Computational Integral Imaging Reconstruction via Elemental Image Blending without Normalization.

This paper presents a novel computational integral imaging reconstruction (CIIR) method using elemental image blending to eliminate the normalization process in CIIR. Normalization is commonly used in CIIR to address uneven overlapping artifacts. By incorporating elemental image blending, we remove the normalization step in CIIR, leading to decreased memory consumption and computational time compared to those of existing techniques. We conducted a theoretical analysis of the impact of elemental image blending on a CIIR method using windowing techniques, and the results showed that the proposed method is superior to the standard CIIR method in terms of image quality. We also performed computer simulations and optical experiments to evaluate the proposed method. The experimental results showed that the proposed method enhances the image quality over that of the standard CIIR method, while also reducing memory usage and processing time.

Design, synthesis and evaluation the bioactivities of novel 1,3-dimethyl-6-amino-1H-indazole derivatives as anticancer agents.

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO1) is a heme-containing enzyme mainly responsible for the metabolism of tryptophan to kynurenine. To date, the IDO1 inhibitors have been developed intensively for the re-activation of the anticancer immune response. In this report, we designed, and synthesized novel 1,3-dimethyl-6-amino indazole derivatives as IDO1 inhibitors based on the structure of IDO1 active site. We further examined their anticancer activity on hypopharyngeal carcinoma cells (FaDu), squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue (YD-15), breast cancer cells (MCF7), and human dental pulp stem cells (HDPSC). Of them, compound N-(4-bromobenzyl)-1,3-dimethyl-1H-indazol-6-amine (7) remarkably suppressed IDO1 expression in a concentration - dependent manner. In addition, 7 was the most potential anticancer compound with inducing apoptosis activity as well as selectively activated extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) in mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways on FaDu cells. Finally, compound 7 suppressed cell mobility in wound healing assay with the reduced expression of matrix metalloproteinase MMP9. Taken together, we believe that 7 is the most promising compound, which may be applied to treatment of hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

Antitumor effects of valdecoxib on hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells.

The antitumoral effects of valdecoxib (Val), an United States Food and Drug Administration-approved anti-inflammatory drug that was withdrawn due to the side effects of increased risk of cardiovascular adverse events, were investigated in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma cells by performing a cell viability assay, transwell assay, immunofluorescence imaging, and Western blotting. Val markedly inhibited cell viability with an IC50 of 67.3 µM after 48 h of treatment, and also downregulated cell cycle proteins such as Cdks and their regulatory cyclin units. Cell migration and invasion were severely suppressed by inhibiting integrin α4/FAK expression. In addition, Val activated the cell cycle checkpoint CHK2 in response to excessive DNA damage, which led to the activation of caspase-3/9 and induced caspase-dependent apoptosis. Furthermore, the signaling cascades of the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways were significantly inhibited by Val treatment. Taken together, our results indicate that Val can be used for the treatment of hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

Computational Three-Dimensional Imaging System via Diffraction Grating Imaging with Multiple Wavelengths.

This paper describes a computational 3-D imaging system based on diffraction grating imaging with laser sources of multiple wavelengths. It was proven that a diffraction grating imaging system works well as a 3-D imaging system in our previous studies. The diffraction grating imaging system has advantages such as no spherical aberration and a low-cost system, compared with the well-known 3-D imaging systems based on a lens array or a camera array. However, a diffraction grating imaging system still suffers from noises, artifacts, and blurring due to the diffraction nature and illumination of single wavelength lasers. In this paper, we propose a diffraction grating imaging system with multiple wavelengths to overcome these problems. The proposed imaging system can produce multiple volumes through multiple laser illuminators with different wavelengths. Integration of these volumes can reduce noises, artifacts, and blurring in grating imaging since the original signals of 3-D objects inside these volumes are integrated by our computational reconstruction method. To apply the multiple wavelength system to a diffraction grating imaging system efficiently, we analyze the effects on the system parameters such as spatial periods and parallax angles for different wavelengths. A computational 3-D imaging system based on the analysis is proposed to enhance the image quality in diffraction grating imaging. Optical experiments with three-wavelength lasers are conducted to evaluate the proposed system. The results indicate that our diffraction grating imaging system is superior to the existing method.

Cellular Effects of Ultraviolet-Radiated Reduced-Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles on Human Hypopharyngeal Adenocarcinoma Cells.

The cellular effects of ultraviolet (UV)-radiated reduced-titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were investigated on human hypopharyngeal adenocarcinoma cells (FaDu). In 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, the viability of FaDu cells exposed to UV (254 nm) for 10 minutes, in the presence of reduced-TiO2 nanoparticles in rutile, was dose- and time-dependently decreased. The UV-radiated reduced-TiO2 suppressed the cell proliferation by inhibiting the expression of cell cycle kinase, cyclin dependent kinase 2 (Cdk2), and its functional regulators Cyclin E and Cyclin B1 as well as proliferation-regulating proteins of p85 regulatory sub-unit of phosphoinositide3-kinases (PI3K p85), phosphorylated protein kinase B (p-AKT/p-PKB) and phosphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (p-mTOR). In addition, the mitochondria disintegration and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage were confirmed by detecting the accumulated Bax in cytoplasm, phosphorylated-H2A histone family member X (γ-H2AX) in chromosomes and phosphorylated checkpoint 2 (p-Chk2). Our results support that UV-activated reduced-TiO2 in rutile sensitized UV-induced proliferation suppression of FaDu cancer cells by the enhanced photocat-alytic activity.

Image Enhancement of Computational Reconstruction in Diffraction Grating Imaging Using Multiple Parallax Image Arrays.

This paper describes an image enhancement method of computational reconstruction for 3-D images with multiple parallax image arrays in diffraction grating imaging. A 3-D imaging system via a diffraction grating provides a parallax image array (PIA) which is a set of perspective images of 3-D objects. The parallax images obtained from diffraction grating imaging are free from optical aberrations such as spherical and chromatic aberrations that are always involved in the 3-D imaging via a lens array. The diffraction grating imaging system for 3-D imaging also can be made at a lower cost system than a camera array system. However, the parallax images suffer from the speckle noise due to a coherent source; also, the noise degrades image quality in 3-D imaging. To remedy this problem, we propose a 3-D computational reconstruction method based on multiple parallax image arrays which are acquired by moving a diffraction grating axially. The proposed method consists of a spatial filtering process for each PIA and an overlapping process. Additionally, we provide theoretical analyses through geometric and wave optics. Optical experiments are conducted to evaluate our method. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method is superior to the existing method in 3-D imaging using a diffraction grating.

Image Enhancement for Computational Integral Imaging Reconstruction via Four-Dimensional Image Structure.

This paper describes the image enhancement of a computational integral imaging reconstruction method via reconstructing a four-dimensional (4-D) image structure. A computational reconstruction method for high-resolution three-dimensional (3-D) images is highly required in 3-D applications such as 3-D visualization and 3-D object recognition. To improve the visual quality of reconstructed images, we introduce an adjustable parameter to produce a group of 3-D images from a single elemental image array. The adjustable parameter controls overlapping in back projection with a transformation of cropping and translating elemental images. It turns out that the new parameter is an independent parameter from the reconstruction position to reconstruct a 4-D image structure with four axes of x, y, z, and k. The 4-D image structure of the proposed method provides more visual information than existing methods. Computer simulations and optical experiments are carried out to show the feasibility of the proposed method. The results indicate that our method enhances the image quality of 3-D images by providing a 4-D image structure with the adjustable parameter.

Physicochemical Characterization and Photocatalytic Activity of Reduced TiO2 Prepared by Birch-Type Reduction.

A simple and fast reduction method of TiO2 was developed by the Birch-type suspension reaction. The physicochemical properties of the reduced TiO2 (r-R-TiO2: reduced TiO2 in rutile phase; r-AR-TiO2: reduced TiO2 in mixed phase of anatase and rutile) were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectrum, Raman spectrum, high resolution TEM, dynamic light scattering (DLS) and zeta potential measurements. The reduced TiO2 showed the characteristic features in the crystallinity, lattice pattern, surface functional group and the biophysical properties of zeta potential and size. Under the reaction condition, the rutile phase of TiO2 (R-TiO2) was selectively reduced into r-RTiO2 under the reaction condition. Finally r-R-TiO2 showed photocatalytic activity on visible-light illuminated YD-38 cancer cells with high cytotoxicity.

Computational reconstruction for three-dimensional imaging via a diffraction grating.

This paper describes a computational reconstruction method for 3-D imaging via a diffraction grating. An optical device consisting of a diffraction grating with a camera produces a parallax image array (PIA) for 3-D imaging in an efficient way according to recent researches. Unlike other capturing systems for a PIA such as a lens array with a camera and a camera array, a diffraction grating with a camera has an advantage in terms of the optical system complexity. However, since the diffraction grating is transparent, the captured raw image by the diffraction grating has no feature to detect the boundary of each parallax image. Moreover, the diffraction grating allows parallax images to overlap each other due to its optical property. Those problems prevent computational reconstruction from generating 3-D images. To remedy those problems, we propose a 3-D computational reconstruction method via a diffraction grating. The proposed method using a diffraction grating includes analyzing the PIA pickup process and converting a captured raw image into a well-defined PIA. Our analysis introduces a virtual pinhole; thus, a diffraction grating works as a camera array. Also, it defines the effective object area to segment parallax images and provides a mapping between each segmented parallax image and corresponding virtual pinhole. The minimum image area is also defined to determine the minimum field of view for our reconstruction. Optical experimental results indicated the proposed theoretical analysis and computational reconstruction in diffraction grating imaging are feasible in 3-D imaging. To our best knowledge, this is the first report on 3-D computational reconstruction via a diffraction grating.

Different Cellular Effects of Platinum Nanoparticles on RAW 264.7 Cells.

The cellular effects of platinum nanoparticle (PtNP) and platinum nanocolloid (PtNC) were investigated on murine leukemia Raw 264.7 cells. PtNP induced strong cytotoxic effects on Raw 264.7 cells while PtNC showed only mild cytotoxicity. Dramatic reduction in cell growth and morphological changes were observed for cells treated with PtNPs while PtNC did not show these effects. Both PtNPs and PtNC suppressed nitric oxide production, but PtNPs were superior to PtNC. PtNP strongly suppressed the expression of iNOS, COX-2 proteins and the phosphorylation of AKT on LPS-stimulated Raw 264.7 cells while PtNC showed only weak effects on these proteins. Our data showed that the preparation method of platinum nanoparticles may cause different cellular effects on cell growth and signaling.

Privacy-preserving aggregation of personal health data streams.

Recently, as the paradigm of medical services has shifted from treatment to prevention, there is a growing interest in smart healthcare that can provide users with healthcare services anywhere, at any time, using information and communications technologies. With the development of the smart healthcare industry, there is a growing need for collecting large-scale personal health data to exploit the knowledge obtained through analyzing them for improving the smart healthcare services. Although such a considerable amount of health data can be a valuable asset to the smart healthcare fields, they may cause serious privacy problems if sensitive information of an individual user is leaked to outside users. Therefore, most individuals are reluctant to provide their health data to smart healthcare service providers for data analysis and utilization purpose, which is the biggest challenge in smart healthcare fields. Thus, in this paper, we develop a novel mechanism for privacy-preserving collection of personal health data streams that is characterized as temporal data collected at fixed intervals by leveraging local differential privacy (LDP). In particular, with the proposed approach, a data contributor uses a given privacy budget of LDP to report a small amount of salient data, which are extracted from an entire health data stream, to a data collector. Then, a data collector can effectively reconstruct a health data stream based on the noisy salient data received from a data contributor. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach provides significant accuracy gains over straightforward solutions to this problem.

Morphological Feature of Pluronic F127 and Its Application in Burn Treatment.

The morphological features of pluronic F127 at various concentrations were investigated and 20% aqueous pluronic F127 solution was chosen for the preparation of biomembrane. The pluronic solution was mixed with appropriate concentration of excipients such as PVA, Povidon S630, PG, Nipagin, Neomycin and Panthenol. The prepared pluronic F127 was thermosensitive, a liquid phase at low temperatures (≤10 °C) but converting into gel at temperatures above 20 °C, and formed stable biomembrane at 37 °C. The neomycin impregnated pluronic membrane suppressed the bacterial growth on agar plate by the sustained release of neomycin. The histological images of skin tissue after applying pluronic gel to burn injured area on rabbit confirmed that the pluronic F127 formulation functioned as a matrix to release drug as well as a biomembrane to protect burn injury. Thus, the formulated pluronic F127 may have a potential for the application of local treatment on burn injury.

Platinum Nanoparticles Induce Apoptosis on Raw 264.7 Macrophage Cells.

The cellular effects of platinum nanoparticles (PNP05, average size of 5 nm, and PNP30, average size of 30 nm) were investigated on murine leukemia Raw 264.7 cells. Cells treated with various concentrations of PNPs showed size-dependent cytotoxicity in an MTT assay with PNP5 of smaller nanoparticles higher toxicity than PNP30. Investigations on cell morphology, Annexin V assay, DNA fragmentation and the activity of caspase-3/-7 showed that PNPs induced apoptosis on Raw 264.7 cells by changing cell morphology and density, increasing cell population in apoptosis and causing nucleus fragmentation. Further study on caspase activity by Western blotting revealed that the apoptosis was induced by the activation of caspase-3 and -7. In addition, PNPs inactivated DNA repair system, generating dose-dependent DNA ladder bands on agarose gel electrophoresis. Taken together, PNPs triggered cytotoxicity on Raw 264.7 cells by suppressing cell growth/survival and inducing apoptosis.

Assembly and Calcium Binding Properties of Quantum Dot-Calmodulin Calcium Sensor.

We have developed the first nanoengineered quantum dot molecular complex designed to measure changes of calcium ion (Ca2+) concentration at high spatial and temporal resolutions in real time. The sensor is ratiometric and composed of three components: a quantum dot (QD) emitting at 620 nm as a fluorescence donor, an organic dye (Alexa Fluor 647) as a fluorescence acceptor, and a calmodulin-M13 (CaM-M13) protein part as a calcium sensing component. In this work, we have determined the maximal number of CaM-M13 required for saturating a single QD particle to be approximately 16. The dissociation constant, Kd of the QD-based calcium ion sensor was also estimated to be around 30 microM.

The Soy Peptide Phe-Leu-Val Reduces TNFα-Induced Inflammatory Response and Insulin Resistance in Adipocytes.

Obesity-induced adipose inflammation plays a crucial role in the development of obesity-induced metabolic disorders such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. In the presence of obesity, hypertrophic adipocytes release inflammatory mediators, including tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), which enhance the recruitment and activation of macrophages, and in turn augment adipose inflammation. We demonstrate that the soy peptide Phe-Leu-Val (FLV) reduces inflammatory responses and insulin resistance in mature adipocytes. Specifically, the soy peptide FLV inhibits the release of inflammatory cytokines (TNFα, MCP-1, and IL-6) from both TNFα-stimulated adipocytes and cocultured adipocytes/macrophages. This inhibition is mediated by the inactivation of the inflammatory signaling molecules c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and IκB kinase (IKK), and the downregulation of IκBα in the adipocytes. In addition, soy peptide FLV enhances insulin responsiveness and increases glucose uptake in adipocytes. More importantly, we, for the first time, found that adipocytes express peptide transporter 2 (PepT2) protein, and the beneficial action of the soy peptide FLV was disrupted by the peptide transporter inhibitor GlySar. These findings suggest that soy peptide FLV is transported into adipocytes by PepT2 and then downregulates TNFα-induced inflammatory signaling, thereby increasing insulin responsiveness in the cells. The soy peptide FLV, therefore, has the potential to prevent obesity-induced adipose inflammation and insulin resistance.

Fisetin induces Sirt1 expression while inhibiting early adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 cells.

Fisetin (3,7,3',4'-tetrahydroxyflavone) is a naturally found flavonol in many fruits and vegetables and is known to have anti-aging, anti-cancer and anti-viral effects. However, the effects of fisetin on early adipocyte differentiation and the epigenetic regulator controlling adipogenic transcription factors remain unclear. Here, we show that fisetin inhibits lipid accumulation and suppresses the expression of PPARγ in 3T3-L1 cells. Fisetin suppressed early stages of preadipocyte differentiation, and induced expression of Sirt1. Depletion of Sirt1 abolished the inhibitory effects of fisetin on intracellular lipid accumulation and on PPARγ expression. Mechanistically, fisetin facilitated Sirt1-mediated deacetylation of PPARγ and FoxO1, and enhanced the association of Sirt1 with the PPARγ promoter, leading to suppression of PPARγ transcriptional activity, thereby repressing adipogenesis. Lowering Sirt1 levels reversed the effects of fisetin on deacetylation of PPARγ and increased PPARγ transactivation. Collectively, our results suggest the effects of fisetin in increasing Sirt1 expression and in epigenetic control of early adipogenesis.

Quercetin reduces obesity-induced hepatosteatosis by enhancing mitochondrial oxidative metabolism via heme oxygenase-1.

BACKGROUND: Obesity-induced hepatic lipid accumulation causes lipotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance, and is implicated in non-alcoholic hepatic pathologies such as steatohepatitis and fibrosis. Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an important antioxidant enzyme catalyzing the rate-limiting step in heme degradation, protects against oxidative stress, inflammation, and metabolic dysregulation. Here, we demonstrate that the phytochemical, quercetin, a natural polyphenol flavonoid, protects against hepatic steatosis in obese mice fed a high-fat diet, and that it does so by inducing HO-1 and stimulating increased hepatic mitochondrial oxidative metabolism. METHODS: Male C57BL/6 mice were fed a regular diet (RD), a high-fat diet (HFD), and an HFD supplemented with quercetin for 9 weeks. Levels of mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolic transcripts/proteins were measured by real-time PCR and/or Western blotting. HO-1 transcripts/proteins were measured real-time PCR and/or Western blotting. RESULTS: Quercetin upregulated genes involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism in lipid-laden hepatocytes and the livers of HFD-fed obese mice, and this was accompanied by increased levels of the transcription factor, nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2), and HO-1 protein. The HO-1 inducer hemin and the HO-1 byproduct carbon monoxide (CO) also enhanced hepatic oxidative metabolism in HFD-fed obese mice. Moreover, the metabolic changes and the lipid-lowering effects of quercetin were completely blocked by the HO-1 inhibitor ZnPP and by deficiency of Nrf-2. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that quercetin stimulates hepatic mitochondrial oxidative metabolism by inducing HO-1 via the Nrf-2 pathway. Quercetin may be useful in protecting against obesity-induced hepatosteatosis.

Preparation and Biophysical Characterization of Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimer-Poly(acrylic acid) Graft.

A series of PAMAM dendrimer generation 5-poly(acrylic acid) grafts were prepared to evaluate the potential use of dendritic grafts as a drug encapsulated nanocarrier. The structural features of the synthesized polymer graft were identified by FT-IR and 1H-NMR spectra and the biophysical properties were characterized by measuring its particle size and zeta potential. The prepared dendrimer G5-PAA grafts had particle size in the range of 600 to 900 nm and the size increased proportionally with the number of PAA on dendrimer surface. The electrostatic property of the dendrimer G5-PAA, carried out by HPLC reversed phase column analysis and the measurement of zeta potential, revealed that both migration time and zeta potential were dependent on the number of grafted PAA. The number of free amino groups on dendrimer G5-PAA, determined quantitatively by fluorescamine assay, was in a reverse order with the reaction mole ratio of dendrimer to PAA. In addition, dendrimer G5-PAA showed a pH-dependent solubility in aqueous solution with characteristic pH region of solubility, depending on the dendrimer generation. The observed biophysical properties indicate that PAMAM dendrimer G5-PAA is promising as a drug encapsulated nanocarrier.

Antioxidative Activity of Platinum Nanocolloid and Its Protective Effect Against Chemical-Induced Hepatic Cellular Damage.

Oxidative stress, a major cause of cellular injuries, is closely associated with a variety of chronic diseases such as cancer, liver diseases, degenerative brain disease and aging. In this study, we investigated antioxidant properties of platinum nanocolloid (PNC) against various oxidative stress conditions in vitro/in vivo by treating PNC on liver cell or tissue. Antioxidant activities of the PNC were determined by measuring quenching capacity on reactive oxygen species and its protective action against hydrogen peroxide or CCl4-induced oxidative cellular damage in HepG2 cell or liver tissue of mice. In vitro study, PNC markedly suppressed the production H2O2, ·OH, α,α-diphenyl-ß-picrylhydrazyl radical and nitric oxide in a dose-dependent manner. PNC also inhibited hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidative cellular damage in HepG2 hepatocytes. In vivo study with mice, PNC reduced hepatic lipid peroxidation and CCl4 induced toxicity. Our results support that platinum nanocolloid has antioxidant activities and protects hepatic cellular oxidative damage. Thus platinum nanocolloid may have a potential to be used as an antioxidant supplement.