Selected Topics on Mathematical Models in Immunology and Medicine

In 1988 the new IIASA project on System Immunology was inaugurated. The new activity focuses theoretical and experimental research in immunology and system mathematics to experimental planning and prediction for relevant disease applications and systematic understanding of immunology. IIASA analysis and simulation should lead to an effective plan of successive experiments to identify and to quantify particularly sensitive parameters in this most complex system of information processing, decision and control. The integration of such diverse disciplines is extremely difficult but some basis has already been established. For several years IIASA has sponsored international workshops dealing with dynamical systems and their applications to biology. These include: (1) The conference on "Dynamics of Macrosystems"; (2) The Working Conference on "Theoretical Immunology"; (3) The Workshop on "Selected Topics in Biomathematics"; The present volume contains the proceedings of the latest Workshop "Mathematical Modelling in Immunology and Medicine", Part 1 deals with the mathematical models of autoimmune, infectious diseases and AIDS. The models are studied with the intent to establish a basis for more effective treatment. In Part 2, questions of computer simulation and data analysis in cancer research are analyzed. Part 3 is devoted to the models for antibody binding, immunoassay dynamics and immunogenetic systems. The problems of system analysis and medical decision making are discussed in Part 4

Artificial Immune System Implementation for Predicting WM Presence from MYD88 and CXCR4

Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) is a rare malignancy that affects human blood cells and spreads slowly. The development of WM occurs whenever the blood cells undergo genetic changes. Better therapies can be offered by the healthcare sector to get rid of the symptoms that cannot be cured. Everyone in the healthcare sector is aware that genetic abnormalities cause WM, but they are unsure of what causes the alterations. The risk factors that increase the number of WM's aberrant cells have been found. The greatest risk variables have a fatal impact on humans. The healthcare sector is working to save lives by offering better care. Only when WM is discovered earlier when it is treatable with better care and potent medications, is it very likely. For analysing the healthcare data associated with WM, a number of prior research studies have suggested both standard and unique software models and techniques. However, the accuracy is subpar and inefficient in terms of both time and money. To analyse the genomic dataset and detect Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia or its symptoms, this research explored this issue and suggested an Artificial Immune System (AIS) approach. Software written in Python is used to conduct the experiment and validate the findings. by contrasting the trial outcomes with other performance assessment techniques. The analysis reveals that the suggested AIS algorithm works better than the others

The Discrete Infinite Logistic Normal Distribution

We present the discrete infinite logistic normal distribution (DILN), a Bayesian nonparametric prior for mixed membership models. DILN is a generalization of the hierarchical Dirichlet process (HDP) that models correlation structure between the weights of the atoms at the group level. We derive a representation of DILN as a normalized collection of gamma-distributed random variables, and study its statistical properties. We consider applications to topic modeling and derive a variational inference algorithm for approximate posterior inference. We study the empirical performance of the DILN topic model on four corpora, comparing performance with the HDP and the correlated topic model (CTM). To deal with large-scale data sets, we also develop an online inference algorithm for DILN and compare with online HDP and online LDA on the Nature magazine, which contains approximately 350,000 articles.Comment: This paper will appear in Bayesian Analysis. A shorter version of this paper appeared at AISTATS 2011, Fort Lauderdale, FL, US

Selected themes of histology, cytology and embryology core

CYTOLOGYEMBRYOLOGYHISTOLOGYГИСТОЛОГИЯУЧЕБНЫЕ ПОСОБИЯЦИТОЛОГИЯЭМБРИОЛОГИЯThe study manual includes topics on histology, cytology and embryology core

NanoAPC deliver antigen, IL-2 and co-stimulatory molecules to antigen specific T cells and activate viral specific T cells in chronic infections

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The study of the immune system has provided insight in the mechanism of protection induced by vaccination; primarily that most clinically protective vaccines are potent in generating neutralizing antibody responses. However, vaccination fails to protect against a wide range of acquired chronic infections caused by viruses, such as HIV, HBV and HCV. One of the major reasons for weak responses to therapeutic vaccine is the impaired function of effector T cells resulting from viral persistence. Although IL-2 can potently increase effect function of viral specific T cells, systemic administration of IL-2 induces organ pathology and expansion of Treg cells. In this study, we have now developed a novel vaccine delivery system IL-2-nanoAPC delivering antigen-MHC complexes (pMHC), co-stimulatory molecules and IL-2 to antigen specific T cells. NanoAPC are derived from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membranes of human B cell line 721.221 engineered with selected HLA allele and IL-2 as the ER retention proteins. The IL-2-nanoAPC interacted with antigen specific T cells, induced immune synapses and expression of high affinity IL-2 receptor and enhanced effector function of antigen specific T cells, but did not affect bystander T cells and Foxp3+ Treg cells. Together with pMHC, co-stimulatory molecules, the selective delivery of IL-2 not only increased the CD4 and CD8 T cell responses to viral antigens but also enhanced TCR proximal signalling and suppressed expression of PD1 molecules on IFNγ producing effector CD8 T cells. We also found that the co-induction of T helper responses by IL-2-nanoAPC in a mixed culture could increase CD8 T cell responses to viral antigen. The IL-2-nanoAPC effectively induced responses of CD4 and CD8 T cells from chronic HBV patients. The results demonstrate that selective delivery of IL-2, together with pMHC and co-stimulatory molecules, by nanoAPC to antigen specific T cells has potential to recover anti-viral immune responses in chronic HBV patients

Metabolic hormone levels and immunocompetence of neonatal harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) in rehabilitation settings compared to wild harbor seal pups

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2005Health of harbor seal pups in rehabilitation and in the wild were compared using two metabolic hormones (cortisol and total thyroxine, TT4), two cellular immunity components (lymphocytes and eosinophils) and morphometric measurements. Neonatal harbor seals in two rehabilitation facilities were compared to wild harbor seal pups. Permanently captive harbor seals housed at the Alaska SeaLife Center were also studied. High levels of cortisol at weaning suggest changes in the stress response may be due to diet adjustments in pups during rehabilitation. The lower cortisol concentrations post-weaning suggest that pups in rehabilitation had overcome the challenge of pre-weaning diet, handling or environment and avoided chronic stress. TT4 concentrations were higher in wild pups, likely attributed to a more energetically demanding life in a dynamic environment. The rehabilitated pups showed lower lymphocyte counts and higher eosinophil counts compared to wild pups. Wild harbor seal pups were heavier and longer than post-weaned pups in rehabilitation. Animals in rehabilitation are possibly compromised at stranding, but it is also possible that current rehabilitation practices do not mimic what a healthy pup would receive from maternal investment, thus pups undergoing rehabilitation likely remain smaller and possibly immunologically compromised despite repeated and constant care in rehabilitation.Introduction to harbor seal biology, endocrinology, immunology, physiology and husbandry -- Comparison of two metabolic stress hormones and two leukocyte subsets in rehabilitated and free-ranging harbor seal pups -- Captive harbor seals hormone parameters -- The big picture -- Literature cited