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De Novo Reconstruction of 3D Human Facial Images from DNA Sequence

Facial morphology is a distinctive biometric marker, offering invaluable insights into personal identity, especially in forensic science. In the context of high-throughput sequencing, the reconstruction of 3D human facial images from DNA is becoming a revolutionary approach for identifying individuals based on unknown biological specimens. Inspired by artificial intelligence techniques in text-to-image synthesis, it proposes Difface, a multi-modality model designed to reconstruct 3D facial images only from DNA. Specifically, Difface first utilizes a transformer and a spiral convolution network to map high-dimensional Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and 3D facial images to the same low-dimensional features, respectively, while establishing the association between both modalities in the latent features in a contrastive manner; and then incorporates a diffusion model to reconstruct facial structures from the characteristics of SNPs. Applying Difface to the Han Chinese database with 9,674 paired SNP phenotypes and 3D facial images demonstrates excellent performance in DNA-to-3D image alignment and reconstruction and characterizes the individual genomics. Also, including phenotype information in Difface further improves the quality of 3D reconstruction, i.e. Difface can generate 3D facial images of individuals solely from their DNA data, projecting their appearance at various future ages. This work represents pioneer research in de novo generating human facial images from individual genomics information.

(Repost)


This study has introduced Difface, a de novo multi-modality model to reconstruct 3D facial images from DNA with remarkable precision, by a generative diffusion process and a contrastive learning scheme. Through comprehensive analysis and SNP-FACE matching tasks, Difface demonstrated superior performance in generating accurate facial reconstructions from genetic data. In particularly, Difface could generate/predict 3D facial images of individuals solely from their DNA data at various future ages. Notably, the model’s integration of transformer networks with spiral convolution and diffusion networks has set a new benchmark in the fidelity of generated images to their real images, as evidenced by its outstanding accuracy in critical facial landmarks and diverse facial feature reproduction.

Difface’s novel approach, combining advanced neural network architectures, significantly outperforms existing models in genetic-to-phenotypic facial reconstruction. This superiority is attributed to its unique contrastive learning method of aligning high-dimensional SNP data with 3D facial point clouds in a unified low-dimensional feature space, a process further enhanced by adopting diffusion networks for phenotypic characteristic generation. Such advancements contribute to the model’s exceptional precision and ability to capture the subtle genetic variations influencing facial morphology, a feat less pronounced in previous methodologies.

Despite Difface’s demonstrated strengths, there remain directions for improvement. Addressing these limitations will require a focused effort to increase the model’s robustness and adaptability to diverse datasets. Future research should aim to incorporating variables like age and BMI would allow Difface to simulate age-related changes, enabling the generation of facial images at different life stages an application that holds significant potential in both forensic science and medical diagnostics. Similarly, BMI could help the model account for variations in body composition, improving its ability to generate accurate facial reconstructions across a range of body types.

Serotonin transporter inhibits antitumor immunity through regulating the intratumoral serotonin axis

Serotonin signaling and gut-immune crosstalk: the microbiome’s role in antitumor immunity.

“…Serotonin transporter inhibits cytotoxic CD8-positive T lymphocyte antitumor immunity by depleting serotonin within the tumor microenvironment…”

“…Serotonin transporter-blocking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants enhance cytotoxic CD8-positive T lymphocyte antitumor immunity and act synergistically with programmed cell death protein 1 immune checkpoint blockade therapy…”

To this end, here…

“…Tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic CD8-positive T lymphocytes were identified as the primary producers and mediators of a local, immunomodulatory serotonin signaling pathway independent of the gastrointestinal tract…”

“…Upon recognition of tumor antigens, tumor-infiltrating cytotoxic CD8-positive T lymphocytes upregulate tryptophan hydroxylase 1, which synthesizes serotonin followed by its release into the tumor microenvironment to enhance T lymphocyte activation via serotonin signaling…”

In short…

Resisting Age-Related Blood Pressure Changes: 336 Days Of Testing

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New Insights Into How Neural Stem Cells Age

Researchers publishing in Aging Cell have used single-cell transcriptomics to discover new insights into how neural stem cells (NSCs) change with aging.

Adults do generate neurons

The adult brain does generate new neurons [1], particularly in the hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for memory formation [2]. Neurogenesis is limited to very specific niches, however, and does not occur across the entire brain [3]. This is accomplished by NSCs, cells that can differentiate into neural progenitors (NPs), which can themselves differentiate into both neurons and astrocytes and have less ability to proliferate [4]. Astrocytes are helper cells that support neurons’ connections and metabolism [5].

Age-related brain changes reduce social-engagement behaviors, research finds

Social engagement is a vital component of psychological and physical well-being linked to better health and a longer life, yet many older adults struggle to maintain relationships that support these outcomes.

New research from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore finds that changes in the brain’s intrinsic functional connectivity networks fully account for the decline in observed with aging.

Sociability is a trait encompassing communication effectiveness, emotional management, and social assertiveness, that tends to diminish with age. Older adults, particularly those who live alone, are at increased risk of isolation, limiting forms of social participation.

Pausing cell death can change space travel, human aging: Study

Dr Keith Siew, one of the study authors, says, “Nobody really likes talking about death, even cell death, which is perhaps why the physiology of death is so poorly understood. And in a way necrosis is death. If enough cells die, then tissues die, then we die. The question is what would happen if we could pause or stop necrosis.”

“Necrosis remains one of the last frontiers in medicine – a common thread across aging, disease, space biology, and scientific progress itself,” adds Dr Carina Kern, lead author of the study.

Necrosis occurs when cells are overwhelmed by injury, infection, or stress. The process floods cells with calcium, disrupting vital functions and causing the cell to rupture. This sudden collapse spills toxic molecules into surrounding tissue, triggering inflammation and accelerating damage.