Face verification across age progression.

Human faces undergo considerable amounts of varialions with aging. While face recognition systems have been proven to be sensitive to factors such as illumination and pose, their sensitivity to facial aging effects is yet to be studied. How does age progression affect the similarity between a pair of face images of an individual? What is the confidence associated with establishing the identity between a pair of age separated face images? In this paper, we develop a Bayesian age difference classifier that classifies face images of individuals based on age differences and performs face verification across age progression. Further, we study the similarity of faces across age progression. Since age separated face images invariably differ in illumination and pose, we propose preprocessing methods for minimizing such variations. Experimental results using a database comprising of pairs of face images that were retrieved from the passports of 465 individuals are presented. The verification system for faces separated by as many as nine years, attains an equal error rate of 8.5%.     

Tumor necrosis factor alpha interferes with the cell cycle of normal and papillomavirus-immortalized human keratinocytes

We have shown that normal and human papillomavirus (HPV) type 16 immortalized human foreskin keratinocytes are growth inhibited by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), whereas HPV-18- and SV40-immortalized keratinocytes are resistant to this cytokine (1). In this report, we investigated the expression of mitotic regulatory proteins, such as cyclin A, cyclin B, and p34cdc2. After exposure to TNF-alpha, normal and HPV-16-immortalized cells exhibited a dramatic decrease in the expression of these proteins. In contrast, no alteration in the levels of these proteins was observed after treatment of the resistant cell lines, as well as two HPV-positive cervical carcinoma cell lines. Expression of cyclin E does not seem to be modulated by TNF-alpha in any of the cells tested. On the other hand, cyclin D1, expression is slightly increased in normal keratinocytes and in the HPV-16-immortalized cells, whereas no alteration was observed in the HPV-18-transfected cells. The phosphorylation state of pRb correlated with cell growth; sensitive cells, which accumulate in G0-G1, after exposure to TNF-alpha, exhibited an accumulation of hypophosphorylated pRb, whereas no effect on pRb phosphorylation was observed for HPV-18-immortalized cells. These results clearly correlate with TNF-alpha-induced growth arrest in G0-G1.     

Maternal age and congenital cytomegalovirus infection: screening of two diverse newborn populations, 1980-1990

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading cause of congenital viral infection in the United States. To prevent damaging congenital CMV infections, it is necessary to have accurate population estimates of prevalence and to identify maternal factors associated with an elevated risk of congenital infection in the newborn. From 1980 through 1990, 17,163 offspring of predominantly low-income nonwhite women who delivered at a public hospital and 9892 newborns of predominantly mid- to upper-income white women who delivered at a private hospital were screened for congenital CMV infection. Women < 20 years old (adjusted prevalence odds ratio [POR], 4.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.6-8.9) at the public hospital and all nonwhite women (adjusted POR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2) had an increased risk of delivering an infected newborn. Newborns of adolescent women in both populations had the highest prevalence of clinically apparent infection. Offspring of nonwhite low-income adolescents are at greatest risk for congenital CMV infection and more damaging sequelae.     

Antihyperglycemic activity of phenolics from Pterocarpus marsupium

Glucose levels in rats with hyperglycemia induced by streptozotocin were determined after i.p. administration of marsupsin (1), pterosupin (2), and pterostilbene (3), three important phenolic constituents of the heartwood of Pterocarpus marsupium. Marsupsin and pterostilbene significantly lowered the blood glucose level of hyperglycemic rats, and the effect was comparable to that of 1,1-dimethylbiguanide (metformin).     

Predicting compliance with annual follow-up evaluations in persons with spinal cord injury

In this study a representative sample of German acute care hospitals is used to describe the effects of dementia within acute care hospitals. Data from hospital patients above age 60 with the diagnosis dementia (ICD 290, 293, 294 and 310), collected over an observation period of 12 years, are compared with nondemented hospital patients at the same ages. The differences in the average length of stay between demented and nondemented patients are only relatively small in German acute care hospitals. The degree of multimorbidity is higher and hospital infections are more frequent for demented patients. The main differences occur with mortality: demented inpatients of both sexes experience a hospital mortality which is about twice as high as for nondemented patients at the same ages.     

Complete nucleotide sequence of HTLV-II isolate NRA: comparison of envelope sequence variation of HTLV-II isolates from U.S. blood donors and U.S. and Italian i.v. drug users

Seven cardiac electrophysiology stimulators from four manufacturers (Biotronik, Bloom, Digitimer and Medtronic) in common current use are reviewed. The stimulators differ in the features provided and the design adopted to achieve these features. The number of output channels ranges from one to four, the number of extra-stimuli available ranges from two to six, and these can be delivered as a variety of sequences. Some of the stimulators (Digitimer and Bloom) are modular while others (Biotronik and Medtronic 532 series) are of an integrated design comprising a single physical unit. The design of the Medtronic EP-2 has both integrated and modular characteristics. The features of the stimulators associated with input, output, control and the user interface are specifically reviewed. The features are also compared against the published recommendations of the American Heart Association. In addition, a summary of stimulator user comments from a number of electrophysiology centres is presented. All of the stimulators fulfil, or are close to fulfilling, basic electrophysiological requirements, but some provide more complex facilities such as would be required by specialist centres.     

Control of volatile organic compounds by an AC energizedferroelectric pellet reactor and a pulsed corona reactor

Two laboratory-scale plasma reactors, an alternating current (AC) energized ferroelectric (high dielectric ceramic) packed bed reactor and a nanosecond pulsed corona reactor, were constructed. This study was done to develop baseline engineering data to demonstrate the feasibility of the application of plasma reactors to the destruction of various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at PPM levels. Complete destruction was obtained for toluene. Conversions of methylene chloride at 95% and trichlorotrifluoroethane (known as CFC-113) at 67% were achieved for the plasma reactors used. The conversion was dependent on the mean electron energy in the reactor and was also related to how strongly halogen species were bonded with carbon