We describe the design and 3D sensing performance of an omnidirectional stereo (omnistereo) vision system applied to Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). The proposed omnistereo sensor employs a monocular camera that is co-axially aligned with a pair of hyperboloidal mirrors (a vertically-folded catadioptric configuration). We show that this arrangement provides a compact solution for omnidirectional 3D perception while mounted on top of propeller-based MAVs (not capable of large payloads). The theoretical single viewpoint (SVP) constraint helps us derive analytical solutions for the sensor’s projective geometry and generate SVP-compliant panoramic images to compute 3D information from stereo correspondences (in a truly synchronous fashion). We perform an extensive analysis on various system characteristics such as its size, catadioptric spatial resolution, field-of-view. In addition, we pose a probabilistic model for the uncertainty estimation of 3D information from triangulation of back-projected rays. We validate the projection error of the design using both synthetic and real-life images against ground-truth data. Qualitatively, we show 3D point clouds (dense and sparse) resulting out of a single image captured from a real-life experiment. We expect the reproducibility of our sensor as its model parameters can be optimized to satisfy other catadioptric-based omnistereo vision under different circumstances. Full article

Organ protection is a routine therapy in severe injuries. Our aim was to evaluate the beneficial effects of ulinastatin in experimental rats. Rats were randomly divided into a sham control, a model control and an ulinastatin-treated group. Malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels were determined. Serum amylase, serum aspartate aminotransaminase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and creatine kinase isoenzyme (CKMD) activities, interleukin-8 (IL-8), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), nitric oxide (NO) and cardiac troponin I (nTnl) levels were examined. Results showed that ulinastatin decreased MDA levels and ameliorated the down-regulation of SOD activity. In addition, ulinastatin pretreatment may decrease serum AST, LDH and CKMD activities, IL-8, TNF-α, and nTnl levels, and enhance NO level. Our results demonstrated that oxidative injury occurred after IR and that ulinastatin exhibits significant protective effects against these effects. Full article

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of tetramethylpyrazine phosphate tablets (TPT), a Chinese medicine used for cardiovascular disease, on immunity activity and oxidative injury in rats. Heart failure (HF) was induced by isoproterenol (ISO). After the animal model was established, the rats were administered the TPT by gavage (once a day). The results indicated that TPT improved left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), ±dP/dt, heart weight/body weight. TPT could decrease the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6). Furthermore, it also could raise the activities of catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), but reduce malonyldialdehyde (MDA) level. The results indicated that TPT improved cardiac function and myocardial fibrosis from myocardial injury, and this cardioprotection might be attributed to a reduction of oxidative stress and regulation of inflammation mediators. Full article