Antioxidants: Natural Antibiotics

The aim of this current piece of writing is to draw the attention of readers and researchers toward the natural antioxidants that can take the place of synthetic antibiotics to avoid bacterial resistance and gastrotoxicity/nephrotoxicity. Antioxidants such as polyphenols, vitamins, and carotenoids are the organic compounds mainly extracted from natural sources and dominantly involved in boosting the defense system of organisms. The main public health-related issue over the globe is ever-growing bacterial resistance to synthetic antibiotics, which is being continuously reported during the last decade. Further, the pipeline of the development of new synthetic antibacterial agents to replace the resistant antibiotics in clinical set-up is gradually drying up. This scenario originated the concept to revive the interest toward natural antibacterial products due to their chemical diversity, which provide important therapeutic effect and make the microbes unable to copy them for creating resistance. Natural products, especially polyphenols had been seen in antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer, anti-inflammation, and antiviral activities with encouraging results. In this chapter, we will focus over the role of natural antioxidants as antibacterial agents

Analysis of hematological indicators via explainable artificial intelligence in the diagnosis of acute heart failure: a retrospective study

IntroductionAcute heart failure (AHF) is a serious medical problem that necessitates hospitalization and often results in death. Patients hospitalized in the emergency department (ED) should therefore receive an immediate diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, there is not yet a fast and accurate laboratory test for identifying AHF. The purpose of this research is to apply the principles of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to the analysis of hematological indicators for the diagnosis of AHF.MethodsIn this retrospective analysis, 425 patients with AHF and 430 healthy individuals served as assessments. Patients’ demographic and hematological information was analyzed to diagnose AHF. Important risk variables for AHF diagnosis were identified using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO) feature selection. To test the efficacy of the suggested prediction model, Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), a 10-fold cross-validation procedure was implemented. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), F1 score, Brier score, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), and Negative Predictive Value (NPV) were all computed to evaluate the model’s efficacy. Permutation-based analysis and SHAP were used to assess the importance and influence of the model’s incorporated risk factors.ResultsWhite blood cell (WBC), monocytes, neutrophils, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), red cell distribution width-standard deviation (RDW-SD), RDW-coefficient of variation (RDW-CV), and platelet distribution width (PDW) values were significantly higher than the healthy group (p < 0.05). On the other hand, erythrocyte, hemoglobin, basophil, lymphocyte, mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet, hematocrit, mean erythrocyte hemoglobin (MCH), and procalcitonin (PCT) values were found to be significantly lower in AHF patients compared to healthy controls (p < 0.05). When XGBoost was used in conjunction with LASSO to diagnose AHF, the resulting model had an AUC of 87.9%, an F1 score of 87.4%, a Brier score of 0.036, and an F1 score of 87.4%. PDW, age, RDW-SD, and PLT were identified as the most crucial risk factors in differentiating AHF.ConclusionThe results of this study showed that XAI combined with ML could successfully diagnose AHF. SHAP descriptions show that advanced age, low platelet count, high RDW-SD, and PDW are the primary hematological parameters for the diagnosis of AHF

A microbially catalyzed anode and cathode microbial electrosynthesis system for efficient metformin removal and volatile fatty acid production

Documentos apresentados no âmbito do reconhecimento de graus e diplomas estrangeirosThe removal of different pharmaceuticals and personal care products from surface water is crucial. This study focused on the removal and transformation of metformin (MTF), an emerging contaminant in aqueous solutions using a dual bioanode (BIND) and biocathode (BICD) microbial electrosynthesis system. Successful biodegradation of MTF (91%) was achieved within 120 h with improved bioelectrochemical performance. The current density (−849 mA/m2) with drug loading at 0.5 ppm was 10.3, 7.6, and 2.4 times higher than that of the control, 0.1 ppm, and 0.3, ppm, respectively. Volatile fatty acids (VFA) production also improved with excellent acetate, propionate, and butyrate production at both BIND and BICD. Liquid chromatography Mass spectrometry (LC-MS) studies indicated improved mineralization with more MTF bioproducts. MTF regulated the microbial flora through enrichment of the electroactive phyla Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. This study provides a new perspective for the use of dual biocatalyzed microbial electrosynthesis systems in bioremediation research

Experimentelle Untersuchung der Nanofiltration zur Trennung komplexer Gemische

Abweichender Titel nach Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des VerfassersIn den letzten 30 Jahren entwickelte sich die Nanofiltration (NF), ein relativ neuer Membranprozess, zu einer attraktiven Alternative zu konventionellen Trennmethoden. Heute wird sie aufgrund ihres Rückhaltevermögens bezüglich multivalenter Ionen und organischer Moleküle über 200 g/mol in verschiedensten Anwendungen der Milch- und Lebensmittelproduktion eingesetzt, wie beispielsweise der Entsalzung, Aufreinigung und Konzentrierung. Die NF lässt sich zwischen der Umkehrosmose (Reverse Osmosis, RO) und der Ultrafiltration (UF) einordnen, wobei sie die Diffusionsmechanismen der RO, Effekte der sterischen Hinderung der UF und zusätzliche Elektromigrationseffekte aufgrund der Oberflächenladung der Membran kombiniert. Die Transportmechanismen der NF, welche noch nicht vollständig verstanden und daher unter Forschern heftig diskutiert werden, umfassen Konvektion, Diffusion und Elektromigration. Die Rückhaltemechanismen der NF beruhen auf sterischer Hinderung, Donnan-Ausschluss und dielektrischem Ausschluss. Des Weiteren kann die Trennperformance der NF-Membran auch durch Konzentrationspolarisation, Form der gelösten Substanz, Polarität, pH-Wert der Lösung, Konzentration und Zusammensetzung sowie Rauheit der Membran beeinflusst werden. Der Großteil der bisherigen Forschungsaktivitäten in Bezug auf NF-Prozesse beschäftigt sich mit verdünnten Lösungen bei Raumtemperatur und geringem Druck. Diese Arbeit fokussiert sich auf die experimentelle Untersuchung von NF-Prozessen für die Trennung komplexer wässriger Lösungen, bestehend aus gelösten ionischen Substanzen (binäre, ternäre und quaternäre ionische Systeme) mit und ohne einer gelösten organischen Substanz (Saccharose (Zucker) bei hohen Konzentrationen von bis zu 25 °Bx) bei hohen Temperaturen und Drücken nahe an jenen, welche relevant für industrielle Anwendungen sind. Für die Untersuchung wurde eine NF-Flachmembran MPF-34 (Koch) ausgewählt und ein systematisches experimentelles Programm definiert, welches ein breites Spektrum an Feedströmen von geladenen und ungeladenen gelösten Substanzen umfasste. Zusätzlich wurde der Effekt der Betriebsbedingungen auf die Trennleistung der Membran untersucht. Die anfänglichen Informationen über die Trennperformance der Membran stammen aus Daten über die Permeabilität von Reinwasser sowie den Rückhalt von Einzelsalzen und Zucker. In Lösungen aus verschiedenen Salzen wurde das Verhalten der Membran gegenüber verschiedenen Ionentypen in unterschiedlichen Kombinationen untersucht. Das divalente Co-Ion "S" "O" _"4" "2-" zeigte aufgrund des starken Donnan-Ausschlusses in allen Experimenten sowohl ohne als auch mit Saccharose einen sehr hohen Rückhalt (nahe 95 %). In binären Ionensystemen wurde bei Anwesenheit von Zucker ein geringerer Rückhalt von Ionen beobachtet als bei der Abwesenheit von Zucker. Speziell das monovalente Co-Ion "Cl" "-" zeigte einen stark reduzierten Rückhalt, der bei steigenden Saccharosekonzentrationen nahe Null ging, gefolgt vom monovalenten Gegenion Na+, um die elektroneutralen Bedingungen zu erhalten. In ternären Ionensystemen mit Zucker zeigten die monovalenten Ionen bei Anwesenheit entsprechender divalenter Ionen einen negativen Rückhalt, zum Beispiel verringerte sich der Rückhalt von Na+ in der Gegenwart von Mg++ um -21 % und der Rückhalt von "Cl" "-" in der Gegenwart von "S" "O" _"4" "2-" um -46 % mit steigender Saccharosekonzentration. In quaternären Ionensystemen ohne Saccharose war der Rückhalt monovalenter Ionen viel geringer als der von divalenten Ionen und reduzierte sich weiter in der Gegenwart von steigenden Saccharosekonzentrationen. Der Rückhalt der Saccharose wurde in den Versuchen weder durch die Saccharosekonzentration noch durch die Ionenkonzentration beeinflusst. Die Permeatflüsse von saccharosehältigen Lösungen, welche mithilfe des Kedem und Katchalsky-Modells (Modell des osmotischen Drucks) berechnet wurden, waren zwei- bis viermal höher als in der Literatur berichtet. Die Untersuchungen, die im Rahmen dieser Arbeit durchgeführt wurden, sind hilfreich für die Vorhersage von Flüssen und Rückhalten komplexer Mischungen aus ionischen und nicht-ionischen lösbaren Substanzen in größer dimensionierten, optimierten Designs von NF-Prozessen.Nanofiltration (NF) is a relatively new membrane process getting its scope widened significantly during the last 30 years as a viable alternative to more conventional separation techniques. It has found a plethora of applications in dairy and food industry for various desalting, purification, concentration and other separations due to its rejection properties for multivalent ions and organic molecules above 200 g/mol. NF stands between reverse osmosis (RO) and ultrafiltration (UF) adopting the diffusion mechanism from RO, steric hindrance effect from UF and additionally electromigration phenomena due to membrane surface charge. The transport mechanism in NF, which is not fully understood yet and is highly debated amongst the researchers, may include convection, diffusion and electromigration. The rejection mechanism in NF may be due to steric hindrance, Donnan exclusion and dielectric exclusion. Concentration polarization solute shape, polarity, solution pH, concentration and composition and membrane roughness may also contribute towards the separation performance of the NF membrane. Most of the previous work done on NF process deals with dilute solutions at room temperature and low pressure. This work focuses on the experimental study of NF process for the separation of complex aqueous mixtures containing, ionic solutes (binary, ternary and quaternary ionic systems) with and without organic solute (sucrose, at high concentration up to 25 ¿Bx) at high temperature and pressure close to a relevant industrial application. For this purpose, a flat sheet NF membrane MPF-34 (Koch) was selected and a systematic experimental program was conducted covering a broad spectrum of feed streams concerning both the charged and uncharged solutes. Moreover, the effect of the operating conditions on membrane performances was investigated. Initial information about the membrane separation performance was obtained through pure water permeability, single salt and sucrose rejection data. In mixture solutions of salts, distinctive behaviour of membrane to different ionic types with different combinations was observed. Divalent co-ion "S" "O" _"4" "2-" showed a very high rejection (close to 95 %) in all the experiments with and without sucrose due to strong Donnan exclusion. In binary ion systems in the presence of sucrose the ionic rejection was found to be decreased with sucrose concentration as compared to result in the absence of sucrose, especially monovalent co-ion "Cl" "-" showed reduced rejection approaching almost to zero with increasing sucrose concentration followed by monovalent counter ion Na+ to keep the electroneutrality condition. In ternary ion systems with sucrose the monovalent ions showed negative rejections in the presence of corresponding divalent ions e.g. the rejection of Na+ reduced to -21 % in the presence of Mg2+ and rejection of "Cl" "-" reduced to -46 % in the presence of "S" "O" _"4" "2-" with increasing sucrose concentration. While in quaternary ion systems without sucrose the rejection of monovalent ions was much less than divalent ions and further reduced to a very low value in the presence of sucrose with increasing concentration of sucrose. The rejection of sucrose was neither affected by sucrose concentration nor by ionic concentration in the range studies. The permeate fluxes predicted by Kedem and Katchalsky model (osmotic pressure model) were 2 to 4 times higher for solutions containing sucrose which has also been reported in literature. The work carried out in this thesis is useful for the scaled up optimized design of NF processes for the prediction of fluxes and rejections of complex mixtures of ionic and non-ionic solutes.23

Effects of pose and image resolution on automatic face recognition

The popularity of face recognition systems have increased due to their use in widespread applications. Driven by the enormous number of potential application domains, several algorithms have been proposed for face recognition. Face pose and image resolutions are among the two important factors that influence the performance of face recognition algorithms. In this study, the authors present a comparative study of three baseline face recognition algorithms to analyse the effects of two aforementioned factors. The algorithms studied include (a) the adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) with linear discriminant analysis as weak learner, (b) the principal component analysis (PCA)-based approach, and (c) the local binary pattern (LBP)-based approach. They perform an empirical study using the images with systematic pose variation and resolution from multi-pose, illumination, and expression database to explore the recognition accuracy. This evaluation is useful for practical applications because most engineers start development of a face recognition application using these baseline algorithms. Simulation results revealed that the PCA is more accurate in classifying the pose variation, whereas the AdaBoost is more robust in identifying low-resolution images. The LBP does not classify face images of size 20 × 20 pixels and below and has lower recognition accuracy than PCA and AdaBoost

A comparative study of baseline algorithms of face recognition

In this paper we present a comparative study of two well-known face recognition algorithms. The contribution of this work is to reveal the robustness of each FR algorithm with respect to various factors, such as variation in pose and low resolution of the images used for recognition. This evaluation is useful for practical applications where the types of the expected images are known. The two FR algorithms studied in this work are Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and AdaBoost with Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) as a weak learner. Images from multi-pie database are used for evaluation. Simulation results revealed that given one gallery (Training) face image and four different pose images as a probe (Testing), PCA based system is more accurate in recognizing pose, while AdaBoost was more robust on recognizing low resolution images

Automatic player detection and identification for sports entertainment applications

In this paper, we develop an augmented reality sports broadcasting application for automatic detection, recognition of players during play, followed by display of personal information of players. The proposed application can be divided into four major steps. In first step, each player in the image is detected. In the second step, a face detection algorithm detects face of each player. In third step, we use a face recognition algorithm to match the faces of players with a database of players’ faces which also stores personal information of each player. In step four, personal information of each player is retrieved based on the face matching result. This application can be used to show the viewers’ information about players such as name of the player, sports record, age, highest score, and country of belonging. We develop this system for baseball game, however, it can be deployed in any sports where the audience can take a live video or images using smart phones. For the task of player and subsequent face detection, we use AdaBoost algorithm with haar-like features for both feature selection and classification while player face recognition system uses AdaBoost algorithm with linear discriminant analysis for feature selection and nearest neighbor classifier for classification. Detailed experiments are performed using 412 diverse images taken using a digital camera during baseball match. These images contain players in different sizes, facial expressions, lighting conditions and pose. The player and face detection accuracy is high in all situations, however, the face recognition module requires detected players’ faces to be frontal or near frontal. In general, restricting the head rotation to ±30 gives a high accuracy of overall system

Rejection sampling of bipartite graphs with given degree sequence

Let A = (a1, a2, ..., an) be a degree sequence of a simple bipartite graph. We present an algorithm that takes A as input, and outputs a simple bipartite realization of A, without stalling. The running time of the algorithm is ⊝(n1n2), where ni is the number of vertices in the part i of the bipartite graph. Then we couple the generation algorithm with a rejection sampling scheme to generate a simple realization of A uniformly at random. The best algorithm we know is the implicit one due to Bayati, Kim and Saberi (2010) that has a running time of O(mamax), where m=12∑i=1nai$m = {1 \over 2}\sum\nolimits_{i = 1}^n {{a_i}} and amax is the maximum of the degrees, but does not sample uniformly. Similarly, the algorithm presented by Chen et al. (2005) does not sample uniformly, but nearly uniformly. The realization of A output by our algorithm may be a start point for the edge-swapping Markov Chains pioneered by Brualdi (1980) and Kannan et al.(1999)