Using Sparse Parts in Fused Information to Enhance Performance in Latent Low-Rank Representation-Based Fusion of Visible and Infrared Images.

Latent Low-Rank Representation (LatLRR) has emerged as a prominent approach for fusing visible and infrared images. In this approach, images are decomposed into three fundamental components: the base part, salient part, and sparse part. The aim is to blend the base and salient features to reconstruct images accurately. However, existing methods often focus more on combining the base and salient parts, neglecting the importance of the sparse component, whereas we advocate for the comprehensive inclusion of all three parts generated from LatLRR image decomposition into the image fusion process, a novel proposition introduced in this study. Moreover, the effective integration of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) technology with LatLRR remains challenging, particularly after the inclusion of sparse parts. This study utilizes fusion strategies involving weighted average, summation, VGG19, and ResNet50 in various combinations to analyze the fusion performance following the introduction of sparse parts. The research findings show a significant enhancement in fusion performance achieved through the inclusion of sparse parts in the fusion process. The suggested fusion strategy involves employing deep learning techniques for fusing both base parts and sparse parts while utilizing a summation strategy for the fusion of salient parts. The findings improve the performance of LatLRR-based methods and offer valuable insights for enhancement, leading to advancements in the field of image fusion.

PM2.5 Concentration Prediction Model: A CNN-RF Ensemble Framework.

Although many machine learning methods have been widely used to predict PM2.5 concentrations, these single or hybrid methods still have some shortcomings. This study integrated the advantages of convolutional neural network (CNN) feature extraction and the regression ability of random forest (RF) to propose a novel CNN-RF ensemble framework for PM2.5 concentration modeling. The observational data from 13 monitoring stations in Kaohsiung in 2021 were selected for model training and testing. First, CNN was implemented to extract key meteorological and pollution data. Subsequently, the RF algorithm was employed to train the model with five input factors, namely the extracted features from the CNN and spatiotemporal factors, including the day of the year, the hour of the day, latitude, and longitude. Independent observations from two stations were used to evaluate the models. The findings demonstrated that the proposed CNN-RF model had better modeling capability compared with the independent CNN and RF models: the average improvements in root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute error (MAE) ranged from 8.10% to 11.11%, respectively. In addition, the proposed CNN-RF hybrid model has fewer excess residuals at thresholds of 10 µg/m3, 20 µg/m3, and 30 µg/m3. The results revealed that the proposed CNN-RF ensemble framework is a stable, reliable, and accurate method that can generate superior results compared with the single CNN and RF methods. The proposed method could be a valuable reference for readers and may inspire researchers to develop even more effective methods for air pollution modeling. This research has important implications for air pollution research, data analysis, model estimation, and machine learning.

Combination of VSLAM and a Magnetic Fingerprint Map to Improve Accuracy of Indoor Positioning.

With the continual advancement of positioning technology, people's use of mobile devices has increased substantially. The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) has improved outdoor positioning performance. However, it cannot effectively locate indoor users owing to signal masking effects. Common indoor positioning technologies include radio frequencies, image visions, and pedestrian dead reckoning. However, the advantages and disadvantages of each technology prevent a single indoor positioning technology from solving problems related to various environmental factors. In this study, a hybrid method was proposed to improve the accuracy of indoor positioning by combining visual simultaneous localization and mapping (VSLAM) with a magnetic fingerprint map. A smartphone was used as an experimental device, and a built-in camera and magnetic sensor were used to collect data on the characteristics of the indoor environment and to determine the effect of the magnetic field on the building structure. First, through the use of a preestablished indoor magnetic fingerprint map, the initial position was obtained using the weighted k-nearest neighbor matching method. Subsequently, combined with the VSLAM, the Oriented FAST and Rotated BRIEF (ORB) feature was used to calculate the indoor coordinates of a user. Finally, the optimal user's position was determined by employing loose coupling and coordinate constraints from a magnetic fingerprint map. The findings indicated that the indoor positioning accuracy could reach 0.5 to 0.7 m and that different brands and models of mobile devices could achieve the same accuracy.

Adaptation to Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Enhances Resistance of Oral Cancer Cells to Cisplatin by Up-Regulating Polymerase η and Increasing DNA Repair Efficiency.

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response is an adaptive program to cope with cellular stress that disturbs the function and homeostasis of ER, which commonly occurs during cancer progression to late stage. Late-stage cancers, mostly requiring chemotherapy, often develop treatment resistance. Chemoresistance has been linked to ER stress response; however, most of the evidence has come from studies that correlate the expression of stress markers with poor prognosis or demonstrate proapoptosis by the knockdown of stress-responsive genes. Since ER stress in cancers usually persists and is essentially not induced by genetic manipulations, we used low doses of ER stress inducers at levels that allowed cell adaptation to occur in order to investigate the effect of stress response on chemoresistance. We found that prolonged tolerable ER stress promotes mesenchymal-epithelial transition, slows cell-cycle progression, and delays the S-phase exit. Consequently, cisplatin-induced apoptosis was significantly decreased in stress-adapted cells, implying their acquisition of cisplatin resistance. Molecularly, we found that proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) ubiquitination and the expression of polymerase η, the main polymerase responsible for translesion synthesis across cisplatin-DNA damage, were up-regulated in ER stress-adaptive cells, and their enhanced cisplatin resistance was abrogated by the knockout of polymerase η. We also found that a fraction of p53 in stress-adapted cells was translocated to the nucleus, and that these cells exhibited a significant decline in the level of cisplatin-DNA damage. Consistently, we showed that the nuclear p53 coincided with strong positivity of glucose-related protein 78 (GRP78) on immunostaining of clinical biopsies, and the cisplatin-based chemotherapy was less effective for patients with high levels of ER stress. Taken together, this study uncovers that adaptation to ER stress enhances DNA repair and damage tolerance, with which stressed cells gain resistance to chemotherapeutics.

Immune-Related Functional Differential Gene Expression in Koi Carp (Cyprinus carpio) after Challenge with Aeromonas sobria.

In order to understand the molecular basis underlying the host immune response of koi carp (Cyprinus carpio), Illumina HiSeqTM 2000 is used to analyze the muscle and spleen transcriptome of koi carp infected with Aeromonas sobria (A. sobria). De novo assembly of paired-end reads yielded 69,480 unigenes, of which the total length, average length, N50, and GC content are 70,120,028 bp, 1037 bp, 1793 bp, and 45.77%, respectively. Annotation is performed by comparison against various databases, yielding 42,229 (non-redundant protein sequence (NR): 60.78%), 59,255 (non-redundant nucleotide (NT): 85.28%), 35,900 (Swiss-Prot: 51.67%), 11,772 (clusters of orthologous groups (COG): 16.94%), 33,057 (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG): 47.58%), 18,764 (Gene Ontology (GO): 27.01%), and 32,085 (Interpro: 46.18%) unigenes. Comparative analysis of the expression profiles between bacterial challenge fish and control fish identifies 7749 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the muscle and 7846 DEGs from the spleen. These DEGs are further categorized with KEGG. Enrichment analysis of the DEGs and unigenes reveals major immune-related functions, including up-regulation of genes related with Toll-like receptor signaling, complement and coagulation cascades, and antigen processing and presentation. The results from RNA-Seq data are also validated and confirmed the consistency of the expression levels of seven immune-related genes after 24 h post infection with qPCR. Microsatellites (11,534), including di-to hexa nucleotide repeat motifs, are also identified. Altogether, this work provides valuable insights into the underlying immune mechanisms elicited during bacterial infection in koi carp that may aid in the future development of disease control measures in protection against A. sobria.

Efficacy of recombinant protein vaccines for protection against Nocardia seriolae infection in the largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides.

A reverse vaccinology-based survey of potent antigens associated with fish nocardiosis was conducted using the largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, with an aim to develop subunit vaccines. The antigens selected from the virulent strain Nocardia seriolae 961113 include the gene products of NGL2579 (GAPDH), NGL5701 (MMP), NGL4377 (OCTase), NGL4486 (ABC transporter), NGL3372 (LLE), NGL3388 (GHf10), NGL6627 (Antigen-85), NGL6696 (Esterase), and NGL6936 (CBP). These antigens were heterologously expressed in E. coli BL21 (DE3) for recombinant protein production. Then fish were vaccinated was these antigens, boosted at 2 weeks, and challenged with N. seriolae at 6 weeks after vaccination. The relative protection survival assay revealed high and significant protection efficacies of 94.45, 50.00, and 44.45 in fish that received the NGL3388 (GHf10), NGL6936 (CBP), and NGL3372 (LLE) vaccines, respectively. There were no apparent relationships or differences in tissue lesions among the administered vaccines. The serum titers against the bacterial preparations were higher for all vaccinated groups than for the control group at 4 weeks after immunization. However, no significant difference in serum titer was found at 6 weeks after immunization. The results of this study demonstrate that subunit vaccines against fish nocardiosis have differential effects, but are highly promising for nocardial prophylaxis.

Transcriptome analysis of immune response against Vibrio harveyi infection in orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides).

Vibrio harveyi is a gram-negative bacterium reported as found in many aquaculture species. To increase knowledge of the immune response against V. harveyi, in this study we performed transcriptome analysis of head kidney and spleen in orange-spotted grouper (Epinephelus coioides) at 1 and 2 days post-infection (dpi), using the Illumina sequencing platform. After de novo assembly, a total of 79,128 unigenes was detected with an N50 of 2511 bp. After alignments with sequences recorded in the major databases (NT, NR, Swiss-Prot COG, KEGG, Interpro and GO), based on sequence similarity, 61,208 (77.4%) of the unigene total could be annotated using at least one database. Comparison of gene expression levels between V. harveyi and a control group at each time point revealed differentially expressed genes (DEGs) (P < 0.05): a total of 7918 (5536 upregulated and 2282 downregulated genes) from head kidney at 1 day post infection (dpi), 4260 (1444 upregulated and 2816 downregulated genes) from head kidney at 2 dpi, 7887 (4892 upregulated and 2995 downregulated genes) from spleen at 1 dpi, and 8952 (7388 upregulated and 1564 downregulated genes) from spleen at 2 dpi. The DEGs were mainly annotated into signal transduction and immune system categories, based on the KEGG database. The DEGs were enriched in immune-related pathway functions, NOD-like receptor signaling pathways, Toll-like receptor signaling pathways, NF-κB signaling pathways, and Jak-STAT signaling pathways. Additionally, we selected several DEGs and validated their expression level by RT-qPCR. The data generated in this study may provide a valuable resource for further immune response research and offer improved strategies against V. harveyi infection in teleost fishes.

Transcriptome analysis of grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) after challenge with Lactococcus garvieae.

Grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) is an economically important fish species in Taiwan mariculture industry. Moreover, grey mullet are common hosts of a bacterial infection by Lactococcus garvieae. However, until now the information related to the immune system of grey mullet is unclear. Therefore, to understand the molecular basis underlying the host immune response to L. garvieae infection, Illumina HiSeq™ 2000 was used to analyse the head kidney and spleen transcriptome of infected grey mullet. De novo assembly of paired-end reads yielded 55,203 unigenes. Comparative analysis of the expression profiles between bacterial challenge fish and control fish identified a total of 7192 from head kidney and 7280 in spleen differentially expressed genes (P < 0.05), including 4211 upregulated genes and 2981 downregulated genes in head kidney, while in spleen 3598 genes were upregulated and 3682 downregulated. A significant enrichment analysis of these differentially expressed genes (DEG) in spleen and head kidney revealed major immune-related pathways, including complement and coagulation cascades, Toll-like receptor signalling, and antigen processing and presentation. Moreover, selected DEGs were validated using qPCR. Altogether, the results obtained on immune-related genes may allow for a better understanding of immunity in grey mullet to Lactococcus garvieae, carrying out detailed functional analysis of these genes and developing strategies for efficient immune protection against infections in grey mullet.