A Survey on Ground Segmentation Methods for Automotive LiDAR Sensors.

In the near future, autonomous vehicles with full self-driving features will populate our public roads. However, fully autonomous cars will require robust perception systems to safely navigate the environment, which includes cameras, RADAR devices, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors. LiDAR is currently a key sensor for the future of autonomous driving since it can read the vehicle's vicinity and provide a real-time 3D visualization of the surroundings through a point cloud representation. These features can assist the autonomous vehicle in several tasks, such as object identification and obstacle avoidance, accurate speed and distance measurements, road navigation, and more. However, it is crucial to detect the ground plane and road limits to safely navigate the environment, which requires extracting information from the point cloud to accurately detect common road boundaries. This article presents a survey of existing methods used to detect and extract ground points from LiDAR point clouds. It summarizes the already extensive literature and proposes a comprehensive taxonomy to help understand the current ground segmentation methods that can be used in automotive LiDAR sensors.

Brain abscesses due to odontogenic infection: Case series.

Brain abscesses due to odontogenic infection are infrequent, but they deserve attention due to the high incidence of serious complications and the high mortality rate. This article aimed to report five cases of cerebral abscess due to odontogenic infection, of patients attended in the Clinical Hospital of Medical School of the University of São Paulo (HCFMUSP). In all cases, treatment consisted of draining the brain abscess, antibiotic therapy and extraction of all teeth responsible for the infection. Streptococcus spp. was the causative agent of all the cases reported in this article. The purpose of the study was to highlight the importance of the dental approach for the resolution of cases.

Oral management of pemphigus vulgaris in the intensive care unit.

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a rare and potentially lethal autoimmune disease that affects the skin and mucous membranes. Injuries caused by the disease cause pain, risk of infection, and other complications that result in a high mortality rate. Frequently, management of the PV requires intensive care and a multidisciplinary approach. Oral lesions of PV are usually the first clinical signs of the disease and the last lesions to heal, requiring treatment by a specialized dental team. The aim of this study was to report two clinical cases of PV with involvement of the oral mucosa. The patients were admitted to an intensive care unit, and underwent multidisciplinary management of their condition along with low-level laser therapy. Both cases demonstrated the importance of specialized dental care in improving the quality of life of patients with PV.

Hospital Dentistry and Dental Care for Patients with Special Needs: Dental approach during COVID-19 Pandemic / Odontologia Hospitalar e Assistência Odontológica para Pacientes com Necessidades Especiais: Abordagem odontológica durante a Pandemia de COVID-19

Introduction: The COVID19 pandemic brought a new panorama for the realization of dental treatment for the general population due to the risk of cross infection in the dental office, aerosol formation and insertion of new personal protective equipment. Emergency and emergency dental criteria were defined to limit the flow of patients in the office in order to improve biosafety conditions among patients. Objective: to describe the dental procedures pertinent to outpatient special care or during hospitalization in the COVID19 pandemic, changes in care and implement biosecurity criteria. Basic procedures: The dental care of the special patient suffers changes, mainly referring to the difficulty of access to the offices, interruption of the conditioning process and difficulty to perform outpatient sedation and sedation with nitrous oxide. Dental care during hospitalization is essential in this patient due to prolonged time of tracheal oro intubation, traumatic oral lesions, preparation of specific oral care protocols, removal of mouth infectious and installation of mouth protectors. Conclusion: Change of care, inclusion of individual protection equipment and new knowledge about the COVID19 allows us to safely assist the patient with special needs both in the dental office and in hospital environment, providing quality of life, oral comfort and reducing oral infections during and after the pandemic. (AU)

Introdução: A pandemia por COVID19 trouxe um novo panorama para a realização do tratamento odontológico para a população em geral devido ao risco de infecção cruzada no consultório odontológico, formação de aerossóis e inserção de novos equipamentos de proteção individual. Critérios de emergência e urgência odontológicos foram definidos para limitar o fluxo de pacientes no consultório com o objetivo de melhoras as condições de biossegurança entre os pacientes. Objetivo: Citar os procedimentos odontológicos pertinentes ao atendimento de paciente com necessidades especiais em âmbito ambulatorial ou hospitalar durante a pandemia por COVID19, alterações nos fluxos de atendimentos e cuidados inerentes a assistência. Procedimentos básicos: O atendimento odontológico do paciente com necessidades especiais sofreu alterações, principalmente referente a dificuldade de acesso aos consultórios, interrupção do processo de condicionamento e dificuldade para a realização de sedação ambulatorial e sedação com óxido nitroso. A assistência odontológica durante a hospitalização por COVID19 é fundamental devido ao tempo prolongado de intubação oro traqueal - lesões orais traumáticas, elaboração de protocolos de cuidados bucais específicos, remoção de focos infecciosos bucais e instalação de protetores bucais. Conclusão: Mudanças nas rotinas de atendimento, inclusão de equipamentos de proteção individual e de novos conhecimentos sobre a COVID19 faz com que possamos atender com segurança o paciente com necessidades especiais tanto no consultório odontológico quando em ambiente hospitalar, proporcionando qualidade de vida, conforto oral e redução das infecções bucais durante e após a pandemia. (AU)

Cytotoxic Activity of Royleanone Diterpenes from Plectranthus madagascariensis Benth.

Cytotoxicity screenings have identified Plectranthus plants as potential sources of antitumor lead compounds. In this work, several extracts from Plectranthus madagascariensis were prepared using different solvents (acetone, methanol, and supercritical CO2) and extraction techniques (maceration, ultrasound-assisted, and supercritical fluid extraction), and their chemical composition was detailed using high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode array detector. The cytotoxic activity of the major compounds identified, namely, rosmarinic acid (1) and abietane diterpenes 7α,6ß-dihydroxyroyleanone (2), 7α-formyloxy-6ß-hydroxyroyleanone (3), 7α-acetoxy-6ß-hydroxyroyleanone (4), and coleon U (5), was evaluated in a battery of human cancer cell lines, including breast (MDA-MB-231, MCF-7), colon (HCT116), and lung (NCI-H460, NCI-H460/R) cancer, and also in healthy lung (MCR-5) cells. Royleanone (3) was isolated for the first time from P. madagascariensis, and its full spectroscopic characterization (proton and carbon nuclear magnetic resonance) was accomplished. A high selectivity for lung cancer cells was observed for royleanones (2, 4) with selectivity indexes of 4.3 and 3.2, respectively. The observed results combined with literature data allowed the establishment of important structure-activity relationships for substituted royleanone abietanes, such as the requirement for an electron-donating group at positions 6 and/or 7 in the abietane skeleton, and an improved cytotoxic effect for substituents with log P values between 2 and 5.

Sexually dimorphic neuronal inputs to the neuroendocrine dopaminergic system governing prolactin release.

Prolactin (PRL) is a pleiotropic hormone that was identified in the context of maternal care and its release from the anterior pituitary is primarily controlled by neuroendocrine dopaminergic (NEDA) neurones of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. The sexually dimorphic nature of PRL physiology and associated behaviours is evident in mammals, even though the number and density of NEDA neurones is reported as not being sexually dimorphic in rats. However, the underlying circuits controlling NEDA neuronal activity and subsequent PRL release are largely uncharacterised. Thus, we mapped whole-brain monosynaptic NEDA inputs in male and female mice. Accordingly, we employed a rabies virus based monosynaptic tracing system capable of retrogradely mapping inputs into genetically defined neuronal populations. To gain genetic access to NEDA neurones, we used the dopamine transporter promoter. Here, we unravel 59 brain regions that synapse onto NEDA neurones and reveal that male and female mice, despite monomorphic distribution of NEDA neurones in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, receive sexually dimorphic amount of inputs from the anterior hypothalamic nucleus, anteroventral periventricular nucleus, medial preoptic nucleus, paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, posterior periventricular nucleus, supraoptic nucleus, suprachiasmatic nucleus, lateral supramammillary nucleus, tuberal nucleus and periaqueductal grey. Beyond highlighting the importance of considering sex as a biological variable when evaluating connectivity in the brain, these results illustrate a case where a neuronal population with similar anatomical distribution has a subjacent sexually dimorphic connectivity pattern, potentially capable of contributing to the sexually dimorphic nature of PRL release and function.

Comparison Study of Different Extracts of Plectranthus madagascariensis, P. neochilus and the Rare P. porcatus (Lamiaceae): Chemical Characterization, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Activities.

Medicinal plants of the Plectranthus genus (Lamiaceae) are known for their ethnopharmacological relevance, mainly against infectious, dermatologic and gastrointestinal pathologies. Three Plectranthus species originated from South Africa, namely P. madagascariensis, P. neochilus and the rare P. porcatus were hereby screened for their antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities related with their known and/or potential ethnomedicinal uses. Twenty-six extracts were prepared by the combination of extraction methods (infusion, decoction, microwave-assisted, ultrasound-assisted, maceration and supercritical fluid extraction) with different polarity solvents (water, methanol, acetone and supercritical CO2). The comparison study of these extracts was elucidated through the corresponding chemical characterization and cytotoxic activity data. Therefore, the acetone extract from P. madagascariensis prepared by ultrasound extraction method revealed potent antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria (1.95 < minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) < 7.81 µg/mL), including a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strain. Additionally, acetone extracts from both P. madagascariensis and P. neochilus exhibited relevant antibacterial activity against Gram-negative Klebsiella pneumonia (0.48 < MIC < 3.91 µg/mL), validating the traditional uses of such plants as anti-infectious agents. All methanolic extracts showed potent antioxidant effects at 100 µg/mL measured as their radical scavenging activity (60.8-89.0%) in the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The P. madagascariensis extract obtained by maceration in acetone showed moderate cytotoxic effects in the MDA-MB-231 cell line (triple negative human breast carcinoma). The extract concentration that caused a 50% inhibition in cell viability (IC50) was 64.52 µg/mL. All extracts in this comparative study were profiled by high-performance liquid chromatography-HPLC with a diode-array detector-DAD (HPLC-DAD) and the main known bioactive components were identified in each extract, which included polyphenols (caffeic 1, chlorogenic 2 and rosmarinic 3 acids), abietane diterpenes (7α-acetoxy-6ß-hydroxyroyleanone 4 and coleon U 5) and flavone glycosides (rutin 6 and naringin 7).

Phytosomes as Biocompatible Carriers of Natural Drugs.

Natural products have been frequently used as sources of clinical useful pharmaceuticals. However, some intrinsic characteristics of the natural drugs have limited their use, namely their solubility and chemical stability in physiologic mediums. Innovative drug delivery systems may help overcome such limitations, thus providing more effective administration of natural products. Phytosome (Indena SPA, Italy) is one of the most exciting recent delivery technologies that improves the oral bioavailability of the phytopharmaceuticals by their inclusion in equimolar complexes with dietary phospholipids with vesicular shape in aqueous environments. The purpose of this review is to characterize the state of the art of the phytosome as drug delivery system of natural products, including a discussion of the natural drug-phospholipid complex interactions, mechanisms of oral and topical delivery, methods of preparation and phytosome recent applications and patents in the 2006-2016 period.

Failure of tooth eruption and brachydactyly in pseudohypoparathyroidism are not related to plasma parathyroid hormone-related protein levels.

BACKGROUND: Pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP) is a genetic disorder characterized by resistance to the peripheral action of PTH due to maternally inherited heterozygous inactivating mutations in the coding sequence of Gsα or intronic regions of GNAS leading to aberrant splice variants (PHP1A), or methylation defects at GNAS (PHP1B). Brachydactyly is a clinical feature associated with both PHP1A and PHP1B, although it is more frequent in PHP1A patients. Loss-of-function mutations in PTHLH, the gene coding for parathyroid hormone related protein (PTHrP) were previously described in some patients with brachydactyly. Primary failure of tooth eruption (PFE) is related to some syndromes involving skeletal development, but it is also known as a nonsyndromic autosomal dominant condition. Previous studies showed that familial nonsyndromic PFE is caused by heterozygous mutations in the gene encoding the G protein-coupled receptor (PTH1R) for PTH and PTHrP. Thus, we hypothesized that PTHrP resistance could result in failure of tooth eruption (FTE) and/or brachydactyly in PHP. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Nineteen patients with a molecular diagnosis of PHP underwent dental panoramic radiography (DPR), hand radiography and had their PTHrP levels measured. Patients with alterations at DPR were submitted to clinical dental evaluation. RESULTS: Nine patients had FTE and 7 patients had brachydactyly; 4 patients presented both features and none of them presented high PTHrP levels. Fourteen patients had PTHrP levels within the normal range and only one patient had slightly elevated PTHrP levels. Additionally, three novel GNAS mutations were described. CONCLUSION: We described the dental abnormalities in a large series of PHP patients that were followed in a single tertiary center. No relationship between plasma PTHrP levels and failure of tooth eruption, dental manifestations of PHP or brachydactyly was found. It is important that doctors pay attention to dental manifestations of the disease in order to refer patients to a proper care with dentists.