Not only essential for scientific research, but also in the analysis of male fertility and for animal husbandry, sperm tracking and characterization techniques have been greatly benefiting from ...computational imaging. Digital image sensors, in combination with optical microscopy tools and powerful computers, have enabled the use of advanced detection and tracking algorithms that automatically map sperm trajectories and calculate various motility parameters across large data sets. Computational techniques are driving the field even further, facilitating the development of unconventional sperm imaging and tracking methods that do not rely on standard optical microscopes and objective lenses, which limit the field of view and volume of the semen sample that can be imaged. As an example, a holographic on-chip sperm imaging platform, only composed of a light-emitting diode and an opto-electronic image sensor, has emerged as a high-throughput, lowcost and portable alternative to lens-based traditional sperm imaging and tracking methods. In this approach, the sample is placed very close to the image sensor chip, which captures lensfree holograms generated by the interference of the background illumination with the light scattered from sperm cells. These holographic patterns are then digitally processed to extract both the amplitude and phase information of the spermatozoa, effectively replacing the microscope objective lens with computation. This platform has further enabled high-throughput 3D imaging of spermatozoa with submicron 3D positioning accuracy in large sample volumes, revealing various rare locomotion patterns. We believe that computational chip-scale sperm imaging and 3D tracking techniques will find numerous opportunities in both sperm related research and commercial applications. Summary Sentence Computational techniques are facilitating the development of unconventional sperm imaging and locomotion tracking methods that do not rely on standard opticalmicroscopes and objective lenses.
Abstract Aim In this study, we aimed to examine the efficacy of thymoquinone (TQ) treatment in acetaminophen-induced liver toxicity in rats. Methods Forty Wistar Albino rats were used for the study ...(four groups, with 10 rats for each group). Animals in the control group were not given any medication. In the thymoquinone (TQ) group, animals were given three times 5 mg/kg oral thymoquinone for every six hours, which equals to a total dose of 15 mg/kg. In the acetaminophen (APAP) group, animals were given APAP at a single dose of 500 mg/kg orally. In the APAP + TQ group, animals were given 500 mg/kg APAP orally followed by three doses of TQ at a 15 mg/kg total dose in an 18-h time interval. All animals were sacrificed at the 24th hour. Alanine amino transferase (ALT), aspartat amino transferase (AST), superoxide dismutase (SOD), oxidized glutathione (GSSG), glutathione peroxides (GSH-Px), and malondialdehyde (MDA) activities were measured in rat blood. Histopathological examination was also performed. Results Serum ALT, AST levels, GSSG, and SOD activity as well as the serum and tissue MDA levels were found to be higher in the APAP group than in the control group ( p ≤ 0.001). Likewise, serum GSH-Px activity was found to be lower in the APAP group ( p ≤ 0.001). In contrast, in the APAP + TQ group, serum ALT, AST levels, GSSG, SOD activity and the serum and tissue MDA levels were found to be lower compared to that of the APAP group. This difference was statistically significant ( p ≤ 0.001). In the APAP + TQ group, the GSH-Px activity was found to be significantly higher compared to the APAP group ( p < 0.05). In contrast to this finding, the GSH-Px activity in the APAP + TQ group was found to be lower than that of the control group ( p ≤ 0.001). Histopathological analysis revealed significant liver necrosis and toxicity with a high dose of APAP where TQ treatment was related with significantly lower liver injury scores. Conclusion TQ treatment may have an important therapeuthic effect via the upregulation of antioxidant systems in the APAP-induced liver hepatotoxicity in rats.
With the advent of sperm sex sorting methods and computer-aided sperm analysis platforms, comparative 2D motility studies showed that there is no significant difference in the swimming speeds of ...X-sorted and Y-sorted sperm cells, clarifying earlier misconceptions. However, other differences in their swimming dynamics might have been undetectable as conventional optical microscopes are limited in revealing the complete 3D motion of free-swimming sperm cells, due to poor depth resolution and the trade-off between field-of-view and spatial resolution. Using a dual-view on-chip holographic microscope, we acquired the full 3D locomotion of 235X-sorted and 289 Y-sorted bovine sperms, precisely revealing their 3D translational head motion and the angular velocity of their head spin as well as the 3D flagellar motion. Our results confirmed that various motility parameters remain similar between X- and Y-sorted sperm populations; however, we found out that there is a statistically significant difference in Y-sorted bovine sperms' preference for helix-shaped 3D swimming trajectories, also exhibiting an increased linearity compared to X-sorted sperms. Further research on e.g., the differences in the kinematic response of X-sorted and Y-sorted sperm cells to the surrounding chemicals and ions might shed more light on the origins of these results.
With COVID-19, formal education was interrupted in all countries and the importance of distance learning has increased. It is possible to teach any lesson with various communication tools but it is ...difficult to know how far this lesson reaches to the students. In this study, it is aimed to monitor the students in a classroom or in front of the computer with a camera in real time, recognizing their faces, their head poses, and scoring their distraction to detect student engagement based on their head poses and Eye Aspect Ratios. Distraction was determined by associating the students’ attention with looking at the teacher or the camera in the right direction. The success of the face recognition and head pose estimation was tested by using the UPNA Head Pose Database and, as a result of the conducted tests, the most successful result in face recognition was obtained with the Local Binary Patterns method with a 98.95% recognition rate. In the classification of student engagement as Engaged and Not Engaged, support vector machine gave results with 72.4% accuracy. The developed system will be used to recognize and monitor students in the classroom or in front of the computer, and to determine the course flow autonomously.
This study investigates the effects of control uncertainties and random feet failures on the locomotion of the multi-legged miniature robots. The locomotion analyses results are verified with our ...modular multi-legged miniature robot with a soft/hybrid body named SMoLBot. A single SMoLBot module is 44.5 mm wide, 16.75 mm long, and 15 mm high with two individually actuated and controlled DC motors. This individual actuation makes it feasible to run with any imaginable gait, making SMoLBot a nice candidate for gait study analyses. The presented locomotion study shows that the effects of control uncertainties and feet failures are highly dependent on the total number of legs and the type of backbone attached to the robot, e.g., increasing the total number of legs or utilizing a rigid backbone on the robot helps the robot to walk faster compared to similar robots with soft backbones or the ones with fewer modules. This study presents a guide to the researchers on the effects of feet failures and control uncertainties on the locomotion of soft/hybrid multi-legged miniature robots.
Caused by the herpes simplex virus (HSV), herpes is a viral infection that is one of the most widespread diseases worldwide. Here we present a computational sensing technique for specific detection ...of HSV using both viral immuno-specificity and the physical size range of the viruses. This label-free approach involves a compact and cost-effective holographic on-chip microscope and a surface-functionalized glass substrate prepared to specifically capture the target viruses. To enhance the optical signatures of individual viruses and increase their signal-to-noise ratio, self-assembled polyethylene glycol based nanolenses are rapidly formed around each virus particle captured on the substrate using a portable interface. Holographic shadows of specifically captured viruses that are surrounded by these self-assembled nanolenses are then reconstructed, and the phase image is used for automated quantification of the size of each particle within our large field-of-view, ~30 mm
. The combination of viral immuno-specificity due to surface functionalization and the physical size measurements enabled by holographic imaging is used to sensitively detect and enumerate HSV particles using our compact and cost-effective platform. This computational sensing technique can find numerous uses in global health related applications in resource-limited environments.
Music segmentation is a widely researched topic within music perception. Even though there is extensive data on the role of surface structure features and music training (e.g., Deliège, 1987) in ...segmentation, not much is known yet about the influence of implicit knowledge-based features acquired through musical enculturation. The goal of our study was to fill this gap. Makam music-trained musicians, nonmusicians, and Western listeners marked their segmentations online as they listened to mostly 19th century, unfamiliar Turkish makam tunes, all recorded in a Qānūn timbre on MIDI with retained microtonal structure. In addition, two experts segmented the tunes in a free-time setting. We found considerable within- and across-group agreement, as well as good agreement with the expert segmentations. After transforming each participant’s segmentations into “hits” and “false alarms” based on their match or mismatch with expert segmentations, we observed that musicians overlapped significantly more with expert segmentations than do the other two groups. Segmentations in all three groups were strongly driven by mostly local surface features. Overall, our results are more supportive of a universality claim as proposed by the Gestalt school of psychology than an enculturation claim.
We report a high-throughput and label-free computational imaging technique that simultaneously measures in three-dimensional (3D) space the locomotion and angular spin of the freely moving heads of ...microswimmers and the beating patterns of their flagella over a sample volume more than two orders-of-magnitude larger compared to existing optical modalities. Using this platform, we quantified the 3D locomotion of 2133 bovine sperms and determined the spin axis and the angular velocity of the sperm head, providing the perspective of an observer seated at the moving and spinning sperm head. In this constantly transforming perspective, flagellum-beating patterns are decoupled from both the 3D translation and spin of the head, which provides the opportunity to truly investigate the 3D spatio-temporal kinematics of the flagellum. In addition to providing unprecedented information on the 3D locomotion of microswimmers, this computational imaging technique could also be instrumental for micro-robotics and sensing research, enabling the high-throughput quantification of the impact of various stimuli and chemicals on the 3D swimming patterns of sperms, motile bacteria and other micro-organisms, generating new insights into taxis behaviors and the underlying biophysics.
In this paper, the preparation of hydrophobic and crosslinked poly- (vinyl alcohol)/silica organic?inorganic hybrid nanofibers via the sol?gel electrospinning method is reported. Silica was produced ...through the acetic acid catalyzed reaction of a silica precursor consisting of dimethyldimethoxysilane (DMDMOS), methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS), tridecafluoro-1,1,2,2-tetrahydrooctyltriethoxysilane (FAS1313; Dynasylan? F 8261) and phenyltrimethoxysilane (PTMS; Dynasylan? 9165) in a 2-propanol?water mixture. Hybrid nanofibers were obtained by electrospinning the silica precursor and an aqueous PVA solution. Chemical, structural, thermal and surface analyses were conducted by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) and water contact angle (WCA) methods, respectively. The obtained hybrid nanofibers were insoluble in aqueous solution. SEM images displayed that highly crosslinked and porous structures were obtained and the average fiber diameters of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/silica nanocomposites were around 70 nm. A nanofiber surface with a water contact angle of 130? was achieved.
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