Web ontology representation and reasoning via fragments of set theory

In this paper we use results from Computable Set Theory as a means to represent and reason about description logics and rule languages for the semantic web. Specifically, we introduce the description logic \mathcal{DL}\langle 4LQS^R\rangle(\D)--admitting features such as min/max cardinality constructs on the left-hand/right-hand side of inclusion axioms, role chain axioms, and datatypes--which turns out to be quite expressive if compared with \mathcal{SROIQ}(\D), the description logic underpinning the Web Ontology Language OWL. Then we show that the consistency problem for \mathcal{DL}\langle 4LQS^R\rangle(\D)-knowledge bases is decidable by reducing it, through a suitable translation process, to the satisfiability problem of the stratified fragment $4LQS^R$ of set theory, involving variables of four sorts and a restricted form of quantification. We prove also that, under suitable not very restrictive constraints, the consistency problem for \mathcal{DL}\langle 4LQS^R\rangle(\D)-knowledge bases is \textbf{NP}-complete. Finally, we provide a $4LQS^R$-translation of rules belonging to the Semantic Web Rule Language (SWRL)

Sleeve Gastrectomy-Induced Body Mass Index Reduction Increases the Intensity of Taste Perception’s and Reduces Bitter-Induced Pleasantness in Severe Obesity

Background: The sense of taste is involved in food behavior and may drive food choices, likely contributing to obesity. Differences in taste preferences have been reported in normal-weight as compared to obese subjects. Changes in taste perception with an increased sweet-induced sensitivity have been reported in surgically treated obese patients, but data regarding the perception of basic tastes yielded conflicting results. We aimed to evaluate basic taste identification, induced perception, and pleasantness in normal-weight controls and obese subjects before and after bariatric surgery. Methods: Severe obese and matched normal weight subjects underwent a standardized spit test to evaluate sweet, bitter, salty, umami, and sour taste identification, induced perception, and pleasant-ness. A subset of obese subjects were also studied before and 12 months after sleeve gastrectomy. Results: No significant differences in basic taste-induced perceptions were observed, although a higher number of controls correctly identified umami than did obese subjects. Sleeve-gastrectomy-induced weight loss did not affect the overall ability to correctly identify basic tastes but was associated with a significant increase in taste intensities, with higher scores for sour and bitter, and a significantly reduced bitter-induced pleasantness. Conclusions: The perception of basic tastes is similar in normal-weight and severely obese subjects. Sleeve-gastrectomy-induced weight loss significantly increases basic taste-induced intensity, and selectively reduces bitter-related pleasantness without affecting the ability to identify the tastes. Our findings reveal that taste perception is influenced by body mass index changes, likely supporting the hypothesis that centrally mediated mechanisms modulate taste perception in severe obesity

Particulate Air Pollution, Clock Gene Methylation, and Stroke : Effects on Stroke Severity and Disability

Circadian rhythm disturbances have been consistently associated with the development of several diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). A central clock in the brain maintains the daily rhythm in accordance with the external environment. At the molecular level, the clock is maintained by \u201cclock genes\u201d, the regulation of which is mainly due to DNA methylation, a molecular mechanism of gene expression regulation, able to react to and be reprogrammed by environmental exposure such as exposure to particulate matter (PM). In 55 patients with a diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke, we showed that PM2.5 exposure experienced before the event influenced clock genes methylation (i.e., circadian locomotor output cycles protein kaput CLOCK, period 2 PER2, cryprochrome 1 CRY1, Neuronal PAS Domain Protein 2 NPAS2), possibly modulating the patient prognosis after the event, as cryptochrome 1 CRY1 and period 1 PER1 methylation levels were associated with the Rankin score. Moreover, if PM2.5 annual average was low, CRY1/CRY2 methylation levels were positively associated with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, whereas they were negatively associated if PM2.5 exposure was high. Whether epigenetic changes in clock genes need to be considered as a prognostic marker of stroke or rather a causal agent in stroke development remains to be determined. Further studies are needed to determine the role of clock gene methylation in regulating the response to and recovery after a stroke event

25 hydroxyvitamin D deficiency and its relationship to autoimmune thyroid disease in the elderly

Background: Low 25(OH) vitamin D levels have been associated with several autoimmune diseases and recently with autoimmune thyroiditis (AT). The aim of the study was to investigate the association of AT with low 25(OH) vitamin D levels in the elderly. Methods: One hundred sixty-eight elderly subjects (mean age: 81.6 ± 9.4 years) were enrolled. Serum levels of 25(OH) vitamin D, anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO-Ab), anti-thyroglobulin (TG-Ab) antibodies, free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) were measured. Results: The prevalence of AT was significantly higher in subjects with vitamin D deficiency (25(OH) vitamin D < 20 ng/mL) when compared with subjects with normal 25(OH) vitamin D (25(OH) vitamin D ≥ 20 ng/mL) levels (28% vs. 8%, respectively, p = 0.002). Patients with AT and vitamin D deficiency had a comparable hormonal profile compared to patients with AT and vitamin D sufficiency in terms of TSH (p = 0.39), FT3 (p = 0.30), FT4 (p = 0.31), TG-Ab (0.44) and TPO-Ab (0.35). Interestingly, a significant correlation between 25(OH) vitamin D and TPO-Ab (r = −0.27, p = 0.03) and FT3 (r = 0.35, p = 0.006) has been found in subjects with AT while no correlation was found between 25(OH) vitamin D levels and TG-Ab (r = −0.15, p = 0.25), TSH (r = −0.014, p = 0.09) and FT4 (r = 0.13, p = 0.32). Conclusions: These findings suggest that vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with AT in the elderly. Therefore, the screening for AT should be suggested in subjects with vitamin D deficiency

Mathematical model for preoperative identification of obstructed nasal subsites

The planning of experimental studies for evaluation of nasal airflow is particularly challenging given the difficulty in obtaining objective measurements in vivo. Although standard rhinomanometry and acoustic rhinometry are the most widely used diagnostic tools for evaluation of nasal airflow, they provide only a global measurement of nasal dynamics, without temporal or spatial details. Furthermore, the numerical simulation of nasal airflow as computational fluid dynamics technology is not validated. Unfortunately, to date, there are no available diagnostic tools to objectively evaluate the geometry of the nasal cavities and to measure nasal resistance and the degree of nasal obstruction, which is of utmost importance for surgical planning. To overcame these limitations, we developed a mathematical model based on Bernoulli's equation, which allows clinicians to obtain, with the use of a particular direct digital manometry, pressure measurements over time to identify which nasal subsite is obstructed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to identify two limiting curves, one below and one above an average representative curve, describing the time dependence of the gauge pressure inside a single nostril. These upper and lower curves enclosed an area into which the airflow pattern of healthy individuals falls. In our opinion, this model may be useful to study each nasal subsite and to objectively evaluate the geometry and resistances of the nasal cavities, particularly in preoperative planning and follow-up

Effects of particulate matter on genomic DNA methylation content and iNOS promoter methylation

Background: Altered patterns of gene expression mediate the effects of particulate matter (PM) on human health, but mechanisms through which PM modifies gene expression are largely undetermined. Objectives: We aimed at identifying short- and long-term effects of PM exposure on DNA methylation, a major genomic mechanism of gene expression control, in workers in an electric furnace steel plant with well-characterized exposure to PM with aerodynamic diameters < 10 μm (PM10). Methods: We measured global genomic DNA methylation content estimated in Alu and long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1) repeated elements, and promoter DNA methylation of iNOS (inducible nitric oxide synthase), a gene suppressed by DNA methylation and induced by PM exposure in blood leukocytes. Quantitative DNA methylation analysis was performed through bisulfite PCR pyrosequencing on blood DNA obtained from 63 workers on the first day of a work week (baseline, after 2 days off work) and after 3 days of work (postexposure). Individual PM10 exposure was between 73.4 and 1,220 μg/m3. Results: Global methylation content estimated in Alu and LINE-1 repeated elements did not show changes in postexposure measures compared with baseline. PM10 exposure levels were negatively associated with methylation in both Alu [β = –0.19 %5-methylcytosine (%5mC); p = 0.04] and LINE-1 [β = –0.34 %5mC; p = 0.04], likely reflecting long-term PM10 effects. iNOS promoter DNA methylation was significantly lower in postexposure blood samples compared with baseline (difference = –0.61 %5mC; p = 0.02). Conclusions: We observed changes in global and gene specific methylation that should be further characterized in future investigations on the effects of PM

Risk factors and incidence of long-COVID syndrome in hospitalized patients: does remdesivir have a protective effect?

BACKGROUND: The definition of 'long-COVID syndrome' (LCS) is still debated and describes the persistence of symptoms after viral clearance in hospitalized or non-hospitalized patients affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). AIM: In this study, we examined the prevalence and the risk factors of LCS in a cohort of patients with previous COVID-19 and followed for at least 6 months of follow-up. DESIGN: We conducted a prospective study including all hospitalized patients affected by COVID-19 at our center of Infectious Diseases (Vercelli, Italy) admitted between 10 March 2020 and 15 January 2021 for at least 6 months after discharge. Two follow-up visits were performed: after 1 and 6 months after hospital discharge. Clinical, laboratory and radiological data were recorded at each visit. RESULTS: A total of 449 patients were included in the analysis. The LCS was diagnosed in 322 subjects at Visit 1 (71.7%) and in 206 at Visit 2 (45.9); according to the post-COVID-19 functional status scale we observed 147 patients with values 2-3 and 175 with values >3 at Visit 1; at Visit 2, 133 subjects had the score between 2-3 and 73 > 3. In multivariate analysis, intensive care unit (ICU) admission (OR = 2.551; 95% CI = 1.998-6.819; P = 0.019), time of hospitalization (OR = 2.255; 95% CI = 1.018-6.992; P = 0.016) and treatment with remdesivir (OR = 0.641; 95% CI = 0.413-0.782; P < 0.001) were independent predictors of LCS. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with remdesivir leads to a 35.9% reduction in LCS rate in follow-up. Severity of illness, need of ICU admission and length of hospital stay were factor associated with the persistence of PCS at 6 months of follow-up

Simultaneous learning of instantaneous and time-delayed genetic interactions using novel information theoretic scoring technique

BACKGROUND: Understanding gene interactions is a fundamental question in systems biology. Currently, modeling of gene regulations using the Bayesian Network (BN) formalism assumes that genes interact either instantaneously or with a certain amount of time delay. However in reality, biological regulations, both instantaneous and time-delayed, occur simultaneously. A framework that can detect and model both these two types of interactions simultaneously would represent gene regulatory networks more accurately. RESULTS: In this paper, we introduce a framework based on the Bayesian Network (BN) formalism that can represent both instantaneous and time-delayed interactions between genes simultaneously. A novel scoring metric having firm mathematical underpinnings is also proposed that, unlike other recent methods, can score both interactions concurrently and takes into account the reality that multiple regulators can regulate a gene jointly, rather than in an isolated pair-wise manner. Further, a gene regulatory network (GRN) inference method employing an evolutionary search that makes use of the framework and the scoring metric is also presented. CONCLUSION: By taking into consideration the biological fact that both instantaneous and time-delayed regulations can occur among genes, our approach models gene interactions with greater accuracy. The proposed framework is efficient and can be used to infer gene networks having multiple orders of instantaneous and time-delayed regulations simultaneously. Experiments are carried out using three different synthetic networks (with three different mechanisms for generating synthetic data) as well as real life networks of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, E. coli and cyanobacteria gene expression data. The results show the effectiveness of our approach

LARES/WEBER-SAT and the equivalence principle

It has often been claimed that the proposed Earth artificial satellite LARES/WEBER-SAT-whose primary goal is, in fact, the measurement of the general relativistic Lense-Thirring effect at a some percent level-would allow to greatly improve, among (many) other things, the present-day (10^-13) level of accuracy in testing the equivalence principle as well. Recent claims point towards even two orders of magnitude better, i.e. 10^-15. In this note we show that such a goal is, in fact, unattainable by many orders of magnitude being, instead, the achievable level of the order of 10^-9.Comment: LaTex, 4 pages, no figures, no tables, 26 references. Proofs corrections included. To appear in EPL (Europhysics Letters