(Re)activation of quiescent viral diseases is a major problem in immunosuppressed transplant patients. Polyoma BK virus‐associated nephropathy (PVAN) caused by active polyoma BK virus (BKV) infection ...became a main reason for graft loss in kidney transplantation. After diagnosis, most transplant centers react by reducing immunosuppression (IS) to allow the immune system to control the infection. However, the impact of reduced IS on BKV immunity is not well researched. Here we present an HLA type‐independent method to monitor BKV‐specific T‐cell immunity. Applying our method, viral protein 1‐specific CD4+ and CD8+ T‐cell responses were detected in patients with serum BKV‐DNA levels >250 000 copies/mL. In addition, specific T‐cell responses were also found in allograft‐infiltrating cells. The method can be used to assess the impact of decreased immunosuppresson on BKV immunity and to clarify the role of specific T cells in the pathogenesis of PVAN. We strongly recommend its implementation in future clinical studies.
In this paper, we propose a vision-based system for human detection and tracking in indoor environment using a static camera. The proposed method is based on object recognition in still images ...combined with methods using temporal information from the video. Doing that, we improve the performance of the overall system and reduce the task complexity. We first use background subtraction to limit the search space of the classifier. The segmentation is realized by modeling each background pixel by a single Gaussian model. As each connected component detected by the background subtraction potentially corresponds to one person, each blob is independently tracked. The tracking process is based on the analysis of connected components position and interest points tracking. In order to know the nature of various objects that could be present in the scene, we use multiple cascades of boosted classifiers based on Haar-like filters. We also present in this article a wide evaluation of this system based on a large set of videos.
Angiogenesis induced by vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) plays an important role in psoriasis. Hypoxic adaptation is conferred through hypoxia-inducible transcription factors (HIFs). VEGF ...and its receptor Flt-1 are HIF target genes. Growth factors and inflammatory cytokines activate the phosphoinositol-3 kinase pathway, and via activated protein kinase B (phospho-Akt) augment HIF activity. Here, we demonstrate that the major oxygen-dependent HIF isoforms are strongly upregulated in psoriatic skin: HIF-1α mainly in the epidermis, in an expression pattern similar to VEGF mRNA; HIF-2α in both the epidermis and in capillary endothelial cells of the dermis. In contrast, normal human skin shows low expression of HIF-α proteins, with the exception of hair follicles, and glands, which strongly express HIF-1α. In normal human skin, phospho-Akt appeared in the basal epidermal layer, in hair follicles, and in dermal glands. In contrast, in psoriasis, phospho-Akt expression was low in the epidermis, but markedly enhanced in the dermal capillaries and in surrounding interstitial/inflammatory cells. Our data suggest that hypoxia initiates a potentially self-perpetuating cycle involving HIF, VEGF, and Akt activation, which could drive physiologic growth of hair follicles and skin glands. Furthermore, such a cycle may exist in psoriasis in dermal capillaries and contribute to disease progression.
Many works in the literature focus on the definition of evaluation metrics and criteria that enable to quantify the performance of an image processing algorithm. These evaluation criteria can be used ...to define new image processing algorithms by optimizing them. In this paper, we propose a general scheme to segment images by a genetic algorithm. The developed method uses an evaluation criterion which quantifies the quality of an image segmentation result. The proposed segmentation method can integrate a local ground truth when it is available in order to set the desired level of precision of the final result. A genetic algorithm is then used in order to determine the best combination of information extracted by the selected criterion. Then, we show that this approach can either be applied for gray-levels or multicomponents images in a supervised context or in an unsupervised one. Last, we show the efficiency of the proposed method through some experimental results on several gray-levels and multicomponents images.
This paper presents a new tool for the evaluation of ultrasound image compression. The goal is to measure the image quality as easily as with a statistical criterion, and with the same reliability as ...the one provided by the medical assessment. An initial experiment is proposed to medical experts and represents our reference value for the comparison of evaluation criteria. Twenty-one statistical criteria are selected from the literature. A cumulative absolute similarity measure is defined as a distance between the criterion to evaluate and the reference value. A first fusion method based on a linear combination of criteria is proposed to improve the results obtained by each of them separately. The second proposed approach combines different statistical criteria and uses the medical assessment in a training phase with a support vector machine. Some experimental results are given and show the benefit of fusion
SifA was originally identified as a virulence factor required for formation of Salmonella‐induced filaments (Sifs), elongated tubules rich in lysosomal glycoproteins that extend from the ...Salmonella‐containing vacuole in infected epithelial cells. Here, we demonstrate that deletion mutants of ssaR, a component of the SPI‐2 type III secretion system, do not form Sifs in HeLa epithelial cells. This suggests that SifA is a translocated effector of this system, acting within host cells to form Sifs. In support of this hypothesis, transfection of HeLa cells with a vector encoding SifA fused to the green fluorescent protein caused extensive vacuolation of LAMP‐1‐positive compartments. Filamentous tubules that closely resembled Sifs were also observed in transfected cells, demonstrating that SifA is sufficient to initiate alteration of host cell endosomal structures. ΔsifA mutants were impaired in their ability to survive/replicate in RAW 264.7 murine macrophages, a phenotype similar to ssaR mutants. Our findings suggest that SifA is an effector of the SPI‐2 type III secretion system and allows colonization of murine macrophages, the host niche exploited during systemic phases of disease in these animals. A family of SifA‐related proteins and their importance to Salmonella pathogenesis is also discussed.
Pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide among adults and effective treatment options remain elusive. Data harmonization efforts, such as through core outcome sets (COS), could improve care ...by highlighting cross-cutting pain mechanisms and treatments. Existing pain-related COS often focus on specific conditions, which can hamper data harmonization across various pain states.
Our objective was to develop four overarching COS of domains/subdomains (i.e., what to measure) that transcend pain conditions within different pain categories. We hosted a meeting to assess the need for these four COS in pain research and clinical practice. Potential COS domains/subdomains were identified via a systematic literature review (SLR), meeting attendees, and Delphi participants. We conducted an online, three step Delphi process to reach a consensus on domains to be included in the four final COS. Survey respondents were identified from the SLR and pain-related social networks, including multidisciplinary health care professionals, researchers, and people with lived experience (PWLE) of pain. Advisory boards consisting of COS experts and PWLE provided advice throughout the process.
Domains in final COS were generally related to aspects of pain, quality of life, and physical function/activity limitations, with some differences among pain categories. This effort was the first to generate four separate, overarching COS to encourage international data harmonization within and across different pain categories.
The adoption of the COS in research and clinical practice will facilitate comparisons and data integration around the world and across pain studies to optimize resources, expedite therapeutic discovery, and improve pain care.
Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Join Undertaking; European Union Horizon 2020 research innovation program, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) provided funding for IMI-PainCare. RDT acknowledges grants from Esteve and TEVA.
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