Motion segmentation of RGB-D sequences: Combining semantic and motion information using statistical inference.

This paper presents an innovative method for motion segmentation in RGB-D dynamic videos with multiple moving objects. The focus is on finding static, small or slow moving objects (often overlooked by other methods) that their inclusion can improve the motion segmentation results. In our approach, semantic object based segmentation and motion cues are combined to estimate the number of moving objects, their motion parameters and perform segmentation. Selective object-based sampling and correspondence matching are used to estimate object specific motion parameters. The main issue with such an approach is the over segmentation of moving parts due to the fact that different objects can have the same motion (e.g. background objects). To resolve this issue, we propose to identify objects with similar motions by characterizing each motion by a distribution of a simple metric and using a statistical inference theory to assess their similarities. To demonstrate the significance of the proposed statistical inference, we present an ablation study, with and without static objects inclusion, on SLAM accuracy using the TUM-RGBD dataset. To test the effectiveness of the proposed method for finding small or slow moving objects, we applied the method to RGB-D MultiBody and SBM-RGBD motion segmentation datasets. The results showed that we can improve the accuracy of motion segmentation for small objects while remaining competitive on overall measures.

Hematological and biochemical parameters in apparently healthy Indian population: defining reference intervals.

Clinical reference intervals among Indian population are poorly defined. Therefore, there is an urgent need to establish local clinical laboratory reference intervals for healthy Indian population. The present study aimed to identify the 95 % reference interval for hematological and biochemical parameters in apparently healthy Indian population. We undertook a multicentric cross-sectional study conducted at Apollo Hospitals Educational and Research Foundation across India. Of which 10,665 reference individuals identified as healthy by physicians. The 95 % of the reference distribution was estimated using 2.5th and 97.5th percentile reference limits. The 95 % reference intervals for hemoglobin (Males: 12.3-17 g/dL; Females: 9.9-14.3 g/dL), platelet count (Males: 1.3-3.8; Females: 1.3-4.2 Lakhs/µL), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (Males: 2-22; Females: 4-55 mm/h), serum uric acid in males: 3.5-8.2 mg/dL, gamma glutamyl transferase (Males: 13-61 U/L), fasting blood glucose (Males: 78-110 mg/dL), total cholesterol (Males: 115-254 mg/dL), low density lipoprotein (Males: 60-176 mg/dL) and triglycerides (Males: 55-267 mg/dL, Females: 52-207 mg/dL) were different from currently used reference values. Additionally need for gender based partitioning were observed for triglycerides and gamma glutamyl transferase. The observed findings are of clinical significance and it needs to be validated with additional community based studies.

p38 Mitogen-activated protein kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 pathway signaling regulates expression of inhibitory molecules in T cells activated by HIV-1-exposed dendritic cells.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection enhances the expression of inhibitory molecules on T cells, leading to T-cell impairment. The signaling pathways underlying the regulation of inhibitory molecules and subsequent onset of T-cell impairment remain elusive. We showed that both autologous and allogeneic T cells exposed to HIV-pulsed dendritic cells (DCs) upregulated cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen (CTLA-4), tumor-necrosis factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), lymphocyte-activation gene-3 (LAG3), T-cell immunoglobulin mucin-3 (TIM-3), CD160 and certain suppression-associated transcription factors, such as B-lymphocyte induced maturation protein-1 (BLIMP-1), deltex homolog 1 protein (DTX1) and forkhead box P3 (FOXP3), leading to T-cell suppression. This induction was regulated by p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase/signal transducer and activator of transcription-3 (P38MAPK/STAT3) pathways, because their blockade significantly abrogated expression of all the inhibitory molecules studied and a subsequent recovery in T-cell proliferation. Neither interleukin-6 (IL-6) nor IL-10 nor growth factors known to activate STAT3 signaling events were responsible for STAT3 activation. Involvement of the P38MAPK/STAT3 pathways was evident because these proteins had a higher level of phosphorylation in the HIV-1-primed cells. Furthermore, blockade of viral CD4 binding and fusion significantly reduced the negative effects DCs imposed on primed T cells. In conclusion, HIV-1 interaction with DCs modulated their functionality, causing them to trigger the activation of the P38MAPK/STAT3 pathway in T cells, which was responsible for the upregulation of inhibitory molecules.

Establishment of T-lymphocyte subset reference intervals in a healthy adult population in Chennai, India.

Estimation of CD4+ T-lymphocytes continues to be an important aspect for monitoring HIV disease progression and response to antiretroviral therapy. Most of the diagnostic laboratories often rely on western text books for CD4+ T-lymphocyte reference values, which could, often be unreliable for usage in local settings. Therefore, we attempted to establish the reference values for T-lymphocyte subsets among healthy adults in a cross-sectional study carried out at the YRG Centre for AIDS Research and Education (YRG CARE) in Chennai, south India, in 213 (84 female and 129 male) healthy, HIV-1/2 seronegative adults as volunteers. Whole blood specimens were processed for CD4+, CD8+ T-lymphocyte estimation and haematological parameters. The established range of CD4+ T-lymphocyte counts for men and women were 383-1347 cells/microl (mean 865 and median 845 cells/microl) and 448-1593 cells/microl (mean 1021 and median 954 cells/microl), respectively. Women had significantly higher absolute CD4+ Tlymphocyte counts (P<0.001) and CD4+:CD8+ T-lymphocyte ratio as compared to men. The established normal range of CD4+ T-lymphocyte % was 21-59 (mean 40.2 and median 40.1). The influence of age was not observed in any of the parameters except CD4+/CD8+ T-lymphocyte ratio with the >45 yr age group. Further studies with greater sample size may be required to define the staging of HIV disease in relation to the normal CD4 T-lymphocyte count in the general population.

Epidemiological studies on pulmonary pathogens in HIV-positive and -negative subjects with or without community-acquired pneumonia with special emphasis on Mycoplasma pneumoniae.

The prevalence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae among HIV-positive patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains unclear. We investigated 300 HIV-positive adults (200 with CAP and 100 with no respiratory illness) and 75 HIV-negative adults with CAP for the prevalence of respiratory pathogens using culture and serology. A growth inhibition test was employed to confirm the isolates of M. pneumoniae using species-specific typing sera. The prevalence of M. pneumoniae in HIV-positive subjects was 17% by induced sputum and 11.3% by throat swab culture. The seroprevalence of anti-M. pneumoniae IgM was 11.7% by ELISA and 14.3% by the gelatin microparticle agglutination test. The prevalence of M. pneumoniae among HIV-negative cases was relatively low. Streptococcus pneumoniae was predominant (28%) among subjects with lower respiratory disease, whereas Staphylococcus aureus (15%) was common among upper respiratory symptomatic cases. Rales (P=0.001), pharyngeal erythema (P=0.02), cervical adenopathy (P=0.004), skin rash (P=0.001), and crepitations (P=0.001) were each significantly related to M. pneumoniae positivity. Statistical significance was observed in relation to total lymphocyte count (P=0.02) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (P=0.04), as well as M. pneumoniae positivity. This study shows that the prevalence of M. pneumoniae in HIV-positive subjects is comparatively higher than in HIV-negative subjects with pulmonary symptoms, and concords with previous pilot studies carried out in Chennai, South India.