WRA-Net: Wide Receptive Field Attention Network for Motion Deblurring in Crop and Weed Image.

Automatically segmenting crops and weeds in the image input from cameras accurately is essential in various agricultural technology fields, such as herbicide spraying by farming robots based on crop and weed segmentation information. However, crop and weed images taken with a camera have motion blur due to various causes (e.g.

Activation of multiple transcriptional regulators by growth restriction in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Growth restriction by antibiotics is a common feature that pathogenic bacteria must overcome for survival. The struggle of bacteria to escape from growth restriction eventually results in development of antibiotic-resistance through the expression of a set of genes. Here we found that some physiologically important transcriptional regulators of Pseudomonas aeruginosa including QscR, a quorum sensing (QS) receptor, SoxR, a superoxide sensor-regulator, and AntR, a regulator of anthranilate-related secondary metabolism, are activated by various growth-restricted conditions.

AntR-mediated bidirectional activation of antA and antR, anthranilate degradative genes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Bidirectional activation of transcription is a peculiar regulation mode of gene expression. In this study, we show that genes involved in the metabolism of anthranilate, a precursor of biosynthesis of tryptophan and Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) are regulated by this bidirectional activation of transcription. Anthranilate is degraded by anthranilate dioxygenase complex encoded by antABC operon, and AntR, a LysR-type regulator encoded by antR activates the transcription of antABC operon in the presence of anthranilate.

Interspecies signaling through QscR, a quorum receptor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The QS machinery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an opportunistic human pathogen, consists of three acyl-homoserine lactone (acyl-HSL) signaling systems, LasR-I, RhlR-I, and QscR. QscR, known as an orphan receptor and a repressor of other QS systems, operates its own regulon using N-3-oxododecanoyl HSL (3OC12), which is synthesized by LasI, as its signal. In this study, we addressed the role of QscR in interspecies communication.

A Case of Urethral Metastasis from Sigmoid Colon Cancer Diagnostically and Prognostically Indicated by F-18 FDG PET/CT.

Urethral metastasis from colorectal cancer is rare and is known to have a poor prognosis. A 72-year-old man with a history of colectomy and colostomy due to sigmoid colon cancer was admitted to the emergency room with bowel distension, rectal bleeding and urinary symptoms. Computed tomography of the abdominopelvis showed sigmoid colon cancer with multiple metastases involving the liver.

Growth phase-differential quorum sensing regulation of anthranilate metabolism in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas quinolone signal (PQS) plays a role in the regulation of virulence genes and it is intertwined in the las/rhl quorum sensing (QS) circuits of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. PQS is synthesized from anthranilate by pqsA-D and pqsH whose expression is influenced by the las/rhl systems. Since anthranilate can be degraded by functions of antABC and catBCA, PQS synthesis might be regulated by the balance between the expression of the pqsA-D/phnAB, pqsH, antABC, and catBCA gene loci.

In vitro and in vivo test of PEG/PCL-based hydrogel scaffold for cell delivery application.

Biodegradable elastic hydrogel scaffolds based on hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and hydrophobic poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) were fabricated and investigated as a delivery vehicle of rabbit chondrocytes for the formation of neocartilage. The diacrylated forms of PEG and PCL were used as building blocks to prepare a series of hydrogel scaffolds with different block compositions and, thus, different physico-chemical properties. The porous hydrogel scaffolds were prepared by using the salt leaching method that is generally used for the creation of porous scaffolds, and their in vitro cell interactions were examined using chondrocytes.