A scalable mining of frequent quadratic concepts in d-folksonomies

Folksonomy mining is grasping the interest of web 2.0 community since it represents the core data of social resource sharing systems. However, a scrutiny of the related works interested in mining folksonomies unveils that the time stamp dimension has not been considered. For example, the wealthy number of works dedicated to mining tri-concepts from folksonomies did not take into account time dimension. In this paper, we will consider a folksonomy commonly composed of triples and we shall consider the time as a new dimension. We motivate our approach by highlighting the battery of potential applications. Then, we present the foundations for mining quadri-concepts, provide a formal definition of the problem and introduce a new efficient algorithm, called QUADRICONS for its solution to allow for mining folksonomies in time, i.e., d-folksonomies. We also introduce a new closure operator that splits the induced search space into equivalence classes whose smallest elements are the quadri-minimal generators. Carried out experiments on large-scale real-world datasets highlight good performances of our algorithm

A multiphysics and multiscale software environment for modeling astrophysical systems

We present MUSE, a software framework for combining existing computational tools for different astrophysical domains into a single multiphysics, multiscale application. MUSE facilitates the coupling of existing codes written in different languages by providing inter-language tools and by specifying an interface between each module and the framework that represents a balance between generality and computational efficiency. This approach allows scientists to use combinations of codes to solve highly-coupled problems without the need to write new codes for other domains or significantly alter their existing codes. MUSE currently incorporates the domains of stellar dynamics, stellar evolution and stellar hydrodynamics for studying generalized stellar systems. We have now reached a "Noah's Ark" milestone, with (at least) two available numerical solvers for each domain. MUSE can treat multi-scale and multi-physics systems in which the time- and size-scales are well separated, like simulating the evolution of planetary systems, small stellar associations, dense stellar clusters, galaxies and galactic nuclei. In this paper we describe three examples calculated using MUSE: the merger of two galaxies, the merger of two evolving stars, and a hybrid N-body simulation. In addition, we demonstrate an implementation of MUSE on a distributed computer which may also include special-purpose hardware, such as GRAPEs or GPUs, to accelerate computations. The current MUSE code base is publicly available as open source at http://muse.liComment: 24 pages, To appear in New Astronomy Source code available at http://muse.l

PRIORITIZING CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS IN TOBACCO PRODUCTS AND SMOKE TO PREDICT DEVELOPMENTAL OSTEOTOXICITY IN HUMAN EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS

Though it is well known that tobacco related products can cause prenatal maldevelopment, very little is known on how tobacco products affect bone tissue as it develops in the embryo. Identifying which chemicals can induce the greatest harm to the prenatal skeletal system is an improbable task as there are over 7,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke alone. We hypothesized that the Toxicological Priority Index (ToxPI) program can be used to rank osteogenic cytotoxicity potential to aid in the assessment of what chemicals out of the thousands can cause osteogenic differentiation inhibition. ToxPI aggregates information from various assays and incorporates them into visual “pie charts” which allow chemicals to be ranked against each other by given parameters. The larger the pie chart the greater likelihood of potential effects and vice versa. Seventeen tobacco chemical constituents were ranked using ToxPI and those chemicals with pie charts (0 To assess the ability of ToxPI to correctly predict maldevelopment in silico eight compounds were then tested in vitro: four of them being ToxPi positive and the other four having null predicted effects. To verify the predictions, human embryonic stem cells were differentiated into osteoblasts and exposed to various concentrations of each compound. Cell viability was measured via MTT assay in conjunction with a calcium assay to measure osteogenic differentiation. In addition, adult human feeder fibroblasts cell viability in response to exposure was measured. ToxPI positive predictions (xin vitro, caused differentiation inhibition. Together our data suggests that ToxPi might be useful to identify strongly inhibitory chemicals based on their cytotoxicity but might also give false negative results for chemicals that cause differentiation inhibition at sub-toxic levels

Discovering and Comparing Relational Knowledge, the Example of Pharmacogenomics

Article in Proceedings of the EKAW Doctoral Consortium 2018 co-located with the 21st International Conference on Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management (EKAW 2018)Pharmacogenomics (PGx) studies the influence of the genome in drug response, with knowledge units of the form of ternary relationships genomic variation-drug-phenotype. State-of-the-art PGx knowledge is available in the biomedical literature as well as in specialized knowledge bases. Additionally, Electronic Health Records of hospitals can be mined to discover such knowledge units that can then be compared with the state of the art, in order to confirm or temper relationships lacking validation or clinical counterpart. However, both discovering and comparing PGx relationships face multiple challenges: heterogeneous descriptions of knowledge units (languages, vocabularies and granularities), missing values and importance of the time dimension. In this research, we aim at proposing a framework based on Semantic Web technologies and Formal Concept Analysis to discover, represent and compare PGx knowledge units. We present the first results, consisting of creating an integrated knowledge base of PGx knowledge units from various sources and defining comparison methods, as well as the remaining issues to tackle

Expression of Mitochondrial Stress Protein (Cpn60) in in vitro Cultured Neonatal Porcine Islet Cells

Xenotransplantation of neonatal porcine islets have been demonstrated to be a viable alternative to exogenous insulin therapy for diabetes mellitus. The use of liberase has gained much success in islet isolation but factors such as batch-to-batch variation and deterioration of a batch with storage time have hampered the quality and reproducibility of tissue dissociation. Islet culture aims to optimise islet survival and insulin release in response to glucose challenge. However, it is difficult to recover and preserve islets in vitro. Mitochondria play a key role in the secretion of insulin from pancreatic islet cells in response to glucose stimulation. Mitochondrial dysfunction results in the induction (at mRNA and protein levels) of a molecular stress protein/heat chock protein called Cpn60. Since mitochondrial impairment will have a significant effect on the ability of in vitro cultured islet cells to function properly (i.e. release insulin in response to glucose stimulation), the expression of Cpn60 was investigated as a function of exposing neonatal porcine islet cells to various growth conditions. The best choice of media to culture neonatal porcine islet cells was found to be not heated activated serum which showed the least levels of Cpn60 expression at mRNA levels suggesting that the cells had low levels of mitochondrial stress. Neonatal porcine islet cells would be best digested in cells digested with new liberase (QC 1050) while in 2% not heat inactivated porcine serum (NPS) as this gave the lowest levels of Cpn60 expression suggesting low levels of mitochondrial stress. Although expression of Cpn60 at mRNA levels seems to be modulated during the growth of the porcine islet cells in media supplemented with different serum, heat treatment of serum and liberase content, no firm conclusion can be made with regard to the effect of the different treatments on mitochondrial health status until the porcine Cpn60 protein can be unequivocally identified

Injury mechanism of supination ankle sprain incidents in sports: kinematics analysis with a model-based image-matching technique.

Mok, Kam Ming.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 36-44).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Abstract --- p.iiChinese abstract --- p.iiiAcknowledgement --- p.ivTable of contents --- p.VList of figures --- p.viiList of tables --- p.viiiChapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter Chapter 2: --- Review of literature --- p.3Chapter 2.1 --- Why prevent ankle ligamentous sprain? --- p.3Chapter 2.2 --- A sequence of injury prevention --- p.4Chapter 2.3 --- Biomechanical approaches in defining injury mechanism --- p.5Chapter 2.4 --- Injury mechanism of ankle ligamentous sprain in sports --- p.6Chapter 2.5 --- Model-Based Image-Matching motion analysis --- p.7Chapter Chapter 3: --- Development of an ankle joint Model-Based Image-Matching motion analysis technique --- p.9Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.9Chapter 3.2 --- Materials and method --- p.10Chapter 3.2.1 --- Cadaver test --- p.10Chapter 3.2.2 --- Model-Based Image-Matching motion analysis --- p.12Chapter 3.2.3 --- Statistical analysis --- p.14Chapter 3.3 --- Results --- p.15Chapter 3.3.1 --- Validity --- p.15Chapter 3.3.2 --- Intra-rater reliability --- p.16Chapter 3.3.3 --- Inter-rater reliability --- p.17Chapter 3.4 --- Discussion --- p.17Chapter 3.5 --- Conclusion --- p.21Chapter Chapter 4: --- Biomechanical motion analysis on ankle ligamentous sprain injury cases --- p.22Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.22Chapter 4.2 --- Materials and method --- p.24Chapter 4.2.1 --- Case screening --- p.24Chapter 4.2.2 --- Model-Based Image-Matching motion analysis --- p.24Chapter 4.3 --- Results --- p.28Chapter 4.3.1 --- High Jump Injury --- p.28Chapter 4.3.2 --- Field hockey Injury --- p.28Chapter 4.3.3 --- Tennis Injury --- p.29Chapter 4.4 --- Discussion --- p.30Chapter 4.5 --- Conclusion --- p.34Chapter Chapter 5: --- Summary and future development --- p.35References --- p.36List of publications --- p.42List of presentations at international and local conference --- p.43List of Awards --- p.4

Studio interspecie del sistema nervoso enterico e delle patologie ad esso correlate

The enteric nervous system (ENS) modulates a number of digestive functions including well known ones, i.e. motility, secretion, absorption and blood flow, along with other critically relevant processes, i.e. immune responses of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, gut microbiota and epithelial barrier . The characterization of the anatomical aspects of the ENS in large mammals and the identification of differences and similarities existing between species may represent a fundamental basis to decipher several digestive GI diseases in humans and animals. In this perspective, the aim of the present thesis is to highlight the ENS anatomical basis and pathological aspects in different mammalian species, such as horses, dogs and humans. Firstly, I designed two anatomical studies in horses: “Excitatory and inhibitory enteric innervation of horse lower esophageal sphincter”. “Localization of 5-hydroxytryptamine 4 receptor (5-HT4R) in the equine enteric nervous system”. Then I focused on the enteric dysfunctions, including: A primary enteric aganglionosis in horses: “Extrinsic innervation of the ileum and pelvic flexure of foals with ileocolonic aganglionosis”. A diabetic enteric neuropathy in dogs: “Quantification of nitrergic neurons in the myenteric plexus of gastric antrum and ileum of healthy and diabetic dogs”. An enteric neuropathy in human neurological patients: “Functional and neurochemical abnormalities in patients with Parkinson's disease and chronic constipation”. The physiology of the GI tract is characterized by a high complexity and it is mainly dependent on the control of the intrinsic nervous system. ENS is critical to preserve body homeostasis as reflect by its derangement occurring in pathological conditions that can be lethal or seriously disabling to humans and animals. The knowledge of the anatomy and the pathology of the ENS represents a new important and fascinating topic, which deserves more attention in the veterinary medicine field

Strategies to combat inflammation in pancreas and islet transplantation

The tissue for pancreas and islet transplantation, the life-saving treatment for type 1 diabetes patients; comes predominantly from brain-dead donors. Novel strategies are required to improve transplant outcomes. This thesis spans three approaches to attenuate inflammation in pancreas. Porcine neonatal islet cell clusters (pNICCs), an experimental alternative to human islets, exhibited increased gene expression of proinflammatory mediators after isolation. The anti-inflammatory agent, activated protein C was applied to pNICCs in culture, but did not demonstrate an effect. We applied a hormone cocktail treatment on brain-dead pigs, which improved physiological indices and organ function. Expression of pro-inflammatory markers in pancreas showed a limited increase or was downregulated in the HR group. TUNEL method appeared to overestimate apoptosis in pancreas. Pattern-recognition receptor signalling can be disrupted by competitive binding of esRAGE to danger signals. Mice were transduced with esRAGE-encoding vector and underwent brain death. Exogenous esRAGE was detected in transplantable organs. Gene expression of most proinflammatory markers was modestly decreased in pancreas. Overall, the most promising intervention is hormone resuscitation of the brain-dead donor, which is already in clinical use. Further evaluation of the effects of the above treatments is necessary to fully understand the potential of these approaches in transplantation

Air Pollution and Repeated Ultrasound Measurements of Fetal Growth in Mexico City.

The possible adverse effect of ambient air pollution on various birth outcomes (e.g., weight, length of gestation) is a global public health concern. However, understanding of prenatal exposure to air pollutants and the process of intrauterine growth is limited. This dissertation addressed research gaps in this area by evaluating maternal air pollution exposure and fetal growth using a novel methodological approach. Overall, the objective of this dissertation was to assess exposure to ozone (O3) and particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) during the first trimester and growth trajectories of four fetal anthropometric parameters [head circumference (HC), biparietal diameter (BPD), abdominal circumference (AC), and femur length (FL)], within a Mexico City cohort of pregnant women. First, a systematic review of the epidemiological literature on maternal exposures to air pollutants and fetal growth, as assessed with data from ultrasound examination of fetal anthropometric parameters, revealed scant and limited research exploring in utero assessment of fetal growth related to prenatal air pollution exposure. Secondly, uncertainty related to the use of repeated ultrasound measurements of fetal parameters performed by multiple clinicians (the inter-observer variability) was found to be minimal, with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ≥ 0.995. Lastly, we explored differences in fetal anthropometric growth trajectories, estimated with fractional polynomial mixed-effects prediction models, with increased maternal first trimester air pollution exposure, estimated by spatial interpolation models of exposure assessment. Increased maternal exposure to air pollution in the first trimester was negatively associated with the growth of fetal anthropometric parameters at various periods of gestation; point estimates of effect varied by air pollutant and fetal parameter. Reductions of fetal parameter growth trajectories associated with increased air pollution exposure lend support to the continued review and enforcement of existing air pollution standards, and efforts to reduce exposure to pollution, especially among vulnerable populations.PhDEnvironmental Health SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109067/1/msmarr_1.pd