Anatomy of the frontal gland and ultramorphology of the frontal tube in the soldier caste of species of Nasutitermitinae (Isoptera, Termitidae)

is a predominant characteristic, conditioned by the presence of castes with different morphology, ontogeny, and development. The soldier caste is unique among social insects and it is responsible for colony defense. Soldiers belonging to the Nasutitermitinae subfamily are very peculiar, since they may be polymorphic and present a nasus in addition to either developed or vestigial mandibles. The defensive secretions of soldiers of the neotropical Nasutitermitinae have been the aim of several chemical studies, but few data exist concerning the anatomy and histology of the exocrine glands. This article presents a comparative study on the anatomy of the frontal gland of soldiers of several Nasutitermitinae species: Syntermes dirus (Burmeister), Syntermes nanus (Constantino), Constrictotermes cyphergaster (Silvestri), Nasutitermes corniger (Motschulsky) and Velocitermes heteropterus (Silvestri), with emphasis on the ultramorphology and ultrastructure of the frontal tube.

Morphology of the head and frontal gland in neotropical Nasutitermitinae (Isoptera, Termitidae)

The Nasutitermitinae species are the most diverse and derived of the Isoptera. The phylogeny of this subfamily has been a point of divergence. In an attempt to solve this problem, we propose the use of the morphological features of the head, frontal gland and its associated muscles as phylogenetic characters in some Nasutitermitinae genera. Results found about the head and frontal gland morphology are discussed and suggested to be used in future systematic studies of termites.

FRONTAL GLAND DEHISCENCE IN THE BRAZILIAN TERMITE SERRITERMES-SERRIFER (ISOPTERA, SERRITERMITIDAE)

The primary function of the soldier caste in the Isoptera is the defense of the termite society. The simplest defense is mechanical with oversized mandibles. Besides the mandibles, some termite soldiers use exocrine glands as a means of chemical defense. These glands produce substances which are toxic and/or repellent to termites enemies. Here we report the only case in the Neotropical fauna of dehiscence of the frontal gland in the soldier caste of the Brazilian termite, Serritermes serrifer (Bates).

The frontal weapon of the termite Armitermes euamignathus Silvestri (Isoptera, Termitidae, Nasutitermitinae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A glândula frontal e musculatura associada: morfologia e aplicação como indicador taxonômico de gêneros neotropicais de Nasutitermitinae (Isoptera, termitidae)

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Biologia Celular e Molecular) - IBRC

PHEROMONES and EXOCRINE GLANDS IN ISOPTERA

Termites are eusocial insects that have a peculiar and intriguing system of communication using pheromones. The termite pheromones are composed of a blend of chemical substances and they coordinate different social interactions or activities, including foraging, building, mating, defense, and nestmate recognition. Some of these sociochemicals are volatile, spreading in the air, and others are contact pheromones, which are transmitted by trophallaxis and grooming. Among the termite semiochemicals, the most known are alarm, trail, sex pheromones, and hydrocarbons responsible for the recognition of nestmates. The sources of the pheromones are exocrine glands located all over the termite body. The principal exocrine structures considered pheromone-producing glands in Isoptera are the frontal, mandibular, salivary or labial, sternal, and tergal glands. The frontal gland is the source of alarm pheromone and defensive chemicals, but the mandibular secretions have been little studied and their function is not well established in Isoptera. The secretion of salivary glands involves numerous chemical compounds, some of them without pheromonal function. The worker saliva contains a phagostimulating pheromone and probably a building pheromone, while the salivary reservoir of some soldiers contains defensive chemicals. The sternal gland is the only source of trail-following pheromone, whereas sex pheromones are secreted by two glandular sources, the sternal and tergal glands. To date, the termite semiochemicals have indicated that few molecules are involved in their chemical communication, that is, the same compound may be secreted by different glands, different castes and species, and for different functions, depending on the concentration. In addition to the pheromonal parsimony, recent studies also indicate the occurrence of a synergic effect among the compounds involved in the chemical communication of Isoptera. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V.

Negative mood regulation expectancies, frontal lobe related behaviors and alcohol use

Negative mood regulation (NMR) expectancies have been linked to substance problems in previous research, but the neurobiological correlates of NMR are unknown. In the present study, NMR was examined in relation to self-report indices of frontal lobe functioning, mood and alcohol use in 166 volunteers of both genders who ranged in age from 17 to 43 years. Contrary to expectations based on previous findings in addicts and problem drinkers, scores on the NMR scale did not differ between Low Risk and High Risk drinkers as defined by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). However, NMR scores were significantly negatively correlated with all three indices of frontal lobe dysfunction on the Frontal Systems Behavior Scale (FrSBe) Self-Rating Form as well as with all three indices of negative mood on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS), which in turn were all positively correlated with FrSBe. Path analyses indicated that NMR partially mediated the direct effects of frontal lobe dysfunction (as indexed by FrSBe) on DASS Stress and DASS Depression. Further, the High Risk drinkers scored significantly higher on the Disinhibition and Executive Dysfunction indices of the FrSBe than did Low Risk drinkers. Results are consistent with the notion that NMR is a frontal lobe function.

Gait energy volumes and frontal gait recognition using depth images

Gait energy images (GEIs) and its variants form the basis of many recent appearance-based gait recognition systems. The GEI combines good recognition performance with a simple implementation, though it suffers problems inherent to appearance-based approaches, such as being highly view dependent. In this paper, we extend the concept of the GEI to 3D, to create what we call the gait energy volume, or GEV. A basic GEV implementation is tested on the CMU MoBo database, showing improvements over both the GEI baseline and a fused multi-view GEI approach. We also demonstrate the efficacy of this approach on partial volume reconstructions created from frontal depth images, which can be more practically acquired, for example, in biometric portals implemented with stereo cameras, or other depth acquisition systems. Experiments on frontal depth images are evaluated on an in-house developed database captured using the Microsoft Kinect, and demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.

Visual voice activity detection using frontal versus profile views

Visual activity detection of lip movements can be used to overcome the poor performance of voice activity detection based solely in the audio domain, particularly in noisy acoustic conditions. However, most of the research conducted in visual voice activity detection (VVAD) has neglected addressing variabilities in the visual domain such as viewpoint variation. In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of the visual information from the speaker’s frontal and profile views (i.e left and right side views) for the task of VVAD. As far as we are aware, our work constitutes the first real attempt to study this problem. We describe our visual front end approach and the Gaussian mixture model (GMM) based VVAD framework, and report the experimental results using the freely available CUAVE database. The experimental results show that VVAD is indeed possible from profile views and we give a quantitative comparison of VVAD based on frontal and profile views The results presented are useful in the development of multi-modal Human Machine Interaction (HMI) using a single camera, where the speaker’s face may not always be frontal.

The backfilled GEI : a cross-capture modality gait feature for frontal and side-view gait recognition

In this paper, we propose a novel direction for gait recognition research by proposing a new capture-modality independent, appearance-based feature which we call the Back-filled Gait Energy Image (BGEI). It can can be constructed from both frontal depth images, as well as the more commonly used side-view silhouettes, allowing the feature to be applied across these two differing capturing systems using the same enrolled database. To evaluate this new feature, a frontally captured depth-based gait dataset was created containing 37 unique subjects, a subset of which also contained sequences captured from the side. The results demonstrate that the BGEI can effectively be used to identify subjects through their gait across these two differing input devices, achieving rank-1 match rate of 100%, in our experiments. We also compare the BGEI against the GEI and GEV in their respective domains, using the CASIA dataset and our depth dataset, showing that it compares favourably against them. The experiments conducted were performed using a sparse representation based classifier with a locally discriminating input feature space, which show significant improvement in performance over other classifiers used in gait recognition literature, achieving state of the art results with the GEI on the CASIA dataset.

Prostate gland and extra-capsular tissue 3D reconstruction and measurement

Currently there are little objective parameters that can quantify the success of one form of prostate surgical removal over another. Accordingly, at Old Dominion University (ODU) we have been developing a process resulting in the use of software algorithms to assess the coverage and depth of extra-capsular soft tissue removed with the prostate by the various surgical approaches. Parameters such as the percent of capsule that is bare of soft tissue and where present the depth and extent of coverage have been assessed. First, visualization methods and tools are developed for images of prostate slices that are provided to ODU by the Pathology Department at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS). The visualization tools interpolate and present 3D models of the prostates. Measurement algorithms are then applied to determine statistics about extra-capsular tissue coverage. This paper addresses the modeling, visualization, and analysis of prostate gland tissue to aid in quantifying prostate surgery success. Particular attention is directed towards the accuracy of these measurements and is addressed in the analysis discussions.

Steps toward the validation of the Trendelenburg Test : the effect of experimentally reduced hip abductor muscle function on frontal plane mechanics

Objective: To investigate the validity of the Trendelenburg test (TT) using an ultrasound-guided nerve block (UNB) of the superior gluteal nerve and determine whether the reduction in hip abductor muscle (HABD) strength would result in the theorized mechanical compensatory strategies measured during the TT. Design: Quasi-experimental. Setting: Hospital. Participants: Convenience sample of 9 healthy men. Only participants with no current or previous injury to the lumbar spine, pelvis, or lower extremities, and no previous surgeries were included. Interventions: Ultrasound-guided nerve block. Main Outcome Measures: Hip abductor muscle strength (percent body weight [%BW]), contralateral pelvic drop (cPD), change in contralateral pelvic drop (Delta cPD), ipsilateral hip adduction, and ipsilateral trunk sway (TRUNK) measured in degrees. Results: The median age and weight of the participants were 31 years (interquartile range [IQR], 22-32 years) and 73 kg (IQR, 67-81 kg), respectively. An average 52% reduction of HABD strength (z = 2.36, P = 0.02) resulted after the UNB. No differences were found in cPD or Delta cPD (z = 0.01, P = 0.99, z = 20.67, P = 0.49, respectively). Individual changes in biomechanics showed no consistency between participants and nonsystematic changes across the group. One participant demonstrated the mechanical compensations described by Trendelenburg. Conclusions: The TT should not be used as a screening measure for HABD strength in populations demonstrating strength greater than 30% BW but should be reserved for use with populations with marked HABD weakness. Clinical Relevance: This study presents data regarding a critical level of HABD strength required to support the pelvis during the TT.