In this paper, Gaussian pixelate Chinese character processing software is designed, and HMD is used to realize the recognition experiment for pixelate Chinese characters based on simulated prosthetic vision. The structure of recognition system, software design and the experiment for determining Gaussian width (sigma) are presented. It is shown that when sigma is 0.235, the recognition program is the best.
Equipment Design ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Language ; Prostheses and Implants ; Software Design ; Visual Perception

In this article, the implementation of eye movement tracking system includes three procedures: hardware acquisition, data extraction and overall analysis. The system is based on Camshift algorithm with an eye tracking module added, developed on VC++ 6.0. The system can track the eye movement effectively in simulated phosphene evaluation experiment based on prosthetic vision.
Algorithms ; Analysis of Variance ; Eye Movements ; physiology ; Prosthesis Design

This paper introduces the current development and challenges of vision prosthesis.
Prosthesis Design ; Visual Prosthesis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the effect of aging on the expressions of monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) in the lung tissue of rats with lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI).

METHODSBoth young (3 months old) and aged (27 months old) female Wistar rats were randomly divided into two groups (n=8), namely the normal control and LPS-induced ALI groups. Immunohistochemistry for of ED-1 was used to detect the infiltrating inflammatory cells. Western blot and Northern blot analyses were employed for evaluating the expressions of MCP-1 and ICAM-1 at the protein and mRNA levels.

RESULTSVirtually no ED-1-positive cells were found in the lung tissue of the control rats in the young and aged groups. After LPS-induced ALI, ED-1-positive cells in the lung tissues increased significantly in both young and aged groups (P<0.05), and the increment was more obviously in the aged group (P<0.05). In the two normal control groups, the aged rats showed significantly higher expressions of MCP-1 and ICAM-1 than the young rats (P<0.05); LPS significantly up-regulated their expression in the young and aged groups (P<0.05), but the latter showed greater increments (P<0.05). The aged rats with ALI also showed significantly greater MCP-1 and ICAM-1 increments than those of the young rats (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONSAging may upregulate lung MCP-1 and ICAM-1 expressions and enhance LPS-induced increments of MCP-1 and ICAM-1 expressions to exacerbate the pulmonary inflammation in rats.

Acute Lung Injury ; chemically induced ; metabolism ; Aging ; Animals ; Chemokine CCL2 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Female ; Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 ; genetics ; metabolism ; Lipopolysaccharides ; Lung ; metabolism ; RNA, Messenger ; genetics ; metabolism ; Random Allocation ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Up-Regulation

OBJECTIVETo analyze the meiotic segregation results of male reciprocal chromosome translocation by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).

METHODSMulti-color FISH using 3 combined probes located in any 3 chromosome segments on both sides of two breakpoints was performed on the de-condensed sperm head to analyze the sperm chromosomal contents and segregation patterns.

RESULTSFour male reciprocal translocation carriers were included in the study, with the karyotypes of 46, XY, t(2;18) (p16; q23); 46, XY, t(4;6) (q34;q21); 46, XY, t(8;13) (q23;q21) and 46, XY, t(4;5) (4q31;5q13), respectively. The results showed that 4 carriers had different proportions of various segregated spermatozoa. The spermatozoa of alternate, adjacent-1, adjacent-2, 3:1, non-disjunction in meiosis II, and 4:0 or diploidy accounted for 27.1%-49.4%, 26.9%-37.6%, 2.7%-15.7%, 8.6%-32.7%, 0.2%-1.9%, and 0.1%-0.4%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONFor each-reciprocal translocation carrier seems to have a particular meiotic segregation results, FISH analysis on sperm head should be done for each carrier in order to provide an accurate genetic counseling.

Chromosome Breakage ; Heterozygote ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization, Fluorescence ; Karyotyping ; Male ; Meiosis ; genetics ; Spermatozoa ; metabolism ; Translocation, Genetic ; genetics

BACKGROUND: Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) and BMSCs-derived exosomes have similar functions, but the regulatory mechanism underlying the release of exosomes is still unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of GW4869, an inhibition of neutral sphingomyelinase 2, in the release of exosomes in BMSCs and the influence of GW4869 on BMSCs proliferation. METHODS: Rat BMSCs were divided into three groups: normal control group, 24-hour GW4869 treatment group and withdrawal of GW4869 for 24 hours group (24-hour GW4869 treatment followed by 24-hour successive culture with drug withdrawal). Cultured cells were collected to extract exosomes by ultracentrifugation. Western blot was used to detect exosome-associated proteins CD63 and tumor susceptibility gene 101 (TSG101). The concentration and size distribution of exosomes were measured using nanoparticle tracking analysis. BCA was used to test the level of total proteins in exosomes. Live cell imaging system was used to observe the influence of GW4869 on BMSCs proliferation. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Western blot results showed that exosomes expressed marker proteins such as CD63, TSG101. (2) Findings from the nanoparticle tracking analysis confirmed that the size of released exosomes was about 114 nm. (3) Significantly reduced release of exosomes was found in the two treatment groups compared with the normal control group (P < 0.01), but there was no significant difference between 24-hour GW4869 treatment group and withdrawal of GW4869 for 24 hours group (P > 0.05). (4) No significant difference in the proliferation of BMSCs was found among the three groups (P > 0.05). To conclude, 24-hour W4869 can inhibit the release of exosomes by BMSCs and this inhibitory effect is still sustained within 24 hours after drug withdrawal. However, GW4869 has no influence on the proliferation of BMSCs.