Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Kenji W. Koyano, Adam P. Jones, David B. T. McMahon, Elena N. Waidmann, Brian E. Russ, David A. Leopold
Summary: This study demonstrates that the dynamic suppression of average facial structure plays a significant role in the response of neurons in three fMRI-defined face patches of macaques. This suppression enhances recognition by facilitating the extraction of distinctive facial features and suppressing redundant responses across the population.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Kara J. Emery, Vicki J. Volbrecht, David H. Peterzell, Michael A. Webster
Summary: The coordinate frames for color and motion are often defined by three dimensions, but the organizational principles for the representation of hue and motion direction are profoundly different.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Jing Ning, Zhou Li, Xingjiang Zhang, Junlong Wang, Dandan Chen, Qiong Liu, Yi Sun
Summary: This study developed unbiased machine learning tools to quantify the behavior of fruit flies and discovered that fruit flies can extract higher-order features from conspecifics during courtship and select appropriate actions. The findings lay the foundation for understanding the mechanism of conspecific recognition in fruit flies.
Article
Robotics
Yuning Cui, Alois Knoll
Summary: Image restoration is crucial in various fields such as robot vision, autonomous vehicles, and medical imaging, to recover clear images from degradations. The use of Transformer has shown significant improvement, but its practicality is limited due to high complexity. To address this, we propose an efficient image restoration framework based on self-attention, combining patch-based and strip-based units for improved efficiency. Our framework, PSNet, achieves state-of-the-art performance on multiple restoration tasks with low computational complexity and high speed.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Robotics
Vojtech Salansky, Karel Zimmermann, Tomas Petricek, Tomas Svoboda
Summary: This study improves the accuracy of predicted support heightmaps and estimated robot poses by using weakly supervised learning from ground-truth robot poses.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Robotics
David Hoeller, Nikita Rudin, Christopher Choy, Animashree Anandkumar, Marco Hutter
Summary: We propose a learning-based method for reconstructing local terrain for mobile robots in urban environments. The algorithm utilizes depth measurements and the robot's trajectory to estimate the topography in the robot's vicinity. The method is able to accurately reconstruct the terrain despite noisy measurements and missing data.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Software Engineering
J. Daniel Subias, M. Lagunas
Summary: This paper presents a single-image appearance editing framework that allows intuitive modification of the material appearance of an object. It leverages generative models and a novel architecture to preserve high-frequency details from the input image. The framework outperforms the state-of-the-art in material editing and is applicable to synthetic images, real-world photographs, and video sequences.
COMPUTER GRAPHICS FORUM
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Pietro Caggiano, Giordana Grossi, Lucilla C. De Mattia, Jose' van Velzen, Gianna Cocchini
Summary: Recent findings suggest a specific action-specific link between objects and body parts, indicating that the mental representation of an object contains crucial information about relevant motor interactions. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between objects and body parts through two experiments, showing that recognition of specific body parts can be facilitated by functionally-related objects, and that the functional relationship modulates brain responses.
Article
Robotics
Riccardo Mereu, Gabriele Trivigno, Gabriele Berton, Carlo Masone, Barbara Caputo
Summary: This study proposes a taxonomy of architectures for learning sequential descriptors for VPR and analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of these architectural choices through benchmarking experiments. The study also explores the feasibility of using Transformers instead of CNN backbones and introduces a new sequence-level aggregator.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Reza Azadi, Simon Bohn, Emily Lopez, Rosa Lafer-Sousa, Karen Wang, Mark A. G. Eldridge, Arash Afraz
Summary: Artificial activation of neurons in early visual areas induces perception of simple visual flashes. Stimulation in high-level visual cortices is expected to induce perception of complex features. However, studies in human patients have shown that stimulation rarely induces detectable visual events, and stimulation of specific cortices only leads to hallucinations when subjects are looking at relevant objects. Anecdotal observations suggest that stimulation of high-level visual cortex can evoke perception of complex visual features, but these effects depend on the availability and content of visual input.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Xiang Lian, Wilson Cheong Hin Hong, Joanne Yu
Summary: Compared to typically developing children, children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are more likely to focus on parts rather than the whole of objects in terms of visual attention. This may cause distraction and discomfort when reading typical story-based picture books. However, when reading picture books with simplified composition and types of elements, their viewing behaviors are more similar to typically developing children.
CURRENT PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Experimental
Nicholas Baker, Patrick Garrigan, Philip J. Kellman
Summary: The human visual system is specially adapted to detect and encode regions of constant curvature, supporting the notion that constant curvature segments are the building blocks from which abstract contour shape representations are composed.
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY-GENERAL
(2021)
Article
Robotics
Zhifeng Qian, Mingyu You, Hongjun Zhou, Bin He
Summary: Goal-conditioned reinforcement learning is an important algorithm, but suffers from low sample efficiency. This letter proposes DR-GRL, a framework that combines disentangled representation learning and goal-conditioned visual reinforcement learning to improve sample efficiency and policy generalization.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Robotics
Tianyi Zhang, Matthew Johnson-Roberson
Summary: This study proposes a method to address the challenging task of robot localization in GPS denied environments by localizing image observations in a 2D multimodal geospatial map. The experiments show that the proposed method performs better on smaller-scale multimodal maps, is more computationally efficient for real-time applications, and can be used directly in concert with state estimation pipelines.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Akshay V. Jagadeesh, Justin L. Gardner
Summary: The human category-selective visual cortex provides a set of texture-like features that can be flexibly reconfigured to learn and identify new object categories. The representations in this visual cortex are not explicitly encoding objects, but rather capturing complex visual features that support object perception.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Review
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Matthew T. J. Halma, Jack A. Tuszynski, Gijs J. L. Wuite
Summary: The time and cost of developing new therapeutic drugs is a significant burden, involving computational screening, compound assays, and expensive clinical trials. This review highlights the value of dynamic conformational information obtained through optical tweezers for targeting "undruggable" proteins. Optical tweezers provide insights into the relationship between biological mechanisms and structural conformations, aiding in drug discovery. Developing workflows and tools for optical tweezers will improve efficiency, allowing for greater adoption in the biopharmaceutical industry. As a complementary tool, optical tweezers increase the number of potential drug candidates, enhance understanding of a target's complex structural dynamics, and elucidate compound-target interactions.
DRUG DISCOVERY TODAY
(2023)
Article
Oncology
Irene Donato, Kiran K. Velpula, Andrew J. Tsung, Jack A. Tuszynski, Consolato M. Sergi
Summary: This study proposes a mathematical and computational approach to diagnose neuroblastoma by calculating image entropy, fractal dimension, and lacunarity. The method is able to automatically predict tumor malignancy and may challenge the current classification of neuroblastoma.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Aarat P. Kalra, Alfy Benny, Sophie M. Travis, Eric A. . Zizzi, Austin Morales-Sanchez, Daniel G. Oblinsky, Travis J. A. . Craddock, Stuart R. Hameroff, M. Bruce MacIver, Jack A. . Tuszynski, Sabine Petry, Roger Penrose, Gregory D. Scholes
Summary: The repeating arrangement of tubulin dimers in microtubules provides great mechanical strength and allows for energy transfer. By studying tryptophan autofluorescence lifetimes, it was discovered that energy can diffuse over 6.6 nm in microtubules, and this diffusion is influenced by tubulin polymerization state but not by the average number of protofilaments. The presence of anesthetics also affects exciton diffusion.
ACS CENTRAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Aarat P. Kalra, Somnath Biswas, Imani Mulrain, Michelle Wang, Jack A. Tuszynski, Gregory D. Scholes
Summary: Microtubules and actin filaments are protein polymers that have various energy conversion roles in cells. While their mechanochemical roles are well studied, their capabilities for photonic energy conversion are not well understood. This Perspective discusses the photophysical properties of protein polymers, the challenges and opportunities of integrating protein biochemistry with photophysics, and the potential of microtubules and actin filaments to serve as targets for photobiomodulation. It also presents the broad challenges and questions in the field of protein biophotonics, emphasizing the importance of understanding how protein polymers interact with light for biohybrid device fabrication and light-based therapeutics.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Tahereh Esmaeilpour, Azam Lotfealian, Morteza Anvari, Mohammadreza Namavar, Narges Karbalaei, Abbas Shahedi, Istvan Bokkon, Vahid Salari, Daniel Oblak
Summary: All living cells produce ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) during biological activity, including neurons in the brain. The intensity of UPE can be influenced by various internal and external factors. This study examines the effects of Methamphetamine (METH) on UPE and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in the prefrontal, motor, and visual cortex. The results indicate that METH increases UPE and ROS in all three areas, suggesting a direct relationship between UPE intensity and ROS production. These findings have implications for monitoring oxidative metabolism and researching METH.
NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Oncology
Paola Vottero, Qian Wang, Marek Michalak, Maral Aminpour, Jack Adam Tuszynski
Summary: This study aims to identify the binding sites and modes of gatastatin and its derivatives through molecular docking simulations, and compare the computational binding free energy predictions with experimental results. The computational simulations did not show a strong preference for gamma tubulin, suggesting that further derivatization may be needed to increase its specificity.
Correction
Chemistry, Physical
Aarat P. Kalra, Somnath Biswas, Imani Mulrain, Michelle Wang, Jack A. Tuszynski, Gregory D. Scholes
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Fereshteh Arab, Sareh Rostami, Mohammad Dehghani-Habibabadi, Diego M. Mateos, Roisin Braddell, Felix Scholkmann, Mohammad Ismail Zibaii, Serafim Rodrigues, Vahid Salari, Mir-Shahram Safari
Summary: The present study investigates the effects of visual stimulation on the primary visual cortex under gamma oscillations. The results show that optogenetic stimulation enhances low gamma power in both layers of the visual cortex, while simultaneous visual stimulation has differing effects on the two layers, reducing gamma power in layer II and increasing it in layer IV.
NEUROSCIENCE LETTERS
(2023)
Review
Nutrition & Dietetics
Matthew T. J. Halma, Jack A. Tuszynski, Paul E. Marik
Summary: Cancer can be targeted metabolically through dietary and lifestyle changes, depriving cancer cells of glucose, and utilizing nutritional supplements and repurposed drugs, which can contribute to the prevention and treatment of cancer.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Paola Vottero, Scott Tavernini, Alessandro D. Santin, David E. Scheim, Jack A. Tuszynski, Maral Aminpour
Summary: Hypercoagulability and formation of microclots are characteristic of acute COVID-19 and long COVID. This study investigated the potential of the antiparasitic drug ivermectin (IVM) to prevent the binding of the spike protein (SP) from SARS-CoV-2 to fibrinogen and reduce microclot formation. Computational results suggest that IVM may interfere with SP-fibrinogen binding and decrease the formation of resistant fibrin clots. Further in vitro studies are needed to validate these findings.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Mayte Y. Li-Gomez, Pablo Yepiz-Graciano, Taras Hrushevskyi, Omar Calderon-Losada, Erhan Saglamyurek, Dorilian Lopez-Mago, Vahid Salari, Trong Ngo, Alfred B. U'Ren, Shabir Barzanjeh
Summary: Quantum sensing exploits quantum phenomena to enhance the detection and estimation of classical parameters of physical systems and biological entities, particularly so as to overcome the inefficiencies of its classical counterparts. A particularly promising approach within quantum sensing is quantum optical coherence tomography which relies on nonclassical light sources to reconstruct the internal structure of multilayered materials. Compared to traditional classical probing, quantum optical coherence tomography provides enhanced-resolution images and is unaffected by even-order dispersion.
PHYSICAL REVIEW RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Optics
Sepideh Ahmadi, Erhan Saglamyurek, Shabir Barzanjeh, Vahid Salari
Summary: Quantum imaging techniques, utilizing entangled photon pairs, offer improved resolution, contrast, and precision at ultralow illumination levels compared to traditional approaches. Two standout techniques, correlation-based quantum imaging and interaction-free ghost imaging, enhance visibility of low-reflectivity objects and detect the presence of objects with minimal photon numbers, respectively. We propose a quantum imaging scheme that combines the advantages of these methods to achieve high-contrast imaging with minimal photons, minimizing thermal noise and generating background-free images. This approach holds potential for noninvasive and harm-free imaging of photosensitive biological tissues.
Article
Optics
Nahid Yazdi, Vahid Salari, Roohollah Ghobadi
Summary: In this paper, we study the coupling between three mechanical modes of a hBN membrane monolayer and an optically addressable spin defect via magnetic field interaction. We analyze the effect of this coupling on phonon-phonon interaction, stability, purity, and entanglement. Our results show that steady-state entanglement between different vibrational modes of hBN can be achieved in a wide range of experimental parameters. This study has the potential to enable scalability for universal quantum computation using continuous-variable cluster states.
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Nicolas Carels, Domenico Sgariglia, Marcos Guilherme Vieira Jr, Carlyle Ribeiro Lima, Flavia Raquel Goncalves Carneiro, Gilberto Ferreira da Silva, Fabricio Alves Barbosa da Silva, Rafaela Scardini, Jack Adam Tuszynski, Cecilia Vianna de Andrade, Ana Carolina Monteiro, Marcel Guimaraes Martins, Talita Goulart da Silva, Helen Ferraz, Priscilla Vanessa Finotelli, Tiago Albertini Balbino, Jose Carlos Pinto
Summary: This study proposes a strategy for the development of neoplastic disease therapy based on the vulnerability of scale-free networks to specific attacks. It suggests selecting connectivity hubs in the tumors interactome as targets for personalized therapy and utilizing drug repurposing, RNA silencing, and other approaches to improve therapeutic outcomes.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Review
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Giovanna Traina, Jack A. Tuszynski
Summary: This review provides an overview of the role that classical neurotransmitters play in the contextual conditioning model of fear and PTSD.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Girgis Obaid, Menitte Eroy, Jie Zhao, Shazia Bano, Mari Mino-Kenudson, Tayyaba Hasan
Summary: The presence of desmoplasia in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is associated with poor treatment outcomes and reduced drug delivery. By analyzing collagen subtypes in PDAC tumors following different treatment regimens, immunofluorescence profiling can predict long-term survival and tumor growth inhibition. This information can aid in personalized treatment and improve patient survival.
JOURNAL OF PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY B-BIOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Fatemeh Malekpour, Rashin Bahrami, Mahshid Hodjat, Neda Hakimiha, Behnam Bolhari, Aidin Sooratgar, Soheil Niavarzi
Summary: This study investigated the effect of photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy using an 808 nm diode laser on cellular modulation mechanisms in regenerative endodontic procedures (REPs). The results showed that PBM treatment significantly increased cell viability and migration, and enhanced the release of TGF-131 from dentin.
JOURNAL OF PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY B-BIOLOGY
(2024)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Pranathi Tata, Ramakrishnan Ganesan, Jayati Ray Dutta
Summary: Thin film coatings with potent antibacterial properties are widely used in medical devices, frequently touched surfaces, and food packaging. However, achieving antibacterial performance under both light and dark conditions remains a challenge. In this study, we successfully prepared AgBr-coated ZnO nanorod thin film architecture using a unique surfactant-mediated solution-phase spin-coating approach. The resulting structures showed dual functionality as antimicrobial agents and photosensitizers, effectively enhancing the visible-light photodisinfection efficacy of ZnO nanorods. The concentration of the surfactant-based precursor solution could be modulated to control the AgBr content. Additionally, components like urea and lactic acid were found to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency of the structures.
JOURNAL OF PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY B-BIOLOGY
(2024)
