Imp interacts with Lin28 to regulate adult stem cell proliferation in the Drosophila intestine.

Stem cells are essential for the development and long-term maintenance of tissues and organisms. Preserving tissue homeostasis requires exquisite control of all aspects of stem cell function: cell potency, proliferation, fate decision and differentiation. RNA binding proteins (RBPs) are essential components of the regulatory network that control gene expression in stem cells to maintain self-renewal and long-term homeostasis in adult tissues. While the function of many RBPs may have been characterized in various stem cell populations, how these interact and are organized in genetic networks remains largely elusive. In this report, we show that the conserved RNA binding protein IGF2 mRNA binding protein (Imp) is expressed in intestinal stem cells (ISCs) and progenitors in the adult Drosophila midgut. We demonstrate that Imp is required cell autonomously to maintain stem cell proliferative activity under normal epithelial turnover and in response to tissue damage. Mechanistically, we show that Imp cooperates and directly interacts with Lin28, another highly conserved RBP, to regulate ISC proliferation. We found that both proteins bind to and control the InR mRNA, a critical regulator of ISC self-renewal. Altogether, our data suggests that Imp and Lin28 are part of a larger gene regulatory network controlling gene expression in ISCs and required to maintain epithelial homeostasis.

Effects of ambient air pollution on brain cortical thickness and subcortical volume: A longitudinal neuroimaging study.

INTRODUCTION: Long-term exposure to air pollutants is associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment. Therefore, we investigated the association between long-term air pollution exposure and changes in neuroimaging markers. METHODS: In this longitudinal study, we studied a prospective cohort of 361 adults residing in four cities in the Republic of Korea. Long-term concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of ≤10 µm (PM10) and ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at residential addresses were estimated. Neuroimaging markers (cortical thickness and subcortical volume) were obtained from brain magnetic resonance images at baseline (August 2014 to March 2017) and at the 3-year follow-up (until September 2020). Linear mixed-effects models were used, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: A 10-µg/m3 increase in PM10 was associated with reduced whole-brain mean (ß= -0.45, standard error (SE)= 0.10, P< 0.001), frontal (ß= -0.53, SE= 0.11; P< 0.001) and temporal thicknesses (ß= -0.37, SE= 0.12; P= 0.002). A 10-ppb increase in NO2 was associated with a decline in the whole brain mean cortical thickness (ß= -0.23, SE= 0.05; P< 0.001), frontal (ß= -0.25, SE= 0.05; P< 0.001), parietal (ß= -0.12, SE= 0.05; P= 0.025), and temporal thicknesses (ß= -0.19, SE= 0.06; P= 0.001). Subcortical structures associated with air pollutants include the thalamus volume. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term exposure to PM10 and NO2 may lead to cortical thinning in adults.

Association between exposure to heavy metals in atmospheric particulate matter and sleep quality: A nationwide data linkage study.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have demonstrated that long-term exposure to particulate matter (PM) is associated with poor sleep quality. However, no studies have linked PM constituents, particularly heavy metals, to sleep quality. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the association between exposure to heavy metals in PM and sleep quality. METHODS: We obtained nationwide data from the Korean Community Health Survey conducted in 2018 among adults aged 19-80 years. Sleep quality was evaluated using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Poor sleep quality was defined as PSQI ≥5. One-year and three-month average concentrations of heavy metals (lead, manganese, cadmium, and aluminum) in PM with diameter ≤10 µm were obtained from nationwide air quality monitoring data and linked to the survey data based on individual district-level residential addresses. Logistic regression analyses were performed after adjusting for age, gender, education level, marital status, smoking status, alcohol consumption, history of hypertension, and history of diabetes mellitus. RESULTS: Of 32,050 participants, 17,082 (53.3%) reported poor sleep quality. Increases in log-transformed one-year average lead (odds ratio, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.20), manganese (1.31; 1.25-1.37), cadmium (1.03; 1.00-1.05), and aluminum concentrations (1.17; 1.10-1.25) were associated with poor sleep quality. Increases in log-transformed three-month average manganese (odds ratio, 1.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.17) and aluminum concentrations (1.28; 1.21-1.35) were associated with poor sleep quality. CONCLUSION: We showed for the first time that exposure to airborne lead, manganese, cadmium, and aluminum were associated with poor sleep quality. This study may be limited by self-reported sleep quality and district-level exposure data.

The short-term effect of ambient particulate matter on suicide death.

BACKGROUND: Air pollution can cause various respiratory and neurological diseases and continuous exposure can lead to death. Previous studies have reported that particulate matter (PM) exposure increases the risk of depression, suicidal thoughts, and suicidal death; however, the results are inconsistent and limited. This study aimed to examine the relationship between short-term PM exposure and suicide deaths, as well as investigate the short-term effects of PM on suicide death within vulnerable groups based on factors such as sex, age group, suicide-related information (note, method, and cause), psychiatric disorders, and physical diseases. METHODS: Data on a total of 28,670 suicide deaths from 2013 to 2017, provided by the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention, were analyzed. The study design employed a time-series analysis with a two-stage approach. In the first step, a generalized additive model combined with a distributed lag nonlinear model was used to estimate the short-term effect of PM exposure on suicide risk specific to each city. In the second step, the estimated results from each city were pooled through a meta-analysis to derive the overall effect. We determined the effects of single lag, cumulative lag, and moving average PM concentrations from days 0-7 before suicide. RESULTS: We confirmed an association between exposure to PM10 (≤ 10 µm in diameter) and deaths due to suicide. In particular, among individuals with psychiatric disorders and those who employed non-violent suicide methods, increased exposure to PM10 was associated with a higher risk of death by suicide, with percentage changes of 5.92 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.95-7.92) and 11.47 (95% CI: 7.95-15.11), respectively. Furthermore, in the group with psychiatric disorders, there was an observed tendency of increasing suicide risk as PM10 levels increased up to 120 µg/m3, whereas in the group with non-violent suicide deaths, there was a pronounced trend of rapid increase in suicide risk with an increase in PM10 up to 100 µg/m3. CONCLUSIONS: These results show an association between short-term exposure to PM and suicide. Our study adds evidence for the benefits of reducing PM in preventing diseases and improving mental health.

Inhalation exposure to nanosized aerosols of disinfectants for the application of continuous releasing sprayers and fogger.

This study aimed to investigate the airborne exposure to aerosols according to the particle size distribution of three different spray types (nano-nozzled spray gun, low-temperature steam spray, and fogger) and compare the concentrations of inhaled aerosols between children and adults. Airborne aerosols released from three products were observed using size-segregated particle measurements, and particle concentrations deposited in the respiratory tracts of adults and children were estimated using multi-path particle dosimetry lung deposition models. All types of sprayers generated the most nanoparticles (~100 nm). Due to their higher respiratory rate than adults, a larger number of particles <1.0 µm deposited in the children's respiratory tracts was higher. The sequences of the total number of particles in the respiratory regions after spraying nano-nozzled spray gun and fogger were alveolar (AL)>tracheobronchial (TB)>head airway (HA) in adults and AL>HA>TB in children. Meanwhile, the trend of low-temperature steam spray was AL>TB>HA in adults and AL>TB>HA in children.

Ethylene signals modulate the survival of Arabidopsis leaf explants.

BACKGROUND: Leaf explants are major materials in plant tissue cultures. Incubation of detached leaves on phytohormone-containing media, which is an important process for producing calli and regenerating plants, change their cell fate. Although hormone signaling pathways related to cell fate transition have been widely studied, other molecular and physiological events occurring in leaf explants during this process remain largely unexplored. RESULTS: Here, we identified that ethylene signals modulate expression of pathogen resistance genes and anthocyanin accumulation in leaf explants, affecting their survival during culture. Anthocyanins accumulated in leaf explants, but were not observed near the wound site. Ethylene signaling mutant analysis revealed that ethylene signals are active and block anthocyanin accumulation in the wound site. Moreover, expression of defense-related genes increased, particularly near the wound site, implying that ethylene induces defense responses possibly by blocking pathogenesis via wounding. We also found that anthocyanin accumulation in non-wounded regions is required for drought resistance in leaf explants. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed the key roles of ethylene in the regulation of defense gene expression and anthocyanin biosynthesis in leaf explants. Our results suggest a survival strategy of detached leaves, which can be applied to improve the longevity of explants during tissue culture.

Associations of Particulate Matter Exposures With Brain Gray Matter Thickness and White Matter Hyperintensities: Effect Modification by Low-Grade Chronic Inflammation.

BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have shown the effect of particulate matter exposure on brain imaging markers. However, little evidence exists about whether the effect differs by the level of low-grade chronic systemic inflammation. We investigated whether the level of c-reactive protein (CRP, a marker of systemic inflammation) modifies the associations of particulate matter exposures with brain cortical gray matter thickness and white matter hyperintensities (WMH). METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study of baseline data from a prospective cohort study including adults with no dementia or stroke. Long-term concentrations of particulate matter ≤ 10 µm in diameter (PM10) and ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5) at each participant's home address were estimated. Global cortical thickness (n = 874) and WMH volumes (n = 397) were estimated from brain magnetic resonance images. We built linear and logistic regression models for cortical thickness and WMH volumes (higher versus lower than median), respectively. Significance of difference in the association between the CRP group (higher versus lower than median) was expressed as P for interaction. RESULTS: Particulate matter exposures were significantly associated with a reduced global cortical thickness only in the higher CRP group among men (P for interaction = 0.015 for PM10 and 0.006 for PM2.5). A 10 µg/m3 increase in PM10 was associated with the higher volumes of total WMH (odds ratio, 1.78; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-2.97) and periventricular WMH (2.00; 1.20-3.33). A 1 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 was associated with the higher volume of periventricular WMH (odds ratio, 1.66; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-2.56). These associations did not significantly differ by the level of high sensitivity CRP. CONCLUSION: Particulate matter exposures were associated with a reduced global cortical thickness in men with a high level of chronic inflammation. Men with a high level of chronic inflammation may be susceptible to cortical atrophy attributable to particulate matter exposures.

All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Attributable to Seasonal Influenza: A Nationwide Matched Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Although influenza poses substantial mortality burden, most studies have estimated excess mortality using time-aggregated data. Here, we estimated mortality risk and population attributable fraction (PAF) attributed to seasonal influenza using individual-level data from a nationwide matched cohort. METHODS: Individuals with influenza during four consecutive influenza seasons (2013-2017) (n = 5,497,812) and 1:4 age- and sex-matched individuals without influenza (n = 20,990,683) were identified from a national health insurance database. The endpoint was mortality within 30 days after influenza diagnosis. All-cause and cause-specific mortality risk ratios (RRs) attributed to influenza were estimated. Excess mortality, mortality RR, and PAF of mortality were determined, including for underlying disease subgroups. RESULTS: Excess mortality rate, mortality RR, and PAF of all-cause mortality were 49.5 per 100,000, 4.03 (95% confidence interval [CI], 3.63-4.48), and 5.6% (95% CI, 4.5-6.7%). Cause-specific mortality RR (12.85; 95% CI, 9.40-17.55) and PAF (20.7%; 95% CI, 13.2-27.0%) were highest for respiratory diseases. In subgroup analysis according to underlying disorders, PAF of all-cause mortality was 5.9% (95% CI, 0.6-10.7%) for liver disease, 5.8% (95% CI, 2.9-8.5%) for respiratory disease, and 3.8% (95% CI, 1.4-6.1%) for cancer. CONCLUSION: Individuals with influenza had a 4-fold higher mortality risk than individuals without influenza. Preventing seasonal influenza may lead to 5.6% and 20.7% reductions in all-cause and respiratory mortality, respectively. Individuals with respiratory disease, liver disease, and cancer may benefit from prioritization when establishing influenza prevention strategies.

Magnetic Field Magnitudes Needed for Skyrmion Generation in a General Perpendicularly Magnetized Film.

Due to its topological protection, the magnetic skyrmion has been intensively studied for both fundamental aspects and spintronics applications. However, despite recent advancements in skyrmion research, the deterministic creation of isolated skyrmions in a generic perpendicularly magnetized film is still one of the most essential and challenging techniques. Here, we present a method to create magnetic skyrmions in typical perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) films by applying a magnetic field pulse and a method to determine the magnitude of the required external magnetic fields. Furthermore, to demonstrate the usefulness of this result for future skyrmion research, we also experimentally study the PMA dependence on the minimum size of skyrmions. Although field-driven skyrmion generation is unsuitable for device application, this result can provide an easier approach for obtaining isolated skyrmions, making skyrmion-based research more accessible.

Comparative Bleeding Risk in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation with Cancer versus Without Cancer from Nationwide Prospective Cohort.

Comparison of the bleeding risk for long-term oral anticoagulation (OAC) in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF) with and without cancers has been inconsistent. This study aimed to clarify the differences in the bleeding risk in patients with AF with cancers and those without cancers during the long-term OAC.The CODE-AF prospective registry enrolled 5,902 consecutive patients treated for AF at 10 tertiary referral centers in Korea. Of the enrolled patients, 464 (7.8%) were diagnosed with cancers and were followed for all stroke and bleeding events (net composite events).The age, CHA2DS2-VASC, and HAS-BLED scores were similar between AF patients with and without cancers. Male population greatly comprised patients with AF with cancers. They were equally prescribed with direct OAC compared to those without cancers. The incidence rate for clinically relevant nonmajor (CRNM) bleeding events was higher in the patients with AF with cancers than in those without cancers (4.4 per 100 person-years versus 2.8 per 100 person-years, P = 0.023), and net composite events were also more frequent in patients with AF with cancers than in those without cancers (6.4 per 100 person-years versus 4.0 per 100 person-years, P = 0.004). Patients with AF with cancers showed a significantly higher rate of CRNM bleeding (hazard ratio [HR] 1.54, confidence interval [CI] 1.05-2.25, P = 0.002) than those without cancers.Based on the AF cohort, AF with cancers could face a significantly higher risk for CRNM bleeding events in the long-term OAC than those without cancers.

Reduced brain subcortical volumes in patients with glaucoma: a pilot neuroimaging study using the region-of-interest-based approach.

BACKGROUND: While numerous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that glaucoma is associated with smaller volumes of the visual cortices in the brain, only a few studies have linked glaucoma with brain structures beyond the visual cortices. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare brain imaging markers and neuropsychological performance between individuals with and without glaucoma. METHODS: We identified 64 individuals with glaucoma and randomly selected 128 age-, sex-, and education level-matched individuals without glaucoma from a community-based cohort. The study participants underwent 3 T brain magnetic resonance imaging and neuropsychological assessment battery. Regional cortical thickness and subcortical volume were estimated from the brain images of the participants. We used a linear mixed model after adjusting for potential confounding variables. RESULTS: Cortical thickness in the occipital lobe was significantly smaller in individuals with glaucoma than in the matched individuals (ß = - 0.04 mm, P = 0.014). This did not remain significant after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors (ß = - 0.02 mm, P = 0.67). Individuals with glaucoma had smaller volumes of the thalamus (ß = - 212.8 mm3, P = 0.028), caudate (ß = - 170.0 mm3, P = 0.029), putamen (ß = - 151.4 mm3, P = 0.051), pallidum (ß = - 103.6 mm3, P = 0.007), hippocampus (ß = - 141.4 mm3, P = 0.026), and amygdala (ß = - 87.9 mm3, P = 0.018) compared with those without glaucoma. Among neuropsychological battery tests, only the Stroop color reading test  score was significantly lower in individuals with glaucoma compared with those without glaucoma (ß = - 0.44, P = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: We found that glaucoma was associated with smaller volumes of the thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, amygdala, and hippocampus.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Tafenoquine for Radical Cure of Plasmodium vivax Malaria in Korea.

BACKGROUND: Plasmodium vivax malaria has a persistent liver stage that causes relapse, and introducing tafenoquine to suppress relapse could aid in disease eradication. Therefore, we assessed the impact of tafenoquine introduction on P. vivax malaria incidence and performed a cost-benefit analysis from the payer's perspective. METHODS: We expanded the previously developed P. vivax malaria dynamic transmission model and calibrated it to weekly civilian malaria incidences in 2014-2018. Primaquine and tafenoquine scenarios were considered by assuming different relapse probabilities, and relapse and total P. vivax malaria cases were predicted over the next decade for each scenario. We then estimated the number of cases prevented by replacing primaquine with tafenoquine. The cost and benefit of introducing tafenoquine were obtained using medical expenditure from a nationwide database, and a cost-benefit analysis was conducted. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the economic feasibility robustness of tafenoquine introduction under uncertainties of model parameters, costs, and benefits. RESULTS: Under 0.04 primaquine relapse probability, the introduction of tafenoquine with relapse probability of 0.01 prevented 129 (12.27%) and 35 (77.78%) total and relapse cases, respectively, over the next decade. However, under the same relapse probability as primaquine, introducing tafenoquine had no additional preventative effect. The 14-day primaquine treatment cost was $3.71. The tafenoquine and the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase rapid diagnostic testing cost $57.37 and $7.76, totaling $65.13. The average medical expenditure per malaria patient was estimated at $1444.79. The cost-benefit analysis results provided an incremental benefit-cost ratio (IBCR) from 0 to 3.21 as the tafenoquine relapse probability decreased from 0.04 to 0.01. The probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed an IBCR > 1, indicating that tafenoquine is beneficial, with a probability of 69.1%. CONCLUSION: Tafenoquine could reduce P. vivax malaria incidence and medical costs and bring greater benefits than primaquine.

Unsupervised Domain Adaptive 1D-CNN for Fault Diagnosis of Bearing.

Fault diagnosis (FD) plays a vital role in building a smart factory regarding system reliability improvement and cost reduction. Recent deep learning-based methods have been applied for FD and have obtained excellent performance. However, most of them require sufficient historical labeled data to train the model which is difficult and sometimes not available. Moreover, the big size model increases the difficulties for real-time FD. Therefore, this article proposed a domain adaptive and lightweight framework for FD based on a one-dimension convolutional neural network (1D-CNN). Particularly, 1D-CNN is designed with a structure of autoencoder to extract the rich, robust hidden features with less noise from source and target data. The extracted features are processed by correlation alignment (CORAL) to minimize domain shifts. Thus, the proposed method could learn robust and domain-invariance features from raw signals without any historical labeled target domain data for FD. We designed, trained, and tested the proposed method on CRWU bearing data sets. The sufficient comparative analysis confirmed its effectiveness for FD.

A deep learning model based on concatenation approach to predict the time to extract a mandibular third molar tooth.

BACKGROUND: Assessing the time required for tooth extraction is the most important factor to consider before surgeries. The purpose of this study was to create a practical predictive model for assessing the time to extract the mandibular third molar tooth using deep learning. The accuracy of the model was evaluated by comparing the extraction time predicted by deep learning with the actual time required for extraction. METHODS: A total of 724 panoramic X-ray images and clinical data were used for artificial intelligence (AI) prediction of extraction time. Clinical data such as age, sex, maximum mouth opening, body weight, height, the time from the start of incision to the start of suture, and surgeon's experience were recorded. Data augmentation and weight balancing were used to improve learning abilities of AI models. Extraction time predicted by the concatenated AI model was compared with the actual extraction time. RESULTS: The final combined model (CNN + MLP) model achieved an R value of 0.8315, an R-squared value of 0.6839, a p-value of less than 0.0001, and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 2.95 min with the test dataset. CONCLUSIONS: Our proposed model for predicting time to extract the mandibular third molar tooth performs well with a high accuracy in clinical practice.

Dilation-Responsive Microshape Programing Prevents Vascular Graft Stenosis.

Shape memory materials have been successfully applied to minimally invasive implantation of medical devices. However, organ-movement-specific shape programing at a microscale level has never been demonstrated despite significant unmet needs. As vein-to-artery grafting induces vein dilation and stenosis, a polymeric self-enclosable external support (SES) is designed to wrap the vascular out-wall. Its micropores are programmed to increase sizes and interconnections upon dilation. Vessel dilation promotes venous maturation, but overdilation induces stenosis by disturbed blood flow. Therefore, the unique elastic shape-fixity of SES provides a foundation to enable a stable microscale shape transition by maintaining the vein dilation. The shape transition of micropore architecture upon dilation induces beneficial inflammation, thereby regenerating vasa vasorum and directing smooth muscle cell migration toward adventitia with the consequent muscle reinforcement of veins. This game-changer approach prevents the stenosis of vein-to-artery grafting by rescuing ischemic disorders and promoting arterial properties of veins.

Distinct handedness of spin wave across the compensation temperatures of ferrimagnets.

Antiferromagnetic spin waves have been predicted to offer substantial functionalities for magnonic applications due to the existence of two distinct polarizations, the right-handed and left-handed modes, as well as their ultrafast dynamics. However, experimental investigations have been hampered by the field-immunity of antiferromagnets. Ferrimagnets have been shown to be an alternative platform to study antiferromagnetic spin dynamics. Here we investigate thermally excited spin waves in ferrimagnets across the magnetization compensation and angular momentum compensation temperatures using Brillouin light scattering. Our results show that right-handed and left-handed modes intersect at the angular momentum compensation temperature where pure antiferromagnetic spin waves are expected. A field-induced shift of the mode-crossing point from the angular momentum compensation temperature and the gyromagnetic reversal reveal hitherto unrecognized properties of ferrimagnetic dynamics. We also provide a theoretical understanding of our experimental results. Our work demonstrates important aspects of the physics of ferrimagnetic spin waves and opens up the attractive possibility of ferrimagnet-based magnonic devices.

Publisher Correction: Distinct handedness of spin wave across the compensation temperatures of ferrimagnets.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Trends of age-related non-communicable diseases in people living with HIV and comparison with uninfected controls: A nationwide population-based study in South Korea.

OBJECTIVES: We aim to compare the trends of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and death among people living with HIV (PLWH) and uninfected controls in South Korea. METHODS: We identified PLWH from a nationwide database of all Korean citizens enrolled from 1 January 2004 to 31 December 2016. A control cohort was randomly selected for PLWH by frequency matching for age and sex in a 20:1 ratio. To compare NCD trends between the groups, adjusted incidence rate ratios for outcomes across ages, calendar years and times after HIV diagnosis were calculated. RESULTS: We included 14 134 PLWH and 282 039 controls in this study; 58.5% of PLWH and 36.4% of the controls were diagnosed with at least one NCD. The incidence rates of cancers, chronic kidney disease, depression, osteoporosis, diabetes and dyslipidaemia were higher in PLWH than in the controls, whereas those of cardiovascular disease, heart failure, ischaemic stroke and hypertension were lower in PLWH. Relative risks (RRs) for NCDs in PLWH were higher than controls in younger age groups. Trends in the RRs of NCDs tended to increase with the calendar year for PLWH vs. controls and either stabilized or decreased with time after HIV diagnosis. The RR of death from PLWH has decreased with the calendar year, but showed a tendency to rise again after 2014 and was significant at the early stage of HIV diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Although the RR of each NCD in PLWH showed variable trends compared with that in controls, NCDs in PLWH have been increasingly prevalent.

Color three-dimensional imaging based on patterned illumination using a negative pinhole array.

Reflectance confocal microscopy is widely used for non-destructive optical three-dimensional (3D) imaging. In confocal microscopy, a stack of sequential two-dimensional (2D) images with respect to the axial position is typically needed to reconstruct a 3D image. As a result, in conventional confocal microscopy, acquisition speed is often limited by the rate of mechanical scanning in both the transverse and axial directions. We previously reported a high-speed parallel confocal detection method using a pinhole array for color 3D imaging without any mechanical scanners. Here, we report a high-speed color 3D imaging method based on patterned illumination employing a negative pinhole array, whose optical characteristics are the reverse of the conventional pinhole array for transmitting light. The negative pinhole array solves the inherent limitation of a conventional pinhole array, i.e., low transmittance, meaning brighter color images with abundant color information can be acquired. We also propose a 3D image processing algorithm based on the 2D cross-correlation between the acquired image and filtering masks, to produce an axial response. By using four-different filtering masks, we were able to increase the sampling points in calculation of height and enhance the lateral resolution of the color acquisition by a factor of four. The feasibility of high-speed non-contact color 3D measurement with the improved lateral resolution and brightness provided by the negative pinhole array was demonstrated by imaging various specimens. We anticipate that this high-speed color 3D measurement technology with negative pinhole array will be a useful tool in a variety of fields where rapid and accurate non-contact measurement are required, such as industrial inspection and dental scanning.

Mechanisms ensuring robust repression of the Drosophila female germline stem cell maintenance factor Nanos via posttranscriptional regulation.

During oogenesis in the Drosophila ovary, numerous translational regulators promote the self-renewal or differentiation of stem cells. An intriguing question is how these regulators combine to execute translational regulation. Here, we study mechanisms for the posttranscriptional regulation of nos, a critical stem cell self-renewal factor in the Drosophila ovary; specifically, regulators that promote differentiation of the stem cell daughter. Previous studies showed that Bam, Bgcn, Mei-P26, and Sxl form a complex and repress nos expression through the nos 3'UTR. To further elucidate mechanistic processes of Nos translational regulation, we reconstituted nos repression in cultured Drosophila cells. We identify Ago1 and Brat as new members, and show that Ago1 acts through miRNA binding sites in the proximal region of the nos 3'UTR, whereas Sxl acts via an Sxl binding sequence in the distal region. Combining these findings with published reports, we propose that additional factors Bam, Bgcn, Mei-P26, and Brat are recruited to nos mRNAs through interaction with Ago1 and Sxl. These findings elucidate mechanisms of nos regulation by diverse translational repressors.