Spatial-Temporal Self-Attention Enhanced Graph Convolutional Networks for Fitness Yoga Action Recognition.

Fitness yoga is now a popular form of national fitness and sportive physical therapy. At present, Microsoft Kinect, a depth sensor, and other applications are widely used to monitor and guide yoga performance, but they are inconvenient to use and still a little expensive. To solve these problems, we propose spatial-temporal self-attention enhanced graph convolutional networks (STSAE-GCNs) that can analyze RGB yoga video data captured by cameras or smartphones. In the STSAE-GCN, we build a spatial-temporal self-attention module (STSAM), which can effectively enhance the spatial-temporal expression ability of the model and improve the performance of the proposed model. The STSAM has the characteristics of plug-and-play so that it can be applied in other skeleton-based action recognition methods and improve their performance. To prove the effectiveness of the proposed model in recognizing fitness yoga actions, we collected 960 fitness yoga action video clips in 10 action classes and built the dataset Yoga10. The recognition accuracy of the model on Yoga10 achieves 93.83%, outperforming the state-of-the-art methods, which proves that this model can better recognize fitness yoga actions and help students learn fitness yoga independently.

Isolation of 2-Alkyl-4-quinolones with Unusual Side Chains from a Chinese Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolate.

Chemical investigation of a Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain isolated from Hebei, China, led to the isolation of a suite of quinolones, quinolone-N-oxides, and phenazines, the structures of which were elucidated by detailed spectroscopic analysis. Most notable among the secondary metabolites isolated was an unprecedented 4-quinolone containing an S-methyl group in the side chain and a new derivative including a phenyl ring in the side chain, which expand significantly the variety of structural motifs found in the quinolones and raise interesting questions about their biosynthesis.

Mechanical behavior and blood compatibility of copper-containing films as potential biomaterials.

Surface modification is one approach to enhance the biocompatibility of implanted cardiovascular devices. In this work, a copper-containing film used to blood contacted biomaterials was prepared by vacuum arc deposition. The phase composition of the films was investigated via X-ray diffraction, and the adherence strength of the films was evaluated with conventional deformation tests. Blood compatibility of the films was characterized by hemolysis ratio, clotting time and platelet adhesion etc. The surface of inferior vena cava filters were smooth and uniform, no cracks or delaminations were observed on the deformed surface. These results indicate that the mechanical behavior of the films is suitable for withstanding deformation stresses as operation in clinic. Good blood compatibility of the copper-containing films was identified through experiment in vitro, the activated partial thromboplastin times (APTTs) of Cu/Ti films were similar to that of the uncoated substrate, and Cu/Ti films were also found to inhibit platelet adhesion comparing to the nitinol substrate. However, with increasing ratio of Cu/Ti, the hemolysis ratio increased, resulting in platelet damage. These results indicate that the copper-containing film has potential application on blood contacted devices.

Data in support of fumosorinone, a novel PTP1B inhibitor, activates insulin signaling in insulin-resistance HepG2 cells and shows anti-diabetic effect in diabetic KKAy mice.

This data article contains data related to the research article entitled "Fumosorinone, a novel PTP1B inhibitor, activates insulin signaling in insulin-resistance HepG2 cells and shows anti-diabetic effect in diabetic KKAy mice" in the Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology [1]. Fumosorinone (FU) is a new inhibitor of protein phosphatase 1B inhibitor, which was isolated from insect pathogenic fungi Isaria fumosorosea. FU was found to inhibit PTP1B activity in our previous study [2]. PTP1B is the physiological antagonist of the insulin signalling pathway. Inhibition of PTP 1B may increase insulin sensitivity [3]. PTP1B has been considered promising as an insulin-sensitive drug target for the prevention and the treatment of insulin-based diseases [4]. We determined the effect of FU on the glucose consumption of IR HepG2 cells. FU caused significant enhancement in glucose consumption by insulin-resistant HepG2 cells compared with control cells.

Fumosorinone, a novel PTP1B inhibitor, activates insulin signaling in insulin-resistance HepG2 cells and shows anti-diabetic effect in diabetic KKAy mice.

Insulin resistance is a characteristic feature of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and is characterized by defects in insulin signaling. Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is a key negative regulator of the insulin signaling pathways, and its increased activity and expression are implicated in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. Therefore, the inhibition of PTP1B is anticipated to become a potential therapeutic strategy to treat T2DM. Fumosorinone (FU), a new natural product isolated from insect fungi Isaria fumosorosea, was found to inhibit PTP1B activity in our previous study. Herein, the effects of FU on insulin resistance and mechanism in vitro and in vivo were investigated. FU increased the insulin-provoked glucose uptake in insulin-resistant HepG2 cells, and also reduced blood glucose and lipid levels of type 2 diabetic KKAy mice. FU decreased the expression of PTP1B both in insulin-resistant HepG2 cells and in liver tissues of diabetic KKAy mice. Furthermore, FU increased the phosphorylation of IRß, IRS-2, Akt, GSK3ß and Erk1/2 in insulin-resistant HepG2 cells, as well as the phosphorylation of IRß, IRS-2, Akt in liver tissues of diabetic KKAy mice. These results showed that FU increased glucose uptake and improved insulin resistance by down-regulating the expression of PTP1B and activating the insulin signaling pathway, suggesting that it may possess antidiabetic properties.