Improving Viral Diagnostic Methods: A Plasmonic Nanoparticle Virion Counting and Interpretation System Utilizing MATLAB

One of the biggest issues currently plaguing the field of medicine is the lack of an accurate and efficient form of disease diagnosis. For example, the two most commonly utilized test diagnosis systems, the PCR and rapid test, sacrifice either accuracy or speed to achieve the other. Another issue currently present is the issue of viral quantification or the counting of virions within a nasal sample. These can provide doctors with crucial information in treating infections; however, the current mediums are underdeveloped and unstandardized. This project's goals were to 1) create an accurate and rapid RSV diagnostic test and 2) design a viral quantification mechanism that counts the number of virions. This diagnostic test involved a system that pumped RSV-aggregated gold nanoparticles and unaggregated gold nanoparticles through a microcapillary, whose cross-section was intersected by two laser beams generating and detecting the nanobubbles. The signals between the unaggregated and aggregated nanobubbles were calibrated, and the number of RSV virions was recorded. The results yielded an accuracy of 99.99 percent and an average time of 5.2 minutes, validating that this design is both faster and more accurate compared to current tests. When cross-validated with Poisson statistics, the virion counting system counted the number of virions with 98.52 percent accuracy. In order to determine the accuracy of our samples, the results were compared to clinical trials of nasal samples, and our diagnostic system predicted accurate diagnostics after statistical analysis. With further testing, this diagnostic method could replace current standards of testing, saving millions of lives every year.Comment: 20 Pages, 15. Figures Presented at DRESEF, PSEF, TJSHS, TJAS, UTD Nanoparticle Conferenc

Gromov-Witten invariants of blow-ups along submanifolds with convex normal bundles

Given a submanifold Z inside X, let Y be the blow-up of X along Z. When the normal bundle of Z in X is convex with a minor assumption, we prove that genus-zero GW-invariants of Y with cohomology insertions from X, are identical to GW-invariants of X. Under the same hypothesis, a vanishing theorem is also proved. An example to which these two theorems apply is when the normal bundle is generated by global sections. These two main theorems do not hold for arbitrary blow-ups, and counter-examples are included.Comment: 34 page

Automatically Extracting Templates from Examples for NLP Tasks

PACLIC / The University of the Philippines Visayas Cebu College Cebu City, Philippines / November 20-22, 200

Introduction to State Estimation of High-Rate System Dynamics

Engineering systems experiencing high-rate dynamic events, including airbags, debris detection, and active blast protection systems, could benefit from real-time observability for enhanced performance. However, the task of high-rate state estimation is challenging, in particular for real-time applications where the rate of the observer’s convergence needs to be in the microsecond range. This paper identifies the challenges of state estimation of high-rate systems and discusses the fundamental characteristics of high-rate systems. A survey of applications and methods for estimators that have the potential to produce accurate estimations for a complex system experiencing highly dynamic events is presented. It is argued that adaptive observers are important to this research. In particular, adaptive data-driven observers are advantageous due to their adaptability and lack of dependence on the system model

Constraints of FL Motif on the Targeting and Function of Sodium-Bicarbonate Cotransporter 1

A C-terminal dihydrophobic FL motif plays a vital role in the basolateral targeting of sodium bicarbonate cotransporter 1. To further characterize the role of dihydrophobic FL motif, 1). the FL motif in wild type (PFLS) was reversed to LF (PLFS), 2). the FL motif (PFLS) was shifted upstream (FLPS), and 3). the FL motif (PFLS) was shifted downstream (PSFL). The wild type (PFLS) and its mutant (PLFS) were exclusively expressed on the basolateral membrane by con-focal microscopy, however, the mutant (FLPS) and (PSFL) were predominantly mistargeted to the apical membrane and the cytoplasm, respectively. Functional studies showed that the mutant (PSFL) displayed a remarkably reduced current (p value<0.05 vs wild type). The mutant (PSFL) displayed a more reduced membrane surface expression than the wild type and was co-localized with ER marker. The protein sequence spanning FL motif in kNBC1 C-terminal cytoplasmic tail shows a helical structure, mutants (PLFS) and (PSFL) reduce a-helical contents by circular dichroism study. Reversed FL isn't a constraint for basolateral targeting, but shifting it upstream and downstream are ones

Variable input observer for nonstationary high-rate dynamic systems

Engineering systems experiencing events of amplitudes higher than 100 gn for a duration under 100 ms, here termed high-rate dynamics, can undergo rapid damaging effects. If the structural health of such systems could be accurately estimated in a timely manner, preventative measures could be employed to minimize adverse effects. For complex high-rate problems, adaptive observers have shown promise due to their capability to deal with nonstationary, noisy, and uncertain systems. However, adaptive observers have slow convergence rates, which impede their applicability to the high-rate problems. To improve on the convergence rate, we propose a variable input space concept for optimizing the use of data history of high-rate dynamics, with the objective to produce an optimal representation of the system of interest. Using the embedding theory, the algorithm sequentially selects and adapts a vector of inputs that preserves the essential dynamics of the high-rate system. In this paper, the variable input space is integrated in a wavelet neural network, which constitutes a variable input observer. The observer is simulated using experimental data from a high-rate system. Different input space adaptation methods are studied, and the performance is also compared against an optimized fixed input strategy. It is found that a smooth transition of the input space eliminates error spikes and yields faster convergence. The variable input observer is further studied in a hybrid model-/data-driven formulation, and results demonstrate significant improvement in performance gained from the added physical knowledge

Endoplasmic reticulum degradation impedes olfactory G-protein coupled receptor functional expression

BACKGROUND: Research on olfactory G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) has been severely impeded by poor functional expression in heterologous systems. Previously, we demonstrated that inefficient olfactory receptor (OR) expression at the plasma membrane is attributable, in part, to degradation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-retained ORs by the ubiquitin-proteasome system and sequestration of ORs in ER aggregates that are degraded by autophagy. Thus, experiments were performed to test the hypothesis that attenuation of ER degradation improves OR functional expression in heterologous cells. RESULTS: To develop means to increase the functional expression of ORs, we devised an approach to measure activation of the mOREG OR (Unigene # Mm.196680; Olfr73) through coupling to an olfactory cyclic nucleotide-gated cation channel (CNG). This system, which utilizes signal transduction machinery coupled to OR activation in native olfactory sensory neurons, was used to demonstrate that degradation, both by the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy, limits mOREG functional expression. The stimulatory effects of proteasome and autophagy inhibitors on mOREG function required export from the ER and trafficking through the biosynthetic pathway. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that poor functional expression of mOREG in heterologous cells is improved by blocking proteolysis. Inhibition of ER degradation may improve the function of other ORs and assist future efforts to elucidate the molecular basis of odor discrimination

Natural Product Nitric Oxide Chemistry: New Activity of Old Medicines

The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) as a therapy and preventative care measure for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) may prove to be beneficial when used in conjunction with or in place of conventional medicine. However, the lack of understanding of a mechanism of action of many CAMs limits their use and acceptance in western medicine. We have recently recognized and characterized specific nitric oxide (NO) activity of select alternative and herbal medicines that may account for many of their reported health benefits. The ability of certain CAM to restore NO homeostasis both through enhancing endothelial production of NO and by providing a system for reducing nitrate and nitrite to NO as a compensatory pathway for repleting NO bioavailability may prove to be a safe and cost-effective strategy for combating CVD. We will review the current state of science behind NO activity of herbal medicines and their effects on CVD

Behavioral and Neurobiological Changes in C57BL/6 Mouse Exposed to Cuprizone: Effects of Antipsychotics

Recent human studies suggest a role for altered oligodendrocytes in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Our recent animal study has reported some schizophrenia-like behaviors in mice exposed to cuprizone (Xu et al., 2009), a copper chelator that has been shown to selectively damage the white matter. This study was to explore mechanisms underlying the behavioral changes in cuprizone-exposed mice and to examine effects of the antipsychotics haloperidol, clozapine and quetiapine on the changes in the mice. Mice given cuprizone for 14 days showed a deficit in the prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle response and higher dopamine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which changes were not seen in mice given cuprizone plus antipsychotics. Mice given cuprizone for 21 days showed lower spontaneous alternations in Y-maze, which was not seen in mice treated with cuprizone plus the antipsychotics. Mice given cuprizone for 28 days displayed less social interactions, which was not seen in mice given cuprizone plus clozapine/quetiapine, but was seen in mice given cuprizone plus haloperidol. Mice given cuprizone for 42 days showed myelin sheath loss and lower myelin basic protein in PFC, caudate putamen, and hippocampus. The white matter damage in PFC was attenuated in mice given cuprizone plus clozapine/haloperidol. But the white matter damage in caudate putamen and hippocampus was only attenuated by clozapine and quetiapine, not by haloperidol. These results help us to understand the behavioral changes and provide experimental evidence for the protective effects of antipsychotics on white matter damage in cuprizone-exposed mice

Learning Translation Rules for a Bidirectional English-Filipino Machine Translator

PACLIC 20 / Wuhan, China / 1-3 November, 200