PENALARAN BERBASIS KASUS UNTUK MENDIAGNOSA PENYAKIT INFEKSI MENULAR SEKSUAL (IMS) MENGGUNAKAN ALGORITMA WEIGHTED EUCLIDEAN DISTANCE

Case-based reasoning is a methodology for solving problems by utilizing previous experience. In this study the authors apply case-based reasoning to diagnose sexually transmitted infection using the weighted Euclidean distance method. Source of the knowledge base was obtained by collecting medical record of patients with sexually transmitted infections in 2016-2017. The process of finding a solution starts with eliminating irrelevant data using the C4.5 method and continues with the calculation of the similarity value using the Weighted Euclidean Distance algorithm. This system can diagnose 5 types of sexually transmitted infections based on 123 existing symptoms. System result in the form of sexually transmitted infections based on symptoms experienced by the patient, treatment solution and presentation of similarities between new cases and old cases. Based on the result of testing with 127 cases of sexually transmitted infections obtained result: testing uses the K-Fold Cross Validation scenario, the total data is divided into 10fold and the testing process is divided into 2 parts, namely testing using indexing and testing without using indexing. For testing using the highest accuracy indexing obtained at 90.84% in the second fold, and the average accuracy of the entire fold is 88.55% with the average time generated 9498 ms (millisecond), while testing without using the highest accuracy indexing obtained by 63.03% in the second fold, and the average accuracy of the entire fold is 53.48% with the average time generated 9975 ms (millisecond).  Penalaran Berbasis Kasus adalah sebuah metedologi untuk penyelesaian masalah dengan memanfaatkan pengalaman sebelumnya. Pada penelitian ini penulis menerapkan penalaran berbasis kasus untuk mendiagnosa penyakit infeksi menular seksual menggunakan metode weighted euclidean distance. Sumber basis pengetahuan diperoleh dengan mengumpulkan berkas rekam medis pasien penyakit infeksi menular seksual pada tahun 2016-2017. Proses pencarian solusi dimulai dengan mengeliminasi data yang tidak relevan menggunakan C4.5 dan berlanjut dengan perhitungan nilai kemiripan menggunakan algoritma weighted euclidean distance. Sistem ini dapat mendiagnosis 5 jenis penyakit infeksi menular seksual berdasarkan 123 gejala yang ada. Hasil sistem berupa jenis penyakit infeksi menular seksual berdasarkan gejala yang dialami pasien, solusi pengobatan dan presentasi kemiripan kasus baru dengan kasus lama. Berdasarkan hasil pengujian dengan 127 kasus infeksi menular seksual (IMS) didapatkan hasil: Pengujian menggunakan skenario K-Fold Cross Validation, total data dibagi menjadi 10 fold dan proses pengujian dibagi menjadi 2 bagian yaitu pengujian menggunakan indexing dan pengujian tanpa menggunakan indexing. Untuk pengujian menggunakan indexing akurasi tertinggi yang didapat sebesar 90.84% pada fold ke-2, dan rata-rata akurasi dari keseluruhan fold adalah sebesar 88.55% dengan rata-rata waktu yang dihasillkan 9498 ms (milidetik) sedangkan pengujian tanpa menggunakan indexing akurasi tertinggi yang didapat sebesar 63.03% pada fold ke-2, dan rata-rata akurasi dari keseluruhan fold adalah sebesar 53.48% dengan rata-rata waktu yang dihasilkan 9975 ms (milidetik). &nbsp

Protective Actions of Ghrelin on Global Cerebral Ischemia-Induced Memory Deficits

In our study, we investigated transient global cerebral ischemia (TGCI) -induced changes of spatial memory and motor activity together with apoptotic, oxidant, and NO/NOS signaling parameters in rats and the effects of treatment of the animals with ghrelin. The TGCI-induced deficiencies of spatial memory and motor activity in the Y-maze and open field tests were attenuated by ghrelin treatment. Furthermore, ghrelin administration lowered the levels of caspase-3 and iNOS elevated by TGCI in the hippocampus. Thus, we conclude that ghrelin exerts the neuroprotective action against hippocampal TGCI injury via influencing apoptotic, oxidant, and/or NO/NOS pathways. If underlying mechanisms of the action of this agent will be fully clarified, ghrelin might be a candidate drug for treatment of TGCI-induced memory impairments.У наших дослідах ми вивчали зміни просторової пам’яті та моторної активності, викликані в щурів транзієнтною глобальною церебральною ішемією (ТГЦІ). Використовували тести в Y-подібному лабіринті та відкритому полі; оцінювали також параметри процесу апоптозу, оксидативного стресу та сигнального шляху оксиду азоту. Розлади просторової пам’яті та моторної активності під впливом греліну (ендогенного ліганда рецепторів гормону росту) зменшувалися. Крім того, в результаті введень греліну знижувалися рівні каспази-3 та індуцибельної NO-синтази в гіпокампі, що були підвищеними після ТГЦІ. Зроблено висновок, що грелін має нейропротективні властивості в умовах ушкодження гіпокампа в наслідок ТГЦІ, впливаючи на процес апоптозу, оксидативний стрес та стан сигнального шляху оксиду азоту. Якщо механізми дії цього агента будуть докладно з’ясовані, грелін може виявитися перспективним фармакологічним засобом при лікуванні розладів пам’яті, пов’язаних з ТГЦІ

Developmental Bias in Cleavage-Stage Mouse Blastomeres

BACKGROUND: The cleavage-stage mouse embryo is composed of superficially equivalent blastomeres that will generate both the embryonic inner cell mass (ICM) and the supportive trophectoderm (TE). However, it remains unsettled whether the contribution of each blastomere to these two lineages can be accounted for by chance. Addressing the question of blastomere cell fate may be of practical importance, because preimplantation genetic diagnosis requires removal of blastomeres from the early human embryo. To determine whether blastomere allocation to the two earliest lineages is random, we developed and utilized a recombination-mediated, noninvasive combinatorial fluorescent labeling method for embryonic lineage tracing. RESULTS: When we induced recombination at cleavage stages, we observed a statistically significant bias in the contribution of the resulting labeled clones to the trophectoderm or the inner cell mass in a subset of embryos. Surprisingly, we did not find a correlation between localization of clones in the embryonic and abembryonic hemispheres of the late blastocyst and their allocation to the TE and ICM, suggesting that TE-ICM bias arises separately from embryonic-abembryonic bias. Rainbow lineage tracing also allowed us to demonstrate that the bias observed in the blastocyst persists into postimplantation stages and therefore has relevance for subsequent development. CONCLUSIONS: The Rainbow transgenic mice that we describe here have allowed us to detect lineage-dependent bias in early development. They should also enable assessment of the developmental equivalence of mammalian progenitor cells in a variety of tissues.Molecular and Cellular Biolog

The Influence of L-Carnitine on Oxidative Modification of LDL In Vitro

Owing to their structure and function, low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) are particularly susceptible to the oxidative modifications. To prevent against oxidative modification of LDL, L-carnitine, with endogenous small water-soluble quaternary amine possessing antioxidative properties, was used. The aim of this paper was to prove the in vitro influence of L-carnitine on the degree of oxidative modification of the lipid part (estimated by conjugated dienes, lipid hydroperoxides, and malondialdehyde levels) and the protein part (estimated by dityrosine and tryptophan levels) of LDL native and oxidized by cooper ions. The level of lipophylic LDL antioxidant—α-tocopherol was also measured

Visualizing Escherichia coli Sub-Cellular Structure Using Sparse Deconvolution Spatial Light Interference Tomography

Studying the 3D sub-cellular structure of living cells is essential to our understanding of biological function. However, tomographic imaging of live cells is challenging mainly because they are transparent, i.e., weakly scattering structures. Therefore, this type of imaging has been implemented largely using fluorescence techniques. While confocal fluorescence imaging is a common approach to achieve sectioning, it requires fluorescence probes that are often harmful to the living specimen. On the other hand, by using the intrinsic contrast of the structures it is possible to study living cells in a non-invasive manner. One method that provides high-resolution quantitative information about nanoscale structures is a broadband interferometric technique known as Spatial Light Interference Microscopy (SLIM). In addition to rendering quantitative phase information, when combined with a high numerical aperture objective, SLIM also provides excellent depth sectioning capabilities. However, like in all linear optical systems, SLIM's resolution is limited by diffraction. Here we present a novel 3D field deconvolution algorithm that exploits the sparsity of phase images and renders images with resolution beyond the diffraction limit. We employ this label-free method, called deconvolution Spatial Light Interference Tomography (dSLIT), to visualize coiled sub-cellular structures in E. coli cells which are most likely the cytoskeletal MreB protein and the division site regulating MinCDE proteins. Previously these structures have only been observed using specialized strains and plasmids and fluorescence techniques. Our results indicate that dSLIT can be employed to study such structures in a practical and non-invasive manner

Chemotherapy-induced hyaluronan production: a novel chemoresistance mechanism in ovarian cancer

Background: Hyaluronan (HA) an important component of the extracellular matrix, has been linked to tumor progression and drug resistance in several malignancies. However, limited data is available for ovarian cancer. This study investigated the role of hyaluronan (HA) and a potential link between the HA-CD44 pathway and membrane ATP binding cassette (ABC) transporter proteins in ovarian cancer chemoresistance. Methods: We investigated the ability of HA to block the cytotoxic effects of the chemotherapy drug carboplatin, and to regulate the expression of ABC transporters in ovarian cancer cells. We also examined HA serum levels in ovarian cancer patients prior to and following chemotherapy and assessed its prognostic relevance. Results: HA increased the survival of carboplatin treated ovarian cancer cells expressing the HA receptor, CD44 (OVCAR-5 and OV-90). Carboplatin significantly increased expression of HAS2, HAS3 and ABCC2 and HA secretion in ovarian cancer cell conditioned media. Serum HA levels were significantly increased in patients following platinum based chemotherapy and at both 1st and 2nd recurrence when compared with HA levels prior to treatment. High serum HA levels (>50 μg/ml) prior to chemotherapy treatment were associated with significantly reduced progression-free (P = 0.014) and overall survival (P = 0.036). HA production in ovarian cancer cells was increased in cancer tissues collected following chemotherapy treatment and at recurrence. Furthermore HA treatment significantly increased the expression of ABC drug transporters (ABCB3, ABCC1, ABCC2, and ABCC3), but only in ovarian cancer cells expressing CD44. The effects of HA and carboplatin on ABC transporter expression in ovarian cancer cells could be abrogated by HA oligomer treatment. Importantly, HA oligomers increased the sensitivity of chemoresistant SKOV3 cells to carboplatin. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that carboplatin chemotherapy induces HA production which can contribute to chemoresistance by regulating ABC transporter expression. The HA-CD44 signaling pathway is therefore a promising target in platinum resistant ovarian cancer.Carmela Ricciardelli, Miranda P Ween, Noor A Lokman, Izza A Tan, Carmen E Pyragius, and Martin K Oehle

Recent advances reveal IL-8 signaling as a potential key to targeting breast cancer stem cells

Breast cancer stem-like cells (CSCs) are an important therapeutic target as they are purported to be responsible for tumor initiation, maintenance, metastases, and disease recurrence. Interleukin-8 (IL-8) is upregulated in breast cancer compared with normal breast tissue and is associated with poor prognosis. IL-8 is reported to promote breast cancer progression by increasing cell invasion, angiogenesis, and metastases and is upregulated in HER2-positive cancers. Recently, we and others have established that IL-8 via its cognate receptors, CXCR1 and CXCR2, is also involved in regulating breast CSC activity. Our work demonstrates that in metastatic breast CSCs, CXCR1/2 signals via transactivation of HER2. Given the importance of HER2 in breast cancer and in regulating CSC activity, a pathway driving the activation of these receptors would have important biological and clinical consequences, especially in tumors that express high levels of IL-8 and other CXCR1/2-activating ligands. Here, we review the IL-8 signaling pathway and the role of HER2 in maintaining an IL-8 inflammatory loop and discuss the potential of combining CXCR1/2 inhibitors with other treatments such as HER2-targeted therapy as a novel approach to eliminate CSCs and improve patient survival