Iterative methods based on splittings for stochastic automata networks

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This paper presents iterative methods based on splittings (Jacobi, Gauss-Seidel, Successive Over Relaxation) and their block versions for Stochastic Automata Networks (SANs). These methods prove to be better than the power method that has been used to solve SANs until recently. With the help of three examples we show that the time it takes to solve a system modeled as a SAN is still substantial and it does not seem to be possible to solve systems with tens of millions of states on standard desktop workstations with the current state of technology. However, the SAN methodology enables one to solve much larger models than those could be solved by explicitly storing the global generator in the core of a target architecture especially if the generator is reasonably dense. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Respiratory syncytial virus infections [Respiratuvar sinsityal virus enfeksiyonları]

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most common respiratory pathogens in infants and young children worldwide. Almost all children are infected at least once by the age of 2 years. The clinical manifestations vary depending on age, health status, and whether the infection is primary or secondary. Most RSV-infected children experience upper respiratory tract symptoms and 20% to 30% develop lower respiratory tract disease (e.g., bronchiolitis and/or pneumonia). RSV is the most common cause of lower respiratory tract infection in children younger than 1 year. Most children who have been previously healthy have mild lower respiratory tract infections. However, prematurity, chronic lung disease, congenital heart disease, and primary or secondary immune deficiencies are risk factors for severe RSV infections. Diagnosis can often be clinical. Diagnostic testing is not routinely recommended. The treatment of upper and lower respiratory tract infections is generally supportive. Ribavirin can be used in patients with immune deficiency but is not routinely recommended. There is not a routine vaccine for RSV. The RSV-specific humanized mouse monoclonal antibody "palivizumab" is particularly safe and effective for prophylaxis in high-risk groups. © 2016 by Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society

The role of resistin on metabolic syndrome-induced erectile dysfunction and the possible therapeutic effect of Boldine

PubMed: 326094302-s2.0-85089007279Background: Resistin is known as a potential mediator of obesity-associated insulin resistance. The high resistin level disrupts nitric oxide (NO)-mediated relaxation which is also important in erectile function. An antioxidant alkaloid, Boldine, is known as anti-diabetic and protects endothelial functions. Objectives: We aimed to investigate resistin expression in penile tissue in the presence of insulin resistance (IR) and the effect of Boldine treatment on erectile functions in the metabolic syndrome (MetS) rat model. Materials and methods: Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: Control, MetS, and boldine treated MetS group. MetS parameters were assessed by serum triglycerides (TG), uric acid (UA), glucose, insulin levels, HOMA index, and waist circumference (WC)/tibia length (TL) ratio. To evaluate erectile functions, intracavernous pressure (ICP)/mean arterial pressure (MAP) ratio was performed during cavernous nerve stimulation. Protein expressions of resistin, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), p(S1177) eNOS, and insulin receptor-? were evaluated by Western blotting. Results: TG, glucose, insulin levels, weight, WC/TL ratio, HOMA index and resistin expression in penile tissue were significantly increased and ICP/MAP values, and p (S1177) eNOS expression in penile tissue were decreased in MetS group. Boldine treatment enhanced ICP/MAP values, insulin receptor-? and p(S1177) eNOS expressions compared with the MetS group. Discussion and Conclusion: MetS caused a deterioration in erectile function accompanied by an increase in resistin expression and a reduction in eNOS enzyme activation in the rat penile tissues. Boldine treatment resulted in an improvement in erectile function, independent of resistin expression. © 2020 American Society of Andrology and European Academy of AndrologyTürkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma Kurumu, TÜBITAK: 114S792This study was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (114S792)

Do penile haemodynamics change in the presence of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) donor in metabolic syndrome-induced erectile dysfunction?

WOS: 000426490200003PubMed ID: 28901567Erectile dysfunction (ED) is defined in relation to the metabolic syndrome (metS). Hydrogen sulphide (H2S), a gasotransmitter, has been revealed to get involved in hypertension, insulin secretion and regulation of vascular tone especially in erectile physiology. This study aimed to investigate the effect of H2S on metS-induced ED. Animals were divided into two groups as control and metS, which were fed with standard diet or 60% high-fructose diet for 10weeks respectively. The metS model was evaluated with biochemical analyses, waist circumference/tibia length ratio and HOMA index. Penile hemodynamic parameters were evaluated by the measurement of intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure ratio during cavernous nerve stimulation in the presence and absence of intracavernous injection of NaHS (100g/50l) and its control 0.9%NaCl (50l) in both groups. H2S levels were measured in penile tissues by methylene blue assay. H2S levels were significantly decreased in the penile tissues of the metS group. Decreased intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure ratio improved after intracavernous administration of NaHS in the metS group. These results suggest the significant role of H2S in the metS-induced erectile dysfunction that could be a new therapeutic target.Research Foundation of Dokuz Eylul UniversityDokuz Eylul University [2014.KB.SAG.027]Research Foundation of Dokuz Eylul University, Grant/Award Number: 2014.KB.SAG.02

Rotavirus prevalence and genotype distribution in children with acute gastroenteritis in Adana Province [Adana İlinde akut gastroenteritli Çocuklarda rotavirüs prevalansı ve genotip dağılımı]

PubMedID: 29933733Rotavirus is the most common agent of acute gastroenteritis in children under five years of age and still a major cause of mortality and morbidity mainly in devoloping countries. The aim of this study was to determine the circulating rotavirus genotypes in children less than five years of age with acute gastroenteritis in Adana province, before the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine into the national immunization programme. Fecal specimens were collected from children enrolled between December 2012 and November 2016 and rotavirus antigen was searched by a rapid immunochromatographic test method. The antigen positive samples were G and Pgenotyped by hemi-nested type-specific multiplex reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Rotavirus antigen positive fecal specimens from 201 patients of 107 (53.3%) boys and 94 (46.8%) girls were included in this study. Rotavirus infection was most frequently detected in patients with gastroenteritis between the ages of 12 and 23 months. It has been determined that 45% of rotavirus gastroenteritis was determined in children under two years of age. Rotavirus gastroenteritis was more frequent between September and April, but the highest incidence was detected in January. Of 201 rotavirus antigen-positive stool specimens, 167 were PCR positive. Five common G (G1, G2, G3, G4 and G9) and two common P genotypes (P[8] and P[4]) were determined as 91.6% and 96.4% of the isolates, respectively. The most prevalent G and P genotype combination was G1P8 with a frequency of 29.9%, followed by 21% G9P8 About 78% of rotavirus isolates were classified into five common G-P combination genotypes, including G1P8, G9P8 G3P8, G2P4, and G2P8. During the study period, there were significant changes in the distribution of rotavirus genotype. The prevalence of G9P8 genotype sharply decreased from 40% to 8.1% and the prevalence of G1P8 genotype increased from 21.3% to 48.6%. Although no G3P8 isolates were detected in the first two years of the study, this genotype was detected in 18.5% and 13.5% of the samples in 2015 and 2016, respectively. There were no relationship between the age onset of the disease, sex, dehydration development risk and rotavirus genotype. The results from this study indicated that the predominant circulating strains of rotavirus determined in clinical specimens were G1P8 and G9P8. Significant changes were observed in the prevalence of the most common rotavirus isolates over the years. Rotavirus surveillance is important to determine the circulating strains of rotavirus to assess vaccine effectiveness, to monitor vaccine failures, and to detect potential emerging strains. © 2018 Ankara Microbiology Society. All rights reserved

Effects of Reordering and Lumping in the Analysis of Discrete-Time SANs

In a recent paper [13],it is shown that discrete-time stochastic automata networks (SANs) are lumpable under rather general conditions. Therein, the authors present an efficient iterative aggregation-disaggregation (IAD) algorithm geared towards computing the stationary vector of discrete-time SANs that satisfy the conditions of lumpability. The performance of the proposed IAD solver essentially depends on two parameters. The first is the order in which the automata are lined up, and the second is the size of the lumped matrix. Based on the characteristics of the SAN model at hand, the user may have some flexibility in the choice of these two parameters. In this paper, we give rules of thumb regarding the choice of these parameters on a model from mobile communications