Age regression from soft aligned face images using low computational resources

The initial step in most facial age estimation systems consists of accurately aligning a model to the output of a face detector (e.g. an Active Appearance Model). This fitting process is very expensive in terms of computational resources and prone to get stuck in local minima. This makes it impractical for analysing faces in resource limited computing devices. In this paper we build a face age regressor that is able to work directly on faces cropped using a state-of-the-art face detector. Our procedure uses K nearest neighbours (K-NN) regression with a metric based on a properly tuned Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) projection matrix. On FG-NET we achieve a state-of-the-art Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 5.72 years with manually aligned faces. Using face images cropped by a face detector we get a MAE of 6.87 years in the same database. Moreover, most of the algorithms presented in the literature have been evaluated on single database experiments and therefore, they report optimistically biased results. In our cross-database experiments we get a MAE of roughly 12 years, which would be the expected performance in a real world application.

The role of secretion systems and small molecules in soft-rot enterobacteriaceae pathogenicity

Soft-rot Enterobacteriaceae (SRE), which belong to the genera Pectobacterium and Dickeya, consist mainly of broad host-range pathogens that cause wilt, rot, and blackleg diseases on a wide range of plants. They are found in plants, insects, soil, and water in agricultural regions worldwide. SRE encode all six known protein secretion systems present in gram-negative bacteria, and these systems are involved in attacking host plants and competing bacteria. They also produce and detect multiple types of small molecules to coordinate pathogenesis, modify the plant environment, attack competing microbes, and perhaps to attract insect vectors. This review integrates new information about the role protein secretion and detection and production of ions and small molecules play in soft-rot pathogenicity.

Soft solution fluorine-free synthesis of anatase nanoparticles with tailored morphology

TiO2 nanoparticles with tailored morphology have been synthesized under exceptionally soft conditions. The strategy is based on the use of a non-aqueous alcoholic reaction medium in which water traces, coming either from the air (atmospheric water) or from an ethanol–water azeotropic mixture (ethanol 96%), are incorporated in order to accelerate hydrolysis of the Ti–precursor. Moreover, organic surfactants have been used as capping agents so as to tailor crystal growth in certain preferential directions. Combinations of oleic acid and oleylamine, which lead to the formation of another surfactant, dioleamide, are employed instead of fluorine-based compounds, thus increasing the sustainability of the process. As a result, TiO2 nanostructured hierarchical microspheres and individual nanoparticles with exposed high-energy facets can be obtained at atmospheric pressure and temperatures as low as 78 °C.

Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound Improves the Functional Properties of Cardiac Mesoangioblasts

Cell-based therapy is a promising approach for many diseases, including ischemic heart disease. Cardiac mesoangioblasts are committed vessel-associated progenitors that can restore to a significant, although partial, extent, heart structure and function in a murine model of myocardial infarction. Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) is a noninvasive form of mechanical energy that can be delivered into biological tissues as acoustic pressure waves, and is widely used for clinical applications including bone fracture healing. We hypothesized that the positive effects of LIPUS on bone and soft tissue, such as increased cell differentiation and cytoskeleton reorganization, could be applied to increase the therapeutic potential of mesoangioblasts for heart repair. In this work, we show that LIPUS stimulation of cardiac mesoangioblasts isolated from mouse and human heart results in significant cellular modifications that provide beneficial effects to the cells, including increased malleability and improved motility. Additionally, LIPUS stimulation increased the number of binucleated cells and induced cardiac differentiation to an extent comparable with 5´-azacytidine treatment. Mechanistically, LIPUS stimulation activated the BMP-Smad signalling pathway and increased the expression of myosin light chain-2 together with upregulation of β1 integrin and RhoA, highlighting a potentially important role for cytoskeleton reorganization. Taken together, these results provide functional evidence that LIPUS might be a useful tool to explore in the field of heart cell therapy