Electrocardiographic Changes in a Patient With Pulmonary Embolism and Septic Shock

Various electrocardiography (ECG) abnormalities have been reported in patients who present with pulmonary embolism (PE). Severe sepsis is also associated with ECG changes that may mimic ST elevation myocardial infarction. We report a case of an elderly patient with PE and septic shock associated with striking ECG changes

Evidence of a Redox-Dependent Regulation of Immune Responses to Exercise-Induced Inflammation

We used thiol-based antioxidant supplementation (n-acetylcysteine, NAC) to determine whether immune mobilisation following skeletal muscle microtrauma induced by exercise is redox-sensitive in healthy humans. According to a two-trial, double-blind, crossover, repeated measures design, 10 young men received either placebo or NAC (20 mg/kg/day) immediately after a muscle-damaging exercise protocol (300 eccentric contractions) and for eight consecutive days. Blood sampling and performance assessments were performed before exercise, after exercise, and daily throughout recovery. NAC reduced the decline of reduced glutathione in erythrocytes and the increase of plasma protein carbonyls, serum TAC and erythrocyte oxidized glutathione, and TBARS and catalase activity during recovery thereby altering postexercise redox status. The rise of muscle damage and inflammatory markers (muscle strength, creatine kinase activity, CRP, proinflammatory cytokines, and adhesion molecules) was less pronounced in NAC during the first phase of recovery. The rise of leukocyte and neutrophil count was decreased by NAC after exercise. Results on immune cell subpopulations obtained by flow cytometry indicated that NAC ingestion reduced the exercise-induced rise of total macrophages, HLA+ macrophages, and 11B+ macrophages and abolished the exercise-induced upregulation of B lymphocytes. Natural killer cells declined only in PLA immediately after exercise. These results indicate that thiol-based antioxidant supplementation blunts immune cell mobilisation in response to exercise-induced inflammation suggesting that leukocyte mobilization may be under redox-dependent regulation

An Extended Instruction Set for Bioinformatics’ Multiple Sequence Alignment

Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) is one of the most fundamental methodologies in Bioinformatics and the method capable of arranging DNA or protein sequences to detect regions of similarity. Even on cutting-edge workstations, the MSA procedure requires a significant amount of time regarding its execution time. This paper demonstrates how to utilize Extensa Explorer by Tensilica (Cadence) to create an extended instruction set to meet the requirements of some of the most widely used algorithms in Bioinformatics for MSA analysis. Kalign showed the highest acceleration, reducing Instruction Fetches (IF) and Execution Time (ET) by 30.29 and 43.49 percent, respectively. Clustal had acceleration of 14.2% in IF and 17.9% in ET, whereas Blast had 12.35% in IF and 16.25% in ET

Enhancing Food Supply Chain Security through the Use of Blockchain and TinyML

Food safety is a fundamental right in modern societies. One of the most pressing problems nowadays is the provenance of food and food-related products that citizens consume, mainly due to several food scares and the globalization of food markets, which has resulted in food supply chains that extend beyond nations or even continent boundaries. Food supply networks are characterized by high complexity and a lack of openness. There is a critical requirement for applying novel techniques to verify and authenticate the origin, quality parameters, and transfer/storage details associated with food. This study portrays an end-to-end approach to enhance the security of the food supply chain and thus increase the trustfulness of the food industry. The system aims at increasing the transparency of food supply chain monitoring systems through securing all components that those consist of. A universal information monitoring scheme based on blockchain technology ensures the integrity of collected data, a self-sovereign identity approach for all supply chain actors ensures the minimization of single points of failure, and finally, a security mechanism, that is based on the use of TinyML’s nascent technology, is embedded in monitoring devices to mitigate a significant portion of malicious behavior from actors in the supply chain

Development of a Dynamically Adaptable Routing System for Data Analytics Insights in Logistic Services

This work proposes an effective solution to the Vehicle Routing Problem, taking into account all phases of the delivery process. When compared to real-world data, the findings are encouraging and demonstrate the value of Machine Learning algorithms incorporated into the process. Several algorithms were combined along with a modified Hopfield network to deliver the optimal solution to a multiobjective issue on a platform capable of monitoring the various phases of the process. Additionally, a system providing viable insights and analytics in regard to the orders was developed. The results reveal a maximum distance saving of 25% and a maximum overall delivery time saving of 14%

A Review of the Vehicle Routing Problem and the Current Routing Services in Smart Cities

In this survey, the issues of urban routing are analyzed, and critical considerations for smart and cost-effective delivery services are highlighted. Smart cities require intelligent services and solutions to address their routing issues. This article gives a brief description of current services that either apply classical methods or services that employ machine learning approaches. Furthermore, a comparison of the most promising research options in regard to VRP is provided. Finally, an initial design of a holistic scheme that would optimally combine several tools and approaches to serve the needs of different users with regard to the VRP is presented

Thiol-based antioxidant supplementation alters human skeletal muscle signaling and attenuates its inflammatory response and recovery after intense eccentric exercise

Background: The major thiol-disulfide couple of reduced glutathione (GSH) and oxidized glutathione is a key regulator of major transcriptional pathways regulating aseptic inflammation and recovery of skeletal muscle after aseptic injury. Antioxidant supplementation may hamper exercise-induced cellular adaptations. Objective: The objective was to examine how thiol-based antioxidant supplementation affects skeletal muscle's performance and redox-sensitive signaling during the inflammatory and repair phases associated with exercise-induced microtrauma. Design: In a double-blind, crossover design, 10 men received placebo or N-acetylcysteine (NAC; 20 mg . kg(-1) . d(-1)) after muscle-damaging exercise (300 eccentric contractions). In each trial, muscle performance was measured at baseline, after exercise, 2 h after exercise, and daily for 8 consecutive days. Muscle biopsy samples from vastus lateralis and blood samples were collected before exercise and 2 h, 2 d, and 8 d after exercise. Results: NAC attenuated the elevation of inflammatory markers of muscle damage (creatine kinase activity, C-reactive protein, proinflammatory cytokines), nuclear factor kappa B phosphorylation, and the decrease in strength during the first 2 d of recovery. NAC also blunted the increase in phosphorylation of protein kinase B, mammalian target of rapamycin, p70 ribosomal S6 kinase, ribosomal protein S6, and mitogen activated protein kinase p38 at 2 and 8 d after exercise. NAC also abolished the increase in myogenic determination factor and reduced tumor necrosis factor-alpha 8 d after exercise. Performance was completely recovered only in the placebo group. Conclusion: Although thiol-based antioxidant supplementation enhances GSH availability in skeletal muscle, it disrupts the skeletal muscle inflammatory response and repair capability, potentially because of a blunted activation of redox-sensitive signaling pathways