Detection of Low Resilience Using Data-Driven Effective Connectivity Measures.

Conventional thresholding techniques for graph theory analysis, such as absolute, proportional and mean degree, have often been used in characterizing human brain networks under different mental disorders, such as mental stress. However, these approaches may not always be reliable as conventional thresholding approaches are subjected to human biases. Using a mental resilience study, we investigate if data-driven thresholding techniques such as Global Cost Efficiency (GCE-abs) and Orthogonal Minimum Spanning Trees (OMSTs) could provide equivalent results, whilst eliminating human biases.

Automated Age-Related Macular Degeneration Detector on Optical Coherence Tomography Images Using Slice-Sum Local Binary Patterns and Support Vector Machine.

Artificial intelligence has revolutionised smart medicine, resulting in enhanced medical care. This study presents an automated detector chip for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) using a support vector machine (SVM) and three-dimensional (3D) optical coherence tomography (OCT) volume. The aim is to assist ophthalmologists by reducing the time-consuming AMD medical examination.

Fe deficiency-induced ethylene synthesis confers resistance to Botrytis cinerea.

Although iron (Fe) deficiency is an adverse condition to growth and development of plants, it increases the resistance to pathogens. How Fe deficiency induces the resistance to pathogens is still unclear. Here, we reveal that the inoculation of Botrytis cinerea activates the Fe deficiency response of plants, which further induces ethylene synthesis and then resistance to B.

Emotion Self-Regulation in Neurotic Students: A Pilot Mindfulness-Based Intervention to Assess Its Effectiveness through Brain Signals and Behavioral Data.

Neuroticism has recently received increased attention in the psychology field due to the finding of high implications of neuroticism on an individual's life and broader public health. This study aims to investigate the effect of a brief 6-week breathing-based mindfulness intervention (BMI) on undergraduate neurotic students' emotion regulation. We acquired data of their psychological states, physiological changes, and electroencephalogram (EEG), before and after BMI, in resting states and tasks.

IRON MAN interacts with BRUTUS to maintain iron homeostasis in .

IRON MAN (IMA) peptides, a family of small peptides, control iron (Fe) transport in plants, but their roles in Fe signaling remain unclear. BRUTUS (BTS) is a potential Fe sensor that negatively regulates Fe homeostasis by promoting the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of bHLH105 and bHLH115, two positive regulators of the Fe deficiency response. Here, we show that IMA peptides interact with BTS.

Automatic colonic polyp detection using integration of modified deep residual convolutional neural network and ensemble learning approaches.

Background And Objective: The increased incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) and its mortality rate have attracted interest in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) based computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) tools to detect polyps at an early stage. Although these CAD tools have thus far achieved a good accuracy level to detect polyps, they still have room to improve further (e.g.

fNIRS-based functional connectivity estimation using semi-metric analysis to study decision making by nursing students and registered nurses.

This study aims to investigate the generalizability of the semi-metric analysis of the functional connectivity (FC) for functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) by applying it to detect the dichotomy in differential FC under affective and neutral emotional states in nursing students and registered nurses during decision making. The proposed method employs wavelet transform coherence to construct FC networks and explores semi-metric analysis to extract network redundancy features, which has not been considered in conventional fNIRS-based FC analyses. The trials of the proposed method were performed on 19 nursing students and 19 registered nurses via a decision-making task under different emotional states induced by affective and neutral emotional stimuli.

Assessing Neural Compensation With Visuospatial Working Memory Load Using Near-Infrared Imaging.

Alzheimer's disease is characterized by the progressive deterioration of cognitive abilities particularly working memory while mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents its prodrome. It is generally believed that neural compensation is intact in MCI but absent in Alzheimer's disease. This study investigated the effects of increasing task load as a means to induce neural compensation through a novel visual working memory (VSWM) task using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

Pulse waveform analysis on temporal changes in ocular blood flow due to caffeine intake: a comparative study between habitual and non-habitual groups.

Purpose: To evaluate and compare the temporal changes in pulse waveform parameters of ocular blood flow (OBF) between non-habitual and habitual groups due to caffeine intake.

Method: This study was conducted on 19 healthy subjects (non-habitual 8; habitual 11), non-smoking and between 21 and 30 years of age. Using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG), three areas of optical nerve head were analyzed which are vessel, tissue, and overall, each with ten pulse waveform parameters, namely mean blur rate (MBR), fluctuation, skew, blowout score (BOS), blowout time (BOT), rising rate, falling rate, flow acceleration index (FAI), acceleration time index (ATI), and resistive index (RI).

Forward genetic screen for auxin-deficient mutants by cytokinin.

Identification of mutants with impairments in auxin biosynthesis and dynamics by forward genetic screening is hindered by the complexity, redundancy and necessity of the pathways involved. Furthermore, although a few auxin-deficient mutants have been recently identified by screening for altered responses to shade, ethylene, N-1-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA) or cytokinin (CK), there is still a lack of robust markers for systematically isolating such mutants. We hypothesized that a potentially suitable phenotypic marker is root curling induced by CK, as observed in the auxin biosynthesis mutant CK-induced root curling 1 / tryptophan aminotransferase of Arabidopsis 1 (ckrc1/taa1).

Parapapillary atrophy and optic disc region assessment (PANDORA): retinal imaging tool for assessment of the optic disc and parapapillary atrophy.

We describe a computer-aided measuring tool, named parapapillary atrophy and optic disc region assessment (PANDORA), for automated detection and quantification of both the parapapillary atrophy (PPA) and the optic disc (OD) regions in two-dimensional color retinal fundus images. The OD region is segmented using a combination of edge detection and ellipse fitting methods. The PPA region is identified by the presence of bright pixels in the temporal zone of the OD, and it is segmented using a sequence of techniques, including a modified Chan-Vese approach, thresholding, scanning filter, and multiseed region growing.

Quantification of parapapillary atrophy and optic disc.

Purpose: A computer-aided measuring tool was devised to automatically detect and quantify both the parapapillary atrophy (PPA) and the optic disc (OD) regions in two-dimensional color fundus images of the retina.

Methods: The OD region was segmented using the Chan-Vese model with a shape restraint. This region was then removed from the image (OD+PPA), which was cropped in a modified Chan-Vese approach, producing a first-order estimation of the PPA region.