Using function approximation for personalized point-of-interest recommendation

Point-of-interest (POI) recommender system encourages users to share their locations and social experience through check-ins in online location-based social networks. A most recent algorithm for POI recommendation takes into account both the location relevance and diversity. The relevance measures users’ personal preference while the diversity considers location categories. There exists a dilemma of weighting these two factors in the recommendation. The location diversity is weighted more when a user is new to a city and expects to explore the city in the new visit. In this paper, we propose a method to automatically adjust the weights according to user’s personal preference. We focus on investigating a function between the number of location categories and a weight value for each user, where the Chebyshev polynomial approximation method using binary values is applied. We further improve the approximation by exploring similar behavior of users within a location category. We conduct experiments on five real-world datasets, and show that the new approach can make a good balance of weighting the two factors therefore providing better recommendation

Aberrant Mitochondrial Dynamics: An Emerging Pathogenic Driver of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is defined as a progressive segmental dilation of the abdominal aorta and is associated with high mortality. The characterized features of AAA indicate several underlying mechanisms of AAA formation and progression, including reactive oxygen species production, inflammation, and atherosclerosis. Mitochondrial functions are critical for determining cell fate, and mitochondrial dynamics, especially selective mitochondrial autophagy, which is termed as mitophagy, has emerged as an important player in the pathogenesis of several cardiovascular diseases. The PARKIN/PARIS/PGC1α pathway is associated with AAA formation and has been proposed to play a role in mitochondrial dynamics mediated by the PINK/PARKIN pathway in the pathogenesis underlying AAA. This review is aimed at deepening our understanding of AAA formation and progression, which is vital for the development of potential medical therapies for AAA

Interaction between Corneal and Internal Ocular Aberrations Induced by Orthokeratology and Its Influential Factors

Purpose. To investigate the interaction between corneal, internal, and total wavefront aberrations (WAs) and their influential factors during orthokeratology (OK) treatment in Chinese adolescents. Methods. Thirty teenagers (n=30 eyes) were enrolled in the study; spherical equivalent refraction (SE), corneal curvature radius (CCR), central corneal thickness (CCT), WAs, and the difference in limbal transverse diameter and OK lens diameter (ΔLLD) were detected before and after one-month OK treatment. Every component of WAs was measured simultaneously by iTrace aberrometer. The influential factors of OK-induced WAs were analyzed. Results. SE and CCT decreased while CCR increased significantly (P<0.01). Higher-order aberrations (HOAs), Spherical aberrations (SAs), and coma increased significantly (P<0.01). Corneal horizontal coma (Z31-C) and corneal spherical aberrations (Z40-C) increased (P<0.01). The HOAs, coma, SAs, Z31-C, Z31-T, Z40-C, and Z40-T were positively correlated with SE and CCR (P<0.01). Z3−1-C showed negative correlations with (ΔLLD) and positive correlations with SE (P<0.05). Conclusions. The increase in OK-induced HOAs is mainly attributed to Z31 and Z40 of cornea. Z3−1 in the internal component showed a compensative effect on the corneal vertical coma. The degree of myopic correction and increase in CCR may be the essential influential factors of the increase in Z31 and Z40. The appropriate size of the OK lens may be helpful to decrease OK-induced vertical coma

Interaction between Corneal and Internal Ocular Aberrations Induced by Orthokeratology and Its Influential Factors

Purpose. To investigate the interaction between corneal, internal, and total wavefront aberrations (WAs) and their influential factors during orthokeratology (OK) treatment in Chinese adolescents. Methods. Thirty teenagers (n=30 eyes) were enrolled in the study; spherical equivalent refraction (SE), corneal curvature radius (CCR), central corneal thickness (CCT), WAs, and the difference in limbal transverse diameter and OK lens diameter (ΔLLD) were detected before and after one-month OK treatment. Every component of WAs was measured simultaneously by iTrace aberrometer. The influential factors of OK-induced WAs were analyzed. Results. SE and CCT decreased while CCR increased significantly (P<0.01). Higher-order aberrations (HOAs), Spherical aberrations (SAs), and coma increased significantly (P<0.01). Corneal horizontal coma (Z31-C) and corneal spherical aberrations (Z40-C) increased (P<0.01). The HOAs, coma, SAs, Z31-C, Z31-T, Z40-C, and Z40-T were positively correlated with SE and CCR (P<0.01). Z3−1-C showed negative correlations with (ΔLLD) and positive correlations with SE (P<0.05). Conclusions. The increase in OK-induced HOAs is mainly attributed to Z31 and Z40 of cornea. Z3−1 in the internal component showed a compensative effect on the corneal vertical coma. The degree of myopic correction and increase in CCR may be the essential influential factors of the increase in Z31 and Z40. The appropriate size of the OK lens may be helpful to decrease OK-induced vertical coma

High-density Lipoprotein Increases the Uptake of Oxidized Low Density Lipoprotein via PPARγ/CD36 Pathway in Inflammatory Adipocytes

Aim: Previous studies have demonstrated that the dysregulated-secretion of adipokines by adipocytes may contribute to obesity-associated atherosclerosis (As) and high density lipoprotein (HDL) may protect against atherogenesis through multiple pathways. This study was to explore the effect of HDL on the oxLDL uptake in inflammatory adipocytes stimulated by endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the possible mechanism. Methods and Results: 3T3-L1 adipocytes were cultured and induced to differentiation and maturation. Acute inflammation in adipocytes was induced by LPS (100 ng/ml) for 6 hours. The adipocytes were pretreated with HDL in various concentrations (10, 50, 100 μg/ml) for 16 hours or with specific PPARγ antagonist (GW9662, 10 μM) or agonist (Rosiglitazone, 10 μM) for 30 min before administration of LPS. The results showed that LPS significantly increased the release of inflammation-related adipokines, such as monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (PAI-1), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-8 and IL-6, while decreasing the release of leptin and adiponectin. Meanwhile, LPS reduced the uptake and degradation of 125I-oxLDL, and down-regulated the expression of PPARγ and CD36. Pretreatment with HDL dose-dependently affected the release of IL-8 and IL-6 and the reduced uptake and degradation of oxLDL of adipocytes stimulated by LPS, accompanied with marked upregulation of PPARγ and CD36 expression. Pretreatment with GW9662 markedly inhibited the upregulation of CD36 expression mediated by HDL (100 μg/ml), while the effects of Rosiglitazone were opposite to GW9662. Conclusions: HDL may increase oxLDL uptake of inflammatory adipocytes stimulated by LPS via upregulation of PPARγ/CD36 pathway, which may be a new mechanism of anti-atherosclerosis mediated by HDL

Determination of ATP-related compounds by HPLC to study the effect of cell-free supernatants of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum on the shelf life of sliced dry-cured ham

This research aimed to study the evolution of ATP-related compounds in dry-cured ham and to assess their suitability as chemical markers of food contamination. A rapid high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for the analysis of five ATP-related compounds namely, ATP, ADP, AMP, hypoxanthine, and Ino in sliced dry-cured ham. Moreover, a positive correlation between ATP content and microbial load was found in ham during storage. In addition, the method developed herein was employed to quantify ATP-related compounds in sliced dry-cured ham wrapped in a novel antibacterial packaging film containing the cell-free supernatant (CFS) of a probiotic Lactiplantibacillus plantarum strain. The contents of ATP-related compounds in ham samples wrapped in the antibacterial packaging film were lower than in control samples during the 7 days of storage (181 vs 269 mg/kg on day 2; 247 vs 286 mg/kg on day 5; 272 vs 297 mg/kg on day 7). Thus, the evaluated CFS could be considered in packaging material applications for the preservation of sliced ham. This study presents an effective method to assess the quality of sliced ham, which might also contribute to the adoption of active packaging in the food industry

Synthetic High-Density Lipoprotein-Mediated Targeted Delivery of Liver X Receptors Agonist Promotes Atherosclerosis Regression

Targeting at enhancing reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) is apromising strategy for treating atherosclerosis via infusion of reconstitute high density lipoprotein (HDL) as cholesterol acceptors or increase of cholesterol efflux by activation of macrophage liver X receptors (LXRs). However, systemic activation of LXRs triggers excessive lipogenesis in the liver and infusion of HDL downregulates cholesterol efflux from macrophages. Here we describe an enlightened strategy using phospholipid reconstituted apoA-I peptide (22A)-derived synthetic HDL (sHDL) to deliver LXR agonists to the atheroma and examine their effect on atherosclerosis regression in vivo. A synthetic LXR agonist, T0901317 (T1317) was encapsulated in sHDL nanoparticles (sHDL-T1317). Similar to the T1317 compound, the sHDL-T1317 nanoparticles upregulated the expression of ATP-binding cassette transporters and increased cholesterol efflux in macrophages in vitro and in vivo. The sHDL nanoparticles accumulated in the atherosclerotic plaques of ApoE-deficient mice. Moreover, a 6-week low-dose LXR agonist-sHDL treatment induced atherosclerosis regression while avoiding lipid accumulation in the liver. These findings identify LXR agonist loaded sHDL nanoparticles as a promising therapeutic approach to treat atherosclerosis by targeting RCT in a multifaceted manner: sHDL itself serving as both a drug carrier and cholesterol acceptor and the LXR agonist mediating upregulation of ABC transporters in the aorta