl, phosphate, and carbonate groups. The FESEM demonstrated that the morphology of the pure HAP was rod-shaped, which transformed into spheres after Fe doping. The EDS analysis confirmed the successful formation of HAP and Fe-HAP composites. The magnetic studies indicated the diamagnetic behavior of the pure HAP, while the Fe-doped HAPs had a superparamagnetic nature with saturation magnetizations (M_s) of 2Fe-HAP, 4Fe-HAP, and 10Fe-HAP at 0.0062, 0.0092, and 0.029 emu/g respectively. Assessment of the mechanical properties, biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, and cytotoxicity indicated that the Fe-doped HAPs were superior to the pure HAP, and among the Fe-HAPs, the 10Fe-HAP) had the highest amount of Fe and the best characteristics. The studies also indicated that Ca²⁺ interactions influenced the cells via HAP doping with that of Fe, equally increasing the physicochemical and biological properties.     

Tactile colour pictogram to improve artwork appreciation of people with visual impairments

A recent development in tactile technology enables an improvement in the appreciation of the visual arts for people with visual impairment (PVI). The tactile sense, in conjunction with, or a possibly as an alternative to, the auditory sense, would allow PVIs to approach artwork in a more self‐driven and engaging way that would be difficult to achieve with just an auditory stimulus. Tactile colour pictograms (TCPs), which are raised geometric patterns, are ideographic characters that are designed to enable PVIs to identify colours and interpret information by touch. In this article, three TCPs are introduced to code colours in the Munsell colour system. Each colour pattern consists of a basic cell size of 10 mm × 10 mm to represent the patterns consistently in terms of regular shape. Each TCP consists of basic geometric patterns that are combined to create primary, secondary, and tertiary colour pictograms of shapes indicating colour hue, intensity and lightness. Each TCP represents 29 colours including six hues; they were then further expanded to represent 53 colours. Two of them did not increase the cell size, the other increased the cell size 1.5 times for some colours, such as yellow‐orange, yellow, blue, and blue‐purple. Our proposed TCPs use a slightly larger cell size compared to most tactile patterns currently used to indicate colour, but code for more colours. With user experience and identification tests, conducted with 23 visually impaired adults, the effectiveness of the TCPs suggests that they were helpful for the participants.     

Liver-Resident Memory CD8+ T Cells: Possible Roles in Chronic HBV Infection

Achieving a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection or complete elimination of HBV covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) has been challenging in the treatment of patients with chronic HBV infection. Although novel antivirals are being investigated, improving HBV-specific adaptive immune responses is also important for durable viral clearance. Tissue-resident memory CD8⁺ T (T_RM) cells were recently reported as a T-cell population that resides in peripheral tissues and does not recirculate. T_RM cells have been studied in the livers of mice and humans. Liver T_RM cells have distinct characteristics compared to T cells in peripheral blood or other tissues, which may be associated with the unique microenvironment of the liver. In this review, we describe the characteristics of liver T_RM cells and their implications in chronic HBV infection. We emphasize that liver T_RM cells can be an immunotherapeutic target for the treatment of chronic HBV infection.     

Feasibility Study of Submerged Floating Tunnels Moored by an Inclined Tendon System

Concepts of submerged floating tunnels (SFTs) for land connection have been continuously suggested and developed by several researchers and institutes. To maintain their predefined positions under various dynamic environmental loading conditions, the submerged floating tunnels should be effectively moored by reasonable mooring systems. With rational mooring systems, the design of SFTs should be confirmed to satisfy the structural safety, fatigue, and operability design criteria related to tunnel motion, internal forces, structural stresses, and the fatigue life of the main structural members. This paper presents a feasibility study of a submerged floating tunnel moored by an inclined tendon system. The basic structural concept was developed based on the concept of conventional cable-stayed bridges to minimize the seabed excavation, penetration, and anchoring work by applying tower-inclined tendon systems instead of conventional tendons with individual seabed anchors. To evaluate the structural performance of the new type of SFT, a hydrodynamic analysis was performed in the time domain using the commercial nonlinear finite element code ABAQUS–AQUA. For the main dynamic environmental loading condition, an irregular wave load was examined. A JONSWAP wave spectrum was used to generate a time-series wave-induced hydrodynamic load considering the specific significant wave height and peak period for predetermined wave conditions. By performing a time-domain hydrodynamic analysis on the submerged floating structure under irregular waves, the motional characteristics, structural stresses, and fatigue damage of the floating tunnel and mooring members were analyzed to evaluate the structural safety and fatigue performance. According to the analytical study, the suggested conceptual model for SFTs shows very good hydrodynamic structural performance. It can be concluded that the concept can be considered as a reasonable structural type of SFT.     

Linear and non-linear analyses on the onset of miscible viscous fingering in a porous medium

The onset of miscible viscous fingering in porous media was analyzed theoretically. The linear stability equations were derived in the self-similar domain, and solved through the modal and non-modal analyses. In the non-modal analysis, adjoint equations were derived using the Lagrangian multiplier technique. Through the non-modal analysis, we show that initially the system is unconditionally stable even in the unfavorable viscosity distribution, and there exists the most unstable initial disturbance. To relate the theoretical predictions with the experimental work, nonlinear direct numerical simulations were also conducted. The present stability condition explains the system more reasonably than the previous results based on the conventional quasi-steady state approximation.