Cytogenetic evidence and dmrt linkage indicate male heterogamety in a non-bilaterian animal.

The diversity of sex determination systems in animals suggests that sex chromosomes evolve independently across different lineages. However, the present data on these systems is largely limited and represented mainly by bilaterian animals. Sex chromosomes and sex determination system based on cytogenetic evidence remain a mystery among non-bilaterians, the most basal animals. Here, we investigated the sex determination system of a non-bilaterian (Goniopora djiboutiensis) based on karyotypic analysis and identification of locus of dmrt1, a known master sex-determining gene in many animals. Results showed that among the three isolated dmrt genes, GddmrtC was sperm-linked. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed that 47% of the observed metaphase cells contained the GddmrtC locus on the shorter chromosome of the heteromorphic pair, whereas the other 53% contained no GddmrtC locus and pairing of the longer chromosome of the heteromorphic pair was observed. These findings provided the cytogenetic evidence for the existence of the Y sex chromosome in a non-bilaterian animal and supports male heterogamety as previously reported in other non-bilaterian species using RAD sequencing. The Y chromosome-specific GddmrtC sequence was most homologous to the vertebrate dmrt1, which is known for its role in male sex determination and differentiation. Our result on identification of putative sex chromosomes for G. djiboutiensis may contribute into understanding of the possible genetic sex determination systems in non-bilaterian animals.

Deep learning-based age estimation from chest X-rays indicates cardiovascular prognosis.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, there has been considerable research on the use of artificial intelligence to estimate age and disease status from medical images. However, age estimation from chest X-ray (CXR) images has not been well studied and the clinical significance of estimated age has not been fully determined. METHODS: To address this, we trained a deep neural network (DNN) model using more than 100,000 CXRs to estimate the patients' age solely from CXRs. We applied our DNN to CXRs of 1562 consecutive hospitalized heart failure patients, and 3586 patients admitted to the intensive care unit with cardiovascular disease. RESULTS: The DNN's estimated age (X-ray age) showed a strong significant correlation with chronological age on the hold-out test data and independent test data. Elevated X-ray age is associated with worse clinical outcomes (heart failure readmission and all-cause death) for heart failure. Additionally, elevated X-ray age was associated with a worse prognosis in 3586 patients admitted to the intensive care unit with cardiovascular disease. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that X-ray age can serve as a useful indicator of cardiovascular abnormalities, which will help clinicians to predict, prevent and manage cardiovascular diseases.

Chest X-ray is one of the most widely used medical imaging tests worldwide to diagnose and manage heart and lung diseases. In this study, we developed a computer-based tool to predict patients' age from chest X-rays. The tool precisely estimated patients' age from chest X-rays. Furthermore, in patients with heart failure and those admitted to the intensive care unit for cardiovascular disease, elevated X-ray age estimated by our tool was associated with poor clinical outcomes, including readmission for heart failure or death from any cause. With further testing, our tool may help clinicians to predict outcomes in patients with heart disease based on a simple chest X-ray.

Karyotypic analysis and isolation of four DNA markers of the scleractinian coral Favitespentagona (Esper, 1795) (Scleractinia, Anthozoa, Cnidaria).

We performed conventional and molecular cytogenetic studies on the Favitespentagona Esper, 1795, a scleractinian coral mostly found along the west coast of Japan. Karyotype analysis of F.pentagona by G-banding revealed a karyogram containing a homogenously staining region (HSR) on chromosome 10 in more than 50% of the examined metaphase spreads. This HSR consisted of sequences from 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, as demonstrated by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and DNA sequencing. We highlighted the development of four chromosomal FISH markers from repetitive genes such as U2 small nuclear RNA linked to 5S rRNA sequence (U2 snRNA-5S), 18S rRNA, histone H3, and uncharacterized gene FP-9X. The chromosomal locations of the U2 snRNA-5S and 18S RNA were on the terminal end of long arm of chromosomes 2 and 10, respectively, while the histone H3 and the uncharacterized gene were located near the centromeres of chromosomes 1 and 9, respectively. These FISH markers will improve the karyotyping of F.pentagona from mitotic preparations which helps in widening our understanding of coral genetic structure and chromosome organization. In addition, these improvements in karyotyping will provide the basis in constructing of chromosome-level genome assembly for F.pentagona.

Cytogenetic markers using single-sequence probes reveal chromosomal locations of tandemly repetitive genes in scleractinian coral Acropora pruinosa.

The short and similar sized chromosomes of Acropora pose a challenge for karyotyping. Conventional methods, such as staining of heterochromatic regions, provide unclear banding patterns that hamper identification of such chromosomes. In this study, we used short single-sequence probes from tandemly repetitive 5S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and core histone coding sequences to identify specific chromosomes of Acropora pruinosa. Both the probes produced intense signals in fluorescence in situ hybridization, which distinguished chromosome pairs. The locus of the 5S rDNA probe was on chromosome 5, whereas that of core histone probe was on chromosome 8. The sequence of the 5S rDNA probe was composed largely of U1 and U2 spliceosomal small nuclear RNA (snRNA) genes and their interspacers, flanked by short sequences of the 5S rDNA. This is the first report of a tandemly repetitive linkage of snRNA and 5S rDNA sequences in Cnidaria. Based on the constructed tentative karyogram and whole genome hybridization, the longest chromosome pair (chromosome 1) was heteromorphic. The probes also hybridized effectively with chromosomes of other Acropora species and population, revealing an additional core histone gene locus. We demonstrated the applicability of short-sequence probes as chromosomal markers with potential for use across populations and species of Acropora.

Adherent Raindrop Modeling, Detectionand Removal in Video.

Raindrops adhered to a windscreen or window glass can significantly degrade the visibility of a scene. Modeling, detecting and removing raindrops will, therefore, benefit many computer vision applications, particularly outdoor surveillance systems and intelligent vehicle systems. In this paper, a method that automatically detects and removes adherent raindrops is introduced. The core idea is to exploit the local spatio-temporal derivatives of raindrops. To accomplish the idea, we first model adherent raindrops using law of physics, and detect raindrops based on these models in combination with motion and intensity temporal derivatives of the input video. Having detected the raindrops, we remove them and restore the images based on an analysis that some areas of raindrops completely occludes the scene, and some other areas occlude only partially. For partially occluding areas, we restore them by retrieving as much as possible information of the scene, namely, by solving a blending function on the detected partially occluding areas using the temporal intensity derivative. For completely occluding areas, we recover them by using a video completion technique. Experimental results using various real videos show the effectiveness of our method.

Color constancy from blackbody illumination.

We present a theoretical analysis of what we believe to be a new color constancy method that inputs two chromaticities of an identical surface taken under two blackbody illuminations. By using the Planck formula for modeling spectra of outdoor illumination and by assuming that a narrowband camera sensitivity function is sufficiently narrow, surface colors can be estimated mathematically. Experiments with simulation and real data have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the method. The results showed that although this method is a perfect vehicle for simulation data, it produces significant errors with real data. A thorough investigation of the cause of errors indicates how important the assumptions on both blackbody illuminations and narrowband camera sensitivities are to the method. Finally, we discuss the robustness of our method and the limitation of solving color constancy using the illumination constraint.

Degenerative thalamic hamartoma: CT and MR imaging features.

We describe hamartomas of possible thalamic origin. CT revealed marked calcification in the mass lesion, and MR imaging revealed contrast enhancement. Histologically, outgrowth of the glia was observed, but no neoplastic component was confirmed. Immunohistochemical staining was positive for the cell-adhesion factor N-CAM and negative for polysialic acid.

Risk factors for local-regional recurrence following preoperative radiation therapy and surgery for head and neck cancer (stage II-IVB).

PURPOSE: To discover possible risk factors for local-regional recurrence (LRR) following preoperative radiation therapy and curative surgery for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (stage II-IVB). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Clinical records from 1987 to 1999 of 161 patients with head and neck SCC (oral cavity, 80 patients; larynx, 50; hypopharynx, 19; oropharynx, 12) who underwent preoperative radiation therapy and surgery were retrospectively reviewed. One hundred thirty-two (82%) of the patients had stage III or IV cancer. The median radiation dose was 38 Gy. RESULTS: The 5-year overall survival rate and LRR rate were 58% and 35%, respectively. At multivariate analysis, oral cavity cancer (P =.020), clinical T stage (P =.016), clinical N stage (P =.017), and status of surgical margins (P =.008) emerged as variables that were significantly associated with LRR. The analysis of only those patients with lymph node involvement showed that oral cavity cancer (P =.008), advanced N-stage cancer (P =.045), and long interval between the start of preoperative radiation therapy and surgery (> or =7 weeks) (P =.019) emerged as variables that were significantly associated with LRR. CONCLUSION: Oral cavity cancer, advanced T or N stage of disease, and unsatisfactory margins were risk factors for LRR. A long interval (> or =7 weeks) was a risk factor for LRR in patients with lymph node involvement.