28,282 research outputs found
"Going back to our roots": second generation biocomputing
Researchers in the field of biocomputing have, for many years, successfully
"harvested and exploited" the natural world for inspiration in developing
systems that are robust, adaptable and capable of generating novel and even
"creative" solutions to human-defined problems. However, in this position paper
we argue that the time has now come for a reassessment of how we exploit
biology to generate new computational systems. Previous solutions (the "first
generation" of biocomputing techniques), whilst reasonably effective, are crude
analogues of actual biological systems. We believe that a new, inherently
inter-disciplinary approach is needed for the development of the emerging
"second generation" of bio-inspired methods. This new modus operandi will
require much closer interaction between the engineering and life sciences
communities, as well as a bidirectional flow of concepts, applications and
expertise. We support our argument by examining, in this new light, three
existing areas of biocomputing (genetic programming, artificial immune systems
and evolvable hardware), as well as an emerging area (natural genetic
engineering) which may provide useful pointers as to the way forward.Comment: Submitted to the International Journal of Unconventional Computin
Circadian and Metabolic Effects of Light: Implications in Weight Homeostasis and Health
Daily interactions between the hypothalamic circadian clock at the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and peripheral circadian oscillators regulate physiology and metabolism to set temporal variations in homeostatic regulation. Phase coherence of these circadian oscillators is achieved by the entrainment of the SCN to the environmental 24-h light:dark (LD) cycle, coupled through downstream neural, neuroendocrine, and autonomic outputs. The SCN coordinate activity and feeding rhythms, thus setting the timing of food intake, energy expenditure, thermogenesis, and active and basal metabolism. In this work, we will discuss evidences exploring the impact of different photic entrainment conditions on energy metabolism. The steady-state interaction between the LD cycle and the SCN is essential for health and wellbeing, as its chronic misalignment disrupts the circadian organization at different levels. For instance, in nocturnal rodents, non-24 h protocols (i.e., LD cycles of different durations, or chronic jet-lag simulations) might generate forced desynchronization of oscillators from the behavioral to the metabolic level. Even seemingly subtle photic manipulations, as the exposure to a "dim light" scotophase, might lead to similar alterations. The daily amount of light integrated by the clock (i.e., the photophase duration) strongly regulates energy metabolism in photoperiodic species. Removing LD cycles under either constant light or darkness, which are routine protocols in chronobiology, can also affect metabolism, and the same happens with disrupted LD cycles (like shiftwork of jetlag) and artificial light at night in humans. A profound knowledge of the photic and metabolic inputs to the clock, as well as its endocrine and autonomic outputs to peripheral oscillators driving energy metabolism, will help us to understand and alleviate circadian health alterations including cardiometabolic diseases, diabetes, and obesity.Fil: Plano, Santiago AndrĂ©s. Pontificia Universidad CatĂłlica Argentina "Santa MarĂa de los Buenos Aires". Instituto de Investigaciones BiomĂ©dicas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Oficina de CoordinaciĂłn Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones BiomĂ©dicas; ArgentinaFil: Casiraghi, Leandro Pablo. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y TecnologĂa. Laboratorio de CronobiologĂa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Garcia Moro, Paula. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y TecnologĂa. Laboratorio de CronobiologĂa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Paladino, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y TecnologĂa. Laboratorio de CronobiologĂa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Golombek, Diego AndrĂ©s. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y TecnologĂa. Laboratorio de CronobiologĂa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; ArgentinaFil: Chiesa, Juan JosĂ©. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y TecnologĂa. Laboratorio de CronobiologĂa; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas; Argentin
Machine learning for the diagnosis of early stage diabetes using temporal glucose profiles
Machine learning shows remarkable success for recognizing patterns in data.
Here we apply the machine learning (ML) for the diagnosis of early stage
diabetes, which is known as a challenging task in medicine. Blood glucose
levels are tightly regulated by two counter-regulatory hormones, insulin and
glucagon, and the failure of the glucose homeostasis leads to the common
metabolic disease, diabetes mellitus. It is a chronic disease that has a long
latent period the complicates detection of the disease at an early stage. The
vast majority of diabetics result from that diminished effectiveness of insulin
action. The insulin resistance must modify the temporal profile of blood
glucose. Thus we propose to use ML to detect the subtle change in the temporal
pattern of glucose concentration. Time series data of blood glucose with
sufficient resolution is currently unavailable, so we confirm the proposal
using synthetic data of glucose profiles produced by a biophysical model that
considers the glucose regulation and hormone action. Multi-layered perceptrons,
convolutional neural networks, and recurrent neural networks all identified the
degree of insulin resistance with high accuracy above .Comment: 4 pages, 2 figur
Barnes Hospital Bulletin
https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/bjc_barnes_bulletin/1001/thumbnail.jp
Gravity, Calcium, and Bone: Update, 1989
Some of the results of recent short-term flights and ground-based experiments that have contributed new insights into skeletal adaptation, calcium metabolism, and growth processes in 0 g, are highlighted. After 6 months in space, bone demineralization, invariably involving the os calcis, was found not to extend to the lumbar spine in 4 exercising cosmonauts. A flight experiment in the Space Shuttle crew has documented the early events in the calcium endocrine system during spaceflight. On the ground, brief and long-term bed rest studies of healthy volunteers in the head-down tile (HDT) model of weightlessness were completed. The skeleton of the adult male responds more rapidly to unloading than previously recognized. Regional changes in bone density can be quantified in only 30 days, are highly individual, and follow the direction of gravitational forces in the HDT model during inactivity. Bone biopsy results in healthy volunteers after bed rest differ from results in paraplegics from the same sampling site. Flight experiments in growing rats reveal changes in the composition of bone mineral and matrix in the femur postflight that were found to be highly regional and suggestive of an effect of gravity on mineral distribution. These observations may be relevant to the results from an earlier Cosmos flight where artificial gravity in space was found to maintain bone strength, but not to correct the radial growth deficit
Type 1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic autoimmune disease characterised by insulin deficiency and resultant hyperglycaemia. Knowledge of type 1 diabetes has rapidly increased over the past 25 years, resulting in a broad understanding about many aspects of the disease, including its genetics, epidemiology, immune and ÎČ-cell phenotypes, and disease burden. Interventions to preserve ÎČ cells have been tested, and several methods to improve clinical disease management have been assessed. However, wide gaps still exist in our understanding of type 1 diabetes and our ability to standardise clinical care and decrease disease-associated complications and burden. This Seminar gives an overview of the current understanding of the disease and potential future directions for research and care
Persons Versus Brains: Biological Intelligence in Human Organisms
I go deep into the biology of the human organism to argue that the psychological features and functions of persons are realized by cellular and molecular parallel distributed processing networks dispersed throughout the whole body. Persons supervene on the computational processes of nervous, endocrine, immune, and genetic networks. Persons do not go with brains
Changes in lipophorins are related to the activation of phenoloxidase in the haemolymph of Locusta migratoria in response to injection of immunogens
In Locusta migratoria, activation of phenoloxidase in the haemolymph in response to injection of laminarin is age-dependent: being absent in fifth instar nymphs and newly emerged adults, and only becoming evident four days after the final moult. This pattern of change in phenoloxidase activation correlates with the pattern of change in the concentration of apolipophorin-III (apoLp-III) in the haemolymph. Injection of a conspecific adipokinetic hormone (Lom-AKH-I) has no effect on the phenoloxidase response in nymphs or newly emerged adults but, in adults older than four days, co-injection of the hormone with laminarin prolongs the activation of phenoloxidase in the haemolymph: a similar enhancement of the response to laminarin is observed in locusts that have been starved for 48 h but not injected with AKH-I. During most of the fifth stadium, injection of laminarin results in a decrease in the level of prophenoloxidase in the haemolymph; an effect that is not observed in adults of any age. Marked changes in the concentration of apoLp-III, and the formation of LDLp in the haemolymph, are observed after injection of laminarin (or LPS) and these are remarkably similar, at least qualitatively, to those that occur after injection of AKH-I. The involvement of lipophorins in the activation of locust prophenoloxidase in response to immunogens is discussed
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