Fusion Ability Research Articles

A Generative Adversarial Network Fused with Dual-Attention Mechanism and Its Application in Multitarget Image Fine Segmentation.

Aiming at the problem of insignificant target morphological features, inaccurate detection and unclear boundary of small-target regions, and multitarget boundary overlap in multitarget complex image segmentation, combining the image segmentation mechanism of generative adversarial network with the feature enhancement method of nonlocal attention, a generative adversarial network fused with attention mechanism (AM-GAN) is proposed. The generative network in the model is composed of residual network and nonlocal attention module, which use the feature extraction and multiscale fusion mechanism of residual network, as well as feature enhancement and global information fusion ability of nonlocal spatial-channel dual attention to enhance the target features in the detection area and improve the continuity and clarity of the segmentation boundary. The adversarial network is composed of fully convolutional networks, which penalizes the loss of information in small-target regions by judging the authenticity of prediction and label segmentation and improves the detection ability of the generative adversarial model for small targets and the accuracy of multitarget segmentation. AM-GAN can use the GAN's inherent mechanism that reconstruct and repair high-resolution image, as well as the ability of nonlocal attention global receptive field to strengthen detail features, automatically learn to focus on target structures of different shapes and sizes, highlight salient features useful for specific tasks, reduce the loss of image detail features, improve the accuracy of small-target detection, and optimize the segmentation boundary of multitargets. Taking medical MRI abdominal image segmentation as a verification experiment, multitargets such as liver, left/right kidney, and spleen are selected for segmentation and abnormal tissue detection. In the case of small and unbalanced sample datasets, the class pixels' accuracy reaches 87.37%, the intersection over union is 92.42%, and the average Dice coefficient is 93%. Compared with other methods in the experiment, the segmentation precision and accuracy are greatly improved. It shows that the proposed method has good applicability for solving typical multitarget image segmentation problems such as small-target feature detection, boundary overlap, and offset deformation.

Multi-Branch Convolutional Neural Network for Automatic Sleep Stage Classification with Embedded Stage Refinement and Residual Attention Channel Fusion.

Automatic sleep stage classification of multi-channel sleep signals can help clinicians efficiently evaluate an individual’s sleep quality and assist in diagnosing a possible sleep disorder. To obtain accurate sleep classification results, the processing flow of results from signal preprocessing and machine-learning-based classification is typically employed. These classification results are refined based on sleep transition rules. Neural networks—i.e., machine learning algorithms—are powerful at solving classification problems. Some methods apply them to the first two processes above; however, the refinement process continues to be based on traditional methods. In this study, the sleep stage refinement process was incorporated into the neural network model to form real end-to-end processing. In addition, for multi-channel signals, the multi-branch convolutional neural network was combined with a proposed residual attention method. This approach further improved the model classification accuracy. The proposed method was evaluated on the Sleep-EDF Expanded Database (Sleep-EDFx) and University College Dublin Sleep Apnea Database (UCDDB). It achieved respective accuracy rates of 85.7% and 79.4%. The results also showed that sleep stage refinement based on a neural network is more effective than the traditional refinement method. Moreover, the proposed residual attention method was determined to have a more robust channel–information fusion ability than the respective average and concatenation methods.

Health assessment for piston pump based on Laplacian eigenmaps-random forests method

A piston pump is one of the key components in a hydraulic system. Therefore, a failure may severely hurt the reliability of the hydraulic system and cause great loss. Currently, how to effectively evaluate the health condition of the piston pump remains an open problem. In this paper, a novel health assessment method based on an integration of Laplacian eigenmaps and random forests is proposed, which takes full advantage of both the fusion ability of correlated features enabled by the Laplacian eigenmaps and the optimized feature-selection ability provided by the random forest. The proposed method (LE-RF) is applied to piston pumps for validation. The results indicate that the Laplacian eigenmaps-random forest (LE-RF) technique can provide an effective tool for piston pump health condition assessment. Compare with other manifold methods, e.g., LLE and ISOMAP and classification method of KNN, the LE-RF method can achieve better and more accurate assessment results.

GANFuse: a novel multi-exposure image fusion method based on generative adversarial networks

In this paper, a novel multi-exposure image fusion method based on generative adversarial networks (termed as GANFuse) is presented. Conventional multi-exposure image fusion methods improve their fusion performance by designing sophisticated activity-level measurement and fusion rules. However, these methods have a limited success in complex fusion tasks. Inspired by the recent FusionGAN which firstly utilizes generative adversarial networks (GAN) to fuse infrared and visible images and achieves promising performance, we improve its architecture and customize it in the task of extreme exposure image fusion. To be specific, in order to keep content of extreme exposure image pairs in the fused image, we increase the number of discriminators differentiating between fused image and extreme exposure image pairs. While, a generator network is trained to generate fused images. Through the adversarial relationship between generator and discriminators, the fused image will contain more information from extreme exposure image pairs. Thus, this relationship can realize better performance of fusion. In addition, the method we proposed is an end-to-end and unsupervised learning model, which can avoid designing hand-crafted features and does not require a number of ground truth images for training. We conduct qualitative and quantitative experiments on a public dataset, and the experimental result shows that the proposed model demonstrates better fusion ability than existing multi-exposure image fusion methods in both visual effect and evaluation metrics.

Effects of steady background noise on benefits from voice pitch differences in a “Cocktail Party” environment

Voice pitch is an important cue for auditory object segregation in a multi-talker environment. A recent study showed that the ability to segregate and identify speech based on voice pitch differences is highly correlated with the breadth of binaural pitch fusion, the perceptual integration of dichotic stimuli that evoke different pitches across ears [Oh et al., ASA (2018)]. The goal of this study was to investigate effects of steady background noise on binaural pitch fusion and speech perception abilities in background noise consisting of multiple talkers. Subjects were tested in both quiet and various “soft” audible noise levels (15, 5, and -5 dB SNR) inboth ears with the following experiments. First, binaural pitch fusion measurements were conducted using pure tones. Second, speech on speech masking performance was measured as the threshold target-to-masker ratio needed to understand a target talker in the presence of either same- or different-gender masker talkers. The results showed that both breadth of binaural pitch fusion was minimized and voice pitch difference benefit in multi-talker conditions was maximized at an optimal amount of the noise levels, which is called suprathreshold stochastic resonance effects. A strong negative correlation was also observed between voice gender benefit and breadth of binaural fusion. The findings suggest potential rehabilitation approaches, such as low-level noise, to sharpen binaural pitch fusion and improve related speech perception ability in multi-talker listening environments.

Molecular dynamics simulation and experimental study of the surface-display of SPA protein via Lpp-OmpA system for screening of IgG

Staphylococcal protein A (SpA) is a major virulence factor of Staphylococcus aureus. S. aureus is able to escape detection by the immune system by the surface display of protein A. The SpA protein is broadly used to purify immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies. This study investigates the fusion ability of Lpp′-OmpA (46–159) to anchor and display five replicate domains of protein A with 295 residues length (SpA295) of S. aureus on the surface of Escherichia coli to develop a novel bioadsorbent. First, the binding between Lpp’-OmpA-SPA295 and IgGFc and the three-dimensional structure was investigated using molecular dynamics simulation. Then high IgG recovery from human serum by the surface-displayed system of Lpp′-OmpA-SPA295 performed experimentally. In silico analysis was demonstrated the binding potential of SPA295 to IgG after expression on LPP-OmpA surface. Surface-engineered E. coli displaying SpA protein and IgG-binding assay with SDS-PAGE analysis exhibited high potential of the expressed complex on the E. coli surface for IgG capture from human serum which is applicable to conventional immune precipitation.

Cell-Based Influenza A/H1N1pdm09 Vaccine Viruses Containing Chimeric Hemagglutinin with Improved Membrane Fusion Ability.

The H1N1 influenza pandemic vaccine has been developed from the A/California/07/09 (Cal) virus and the well-known high-yield A/Puerto Rico/8/34 (PR8) virus by classical reassortment and reverse genetics (RG) in eggs. Previous studies have suggested that Cal-derived chimeric hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA) improve virus yields. However, the cell-based vaccine of the H1N1 pandemic virus has been less investigated. RG viruses that contained Cal-derived chimeric HA and NA could be rescued in Madin–Darby canine kidney cells that expressed α2,6-sialyltransferase (MDCK-SIAT1). The viral growth kinetics and chimeric HA and NA properties were analyzed. We attempted to generate various RG viruses that contained Cal-derived chimeric HA and NA, but half of them could not be rescued in MDCK-SIAT1 cells. When both the 3′- and 5′-terminal regions of Cal HA viral RNA were replaced with the corresponding regions of PR8 HA, the RG viruses were rescued. Our results were largely consistent with those of previous studies, in which the N- and C-terminal chimeric HA slightly improved virus yield. Importantly, the chimeric HA, compared to Cal HA, showed cell fusion ability at a broader pH range, likely due to amino acid substitutions in the transmembrane region of HA. The rescued RG virus with high virus yield harbored the chimeric HA capable of cell fusion at a broader range of pH.

Unveiling a novel function of CD9 in surface compartmentalization of oocytes.

Gamete fusion is an indispensable process for bearing offspring. In mammals, sperm IZUMO1-oocyte JUNO recognition essentially carries out the primary step of this process. In oocytes, CD9 is also known to play a crucial role in gamete fusion. In particular, microvilli biogenesis through CD9 involvement appears to be a key event for successful gamete fusion, because CD9-disrupted oocytes produce short and sparse microvillous structures, resulting in almost no fusion ability with spermatozoa. In order to determine how CD9 and JUNO cooperate in gamete fusion, we analyzed the molecular profiles of each molecule in CD9- and JUNO-disrupted oocytes. Consequently, we found that CD9 is crucial for the exclusion of GPI-anchored proteins, such as JUNO and CD55, from the cortical actin cap region, suggesting strict molecular organization of the unique surface of this region. Through distinct surface compartmentalization due to CD9 governing, GPI-anchored proteins are confined to the appropriate fusion site of the oocyte.

Cell membrane fusing liposomes for cytoplasmic delivery in brain endothelial cells

Direct cytoplasmic delivery is essential for susceptible molecules as proteins and some nucleic acids to improve their therapeutic efficacy in cells. Using liposomes for their delivery proved challenging due to known uptake by endocytosis followed by partial or complete lysosomal breakdown. Thus, “fusogenic” liposomes (FL) composed of the neutral lipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) combined with the cationic lipid 1, 2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammoniumpropane (DOTAP) were tested in different ratios for their cell membrane fusion ability and their cytoplasmic delivery was compared to “pH-sensitive” liposomes in murine brain endothelial cells (bEnd.3). They were loaded with cargos of different molecular sizes (calcein/ enhanced green fluorescent-protein (EGFP)/ EGFP coding plasmid) and their intracellular delivery was quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. FL composed of equimolar ratios of DOPE and DOTAP showed the most efficient cytoplasmic delivery of all cargos by fusing with the cell membranes within the first 15 min of addition. Their EGFP plasmid delivery to cells was quantified to be 58.2 ± 9.5 % of the total EGFP load and calcein delivery was measured in buffer to be 64.1 ± 4.0 % of the total calcein load, and reduced in blood to 26.1 ± 0.6 %. Thus our tested FL allowed a fast and abundant cytoplasmic delivery of cargos independent of their molecular sizes while avoiding endocytosis, although they also underwent fast fusion with erythrocytes. Seemingly, these carriers could be used as a powerful delivery tool for in-vitro purposes.

Effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury on Stereopsis Detected by a Virtual Reality System: Attempt to Develop a Screening Test

PurposeThe study aimed to evaluate stereopsis as a surrogate marker for post-concussion oculomotor function to develop an objective test that can reliably and quickly detect mild traumatic brain injuries (TBI).MethodsThe cohort of this prospective clinical study included 30 healthy subjects (mean age 25 ± 2 years) and 30 TBI patients (43 ± 22 years) comprising 11 patients with moderate TBI and 19 patients with mild TBI. The healthy subjects were examined once, whereas the TBI patients were examined immediately after hospitalization, at 1 week, and at 2 months. A virtual reality (VR) program displayed three-dimensional rendering of four rotating soccer balls over VR glasses in different gaze directions. The subjects were instructed to select the ball that appeared to be raised from the screen as quickly as possible via remote control. The response times and fusion abilities in different gaze directions were recorded.ResultsThe correlation between stereopsis and TBI severity was significant. The response times of the moderate and mild TBI groups were significantly longer than those of the healthy reference group. The response times of the moderate TBI group were significantly longer than those of the mild TBI group. The response times at follow-up examinations were significantly shorter than those immediately after hospitalization. Fusion ability was primarily defective in the gaze direction to the right (90°) and left (270° and 315°).ConclusionsTBI patients showed impaired stereopsis. Measuring stereopsis in different positions of the visual field using VR can be effective for rapid concussion assessment.

Beneficial Effect of IL-4 and SDF-1 on Myogenic Potential of Mouse and Human Adipose Tissue-Derived Stromal Cells.

Under physiological conditions skeletal muscle regeneration depends on the satellite cells. After injury these cells become activated, proliferate, and differentiate into myofibers reconstructing damaged tissue. Under pathological conditions satellite cells are not sufficient to support regeneration. For this reason, other cells are sought to be used in cell therapies, and different factors are tested as a tool to improve the regenerative potential of such cells. Many studies are conducted using animal cells, omitting the necessity to learn about human cells and compare them to animal ones. Here, we analyze and compare the impact of IL-4 and SDF-1, factors chosen by us on the basis of their ability to support myogenic differentiation and cell migration, at mouse and human adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ADSCs). Importantly, we documented that mouse and human ADSCs differ in certain reactions to IL-4 and SDF-1. In general, the selected factors impacted transcriptome of ADSCs and improved migration and fusion ability of cells in vitro. In vivo, after transplantation into injured muscles, mouse ADSCs more eagerly participated in new myofiber formation than the human ones. However, regardless of the origin, ADSCs alleviated immune response and supported muscle reconstruction, and cytokine treatment enhanced these effects. Thus, we documented that the presence of ADSCs improves skeletal muscle regeneration and this influence could be increased by cell pretreatment with IL-4 and SDF-1.

Early pathological signs in young dysf−/− mice are improved by halofuginone

Dysferlinopathies are a non-lethal group of late-onset muscular dystrophies. Here, we evaluated the fusion ability of primary myoblasts from young dysf−/− mice and the muscle histopathology prior to, and during early stages of disease onset. The ability of primary myoblasts of 5-week-old dysf−/− mice to form large myotubes was delayed compared to their wild-type counterparts, as evaluated by scanning electron microscopy. However, their fusion activity, as reflected by the presence of actin filaments connecting several cells, was enhanced by the antifibrotic drug halofuginone. Early dystrophic signs were already apparent in 4-week-old dysf−/− mice; their collagen level was double that in wild-type mice and continued to rise until 5 months of age. Continuous treatment with halofuginone from 4 weeks to 5 months of age reduced muscle fibrosis in a phosphorylated-Smad3 inhibition-related manner. Halofuginone also enhanced myofiber hypertrophy, reduced the percentage of centrally nucleated myofibers, and increased muscle performance. Together, the data suggest an inhibitory effect of halofuginone on the muscle histopathology at very early stages of dysferlinopathy, and enhancement of muscle performance. These results offer new opportunities for early pharmaceutical treatment in dysferlinopathies with favorable outcomes at later stages of life.

Membrane fusion and infection abilities of baculovirus virions are preserved during freezing and thawing in the presence of trehalose.

Budded viruses (BVs) of baculovirus such as Autographa californica nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcNPV) have recently been studied as biological nanomaterials, and methods for their longer-term storage without deterioration would be desirable. The cryopreservation of virions with a naturally occurring saccharide like trehalose as a cryoprotectant is known to be useful for maintaining the viral structure and function. In this study, we examined how useful trehalose is as protectant for BV cryopreservation during repeated freeze-thaw cycles: 1) membrane fusion between liposomes (multilamellar vesicles, MLVs) and BVs, 2) infection of insect culture cells (Sf9 cells) by RFP-expressing BVs, and 3) morphologies of these BVs were investigated by fluorescent dequenching assay, fluorescence microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The results suggest that the BVs deteriorate in quality with each freeze-thaw cycle, and this deterioration can be diminished with the use of trehalose to an extent similar to that seen with storage on ice.

Military Career Adaptability Questionnaire in China: Development and Validation.

ObjectiveTo develop the Military Career Adaptability Questionnaire (MCAQ) in China and to test its reliability and validity.MethodsIn study 1, an open-ended questionnaire survey was conducted among 200 military personnel. Based on the empirical construction by military personnel of various branches, the dimensions of the MCAQ were constructed, and a preliminary questionnaire was prepared. In study 2, the questionnaire survey was conducted in 1,578 participants enrolled through stratified cluster sampling. They were randomly divided into two groups (n = 789). Sample 1 was used for item analysis and exploratory factor analysis, and sample 2 was used for confirmatory factor analysis and internal consistency testing. In sample 1, the participants were selected to test the test–retest reliability of the questionnaire at a 4 weeks interval. In sample 2, participants were selected to test criterion validity using the Psychological Capital Questionnaire and the Job Satisfaction Questionnaire.ResultsAccording to study 1, we obtained an initial 23-item MCAQ containing five dimensions (organization and fusion ability, communication ability, learning development ability, emotion regulation ability, and career transformation ability). After the exploratory factor analysis in study 2, 21 items contributing 72.17% of the total variance remained. Via the subsequent confirmatory factor analysis, the model was confirmed to have good fit indices [chi-square/degree of freedom (X2/df) = 3.11, goodness of fit index (GFI) = 0.90, normed fit index (NFI) = 0.91, incremental fit index (IFI) = 0.94, tucker lewis index (TLI) = 0.93, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.94, standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) = 0.07]. These five factors were significantly correlated with the total score of the MCAQ (r = 0.73–0.79, p < 0.01). The Cronbach α coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.92; the Cronbach α coefficients of the five factors were 0.89, 0.83, 0.88, 0.84, and 0.79, respectively, the test–retest reliability of the questionnaire was 0.93.ConclusionThe MCAQ developed in this study has a clear five-factor structure and good reliability and validity. It can be used to assess the career adaptability of military personnel to provide a theoretical basis for military vocational psychological education.

Appetitive augmental functions and common physical properties in a pain-tolerance metaphor: An extended replication

Relational frame theory claims that the tacit understanding of metaphorical language rests upon our ability to derive relations based on relevant contextual cues; with metaphor aptness being a function of learning history and the number and nature of contextual cues presented. Recent experimental research has explored whether metaphor aptness plays a role in changing behaviour. Sierra, Ruiz, Flórez, Riaño Hernández, and Luciano (2016) demonstrated that the presence of common physical properties (herein common properties; “cold”) within a perseverance metaphor increased pain tolerance to the cold pressor task. When the metaphor also specified appetitive augmental functions (herein augmentals; “something important to you”), pain tolerance also increased. We tested the replicability of these findings under more stringent conditions, using a stratified (by sex) double-blind randomised-controlled experimental design. Eighty-nine participants completed baseline measures of psychological flexibility, cognitive fusion, generalised pliance, and analogical reasoning ability. Participants were then allocated to a pre-recorded audio-delivered metaphor exercise containing either: (i) common properties; (ii) augmentals; (iii) both; or (iv) neither (control condition). Participants completed the cold pressor task before and after intervention. We found no change in pain tolerance following intervention in any condition. Given potential implications for apt metaphor use for changing behaviour, further work is required to establish why the original study's findings were not replicated, to identify boundary conditions for the putative effect, and test metaphor use in ecologically valid settings.

Aspect-Specific Heterogeneous Graph Convolutional Network for Aspect-Based Sentiment Classification

Aspect-based sentiment classification aims to identify the sentiment expressed towards an aspect given a context sentence. There are two main problems with existing methods: First, the methods simply take the average of the sentence and aspect word vectors as the sentence and aspect representations for a certain sentence, but they are not explicit representations and will lose considerable useful information. Second, existing models based on graph convolutional networks (GCNs) only use the dependency relationship of a sentence, which cannot fully exploit the potential of the sentence and exert the powerful feature fusion ability of GCNs. To solve these problems, we propose a novel GCN-based model that uses a heterogeneous graph. We explicitly define sentence and aspect nodes to learn the sentence and aspect representations separately and then combine 4 kinds of relationships to construct the heterogeneous graph. In our experiments conducted on 5 public datasets, the experimental results show that our network consistently outperforms the state-of-the-art model on all these datasets.

RITA Is Expressed in Trophoblastic Cells and Is Involved in Differentiation Processes of the Placenta.

Preeclampsia (PE) remains a leading cause of maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity worldwide. Its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated and no causal therapy is currently available. It is of clinical relevance to decipher novel molecular biomarkers. RITA (RBP-J (recombination signal binding protein J)-interacting and tubulin-associated protein) has been identified as a negative modulator of the Notch pathway and as a microtubule-associated protein important for cell migration and invasion. In the present work, we have systematically studied RITA’s expression in primary placental tissues from patients with early- and late-onset PE as well as in various trophoblastic cell lines. RITA is expressed in primary placental tissues throughout gestation, especially in proliferative villous cytotrophoblasts, in the terminally differentiated syncytiotrophoblast, and in migrating extravillous trophoblasts. RITA’s messenger RNA (mRNA) level is decreased in primary tissue samples from early-onset PE patients. The deficiency of RITA impairs the motility and invasion capacity of trophoblastic cell lines, and compromises the fusion ability of trophoblast-derived choriocarcinoma cells. These data suggest that RITA may play important roles in the development of the placenta and possibly in the pathogenesis of PE.

Analysis of BP neural network model with human-autonomous devices for school physical education management

With the accelerating process of China’s modernization construction, human automation is widely used in the management field, which not only effectively improves the efficiency and quality of school sports management, but also significantly enhances human ability to solve problems and understand natural laws. In order to improve the management ability of school physical affairs, a school physical education management model is proposed based on BP neural network model, and the data distribution model of school physical information management is constructed. The method of large data mining is used to optimize the allocation of resources in school physical education management, and the information of school physical management resources is used in fuzzy C. The mean clustering method is used to classify the data of the school physical management data. The adaptive dynamic fusion method is used to deal with the information fusion of the school physical management data, and the distributed retrieval model of the school physical management data is constructed, and the characteristics of the association rules of the school physical management are BP. The neural network model is classified and identified to improve the fast fusion ability of the school physical management data. The simulation results show that the method is better for the data classification and recognition ability of the school physical management, and the ability to excavate the school physical management information is stronger, and the level of the intellectualization of the school physical management is improved.

Visual configural processing in adults born at extremely low birth weight.

Being born at extremely low birth weight (ELBW; ≤1,000g) is associated with enduring visual impairments. We tested for long-term, higher order visual processing problems in the oldest known prospectively followed cohort of ELBW survivors. Configural processing (spacing among features of an object) was examined in 62 adults born at ELBW (Mage =31.9years) and 82 adults born at normal birth weight (NBW; ≥2,500g: Mage =32.5years). Pairs of human faces, monkey faces, or houses were presented in a delayed match-to-sample task, where non-matching stimuli differed only in the spacing of their features. Discrimination accuracy for each stimulus type was compared between birth weight groups, adjusting for neurosensory impairment, visual acuity, binocular fusion ability, IQ, and sex. Both groups were better able to discriminate human faces than monkey faces (p<.001). However, the ELBW group discriminated between human faces (p<.001), between monkey faces (p<.001), and to some degree, between houses (p<.06), more poorly than NBW control participants, suggesting a general deficit in perceptual processing. Human face discrimination was related to performance IQ (PIQ) across groups, but especially among ELBW survivors. Coding (a PIQ subtest) also predicted human face discrimination in ELBW survivors, consistent with previously reported links between visuo-perceptive difficulties and regional slowing of cortical activity in individuals born preterm. Correlations with Coding suggested ELBW survivors may have used a feature-matching approach to processing human faces. Future studies could examine brain-based anatomical and functional evidence for altered face processing, as well as the social and memory consequences of face-processing deficits in ELBW survivors.

Influence of Environmental Conditions on the Fusion of Cationic Liposomes with Living Mammalian Cells.

Lipid-based nanoparticles, also called vesicles or liposomes, can be used as carriers for drugs or many types of biological macromolecules, including DNA and proteins. Efficiency and speed of cargo delivery are especially high for carrier vesicles that fuse with the cellular plasma membrane. This occurs for lipid mixture containing equal amounts of the cationic lipid DOTAP and a neutral lipid with an additional few percents of an aromatic substance. The fusion ability of such particles depends on lipid composition with phosphoethanolamine (PE) lipids favoring fusion and phosphatidyl-choline (PC) lipids endocytosis. Here, we examined the effects of temperature, ionic strength, osmolality, and pH on fusion efficiency of cationic liposomes with Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The phase state of liposomes was analyzed by small angle neutron scattering (SANS). Our results showed that PC containing lipid membranes were organized in the lamellar phase. Here, fusion efficiency depended on buffer conditions and remained vanishingly small at physiological conditions. In contrast, SANS indicated the coexistence of very small (~50 nm) objects with larger, most likely lamellar structures for PE containing lipid particles. The fusion of such particles to cell membranes occurred with very high efficiency at all buffer conditions. We hypothesize that the altered phase state resulted in a highly reduced energetic barrier against fusion.