Expert advice ensemble for thyroid disease diagnosis

Thyroid gland influences the metabolic processes of human body due to the fact that it produces hormones. Hyperthyroidism in caused due to increase in the production of thyroid hormones. In this paper a methodology using an online ensemble of decision trees to detect thyroid-related diseases is proposed. The aim of this work is to improve the diagnostic accuracy of thyroid disease. Initially, feature rejection method is applied to discard 10 irrelevant and redundant features from 29 features. Then, it's shown that the offline ensemble of decision trees provides higher performance than state-of-the-art methodologies. Afterwards, the exponential weights based online ensemble method is implemented which reaches comparable classification performance with offline methodology. The proposed system consists of three stages: feature rejection, training decision trees with different cost schemes and the online classification stage where each classifier is weighted using an exponential weight based algorithm. The performance of online algorithm increases as the number of samples increases, because it continuously updates the weights to improve accuracy. The achieved classification accuracy proves the robustness and effectiveness of online version of proposed system in thyroid disease diagnosis. © 2017 IEEE

Transmittivity of a Bose-Einstein condensate on a lattice: interference from period doubling and the effect of disorder

We evaluate the particle current flowing in steady state through a Bose-Einstein condensate subject to a constant force in a quasi-onedimensional lattice and to attractive interactions from fermionic atoms that are localized in various configurations inside the lattice wells. The system is treated within a Bose-Hubbard tight binding model by an out-of-equilibrium Green's function approach. A new band gap opens up when the lattice period is doubled by locating the fermions in alternate wells and yields an interference pattern in the transmittivity on varying the intensity of the driving force. The positions of the transmittivity minima are determined by matching the period of Bloch oscillations and the time for tunnelling across the band gap. Massive disorder in the distribution of the fermions will wash out the interference pattern, but the same period doubling of the lattice can be experimentally realized in a four-beam set-up. We report illustrative numerical results for a mixture of 87Rb and 40K atoms in an optical lattice created by laser beams with a wavelength of 763 nm.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Characterization of HCV Interactions with Toll-Like Receptors and RIG-I in Liver Cells

The aim of this study was to examine the mechanisms of IFN induction and viral escape. In order to accomplish the goal we compared our new hepatoma cell line LH86, which has intact TLR3 and RIG-I expression and responds to HCV by inducing IFN, with Huh7.5 cells which lack those features.The initial interaction of LH86 cells, Huh7.5 cells or their transfected counter parts (LH86 siRIG-I, siTLR3 or siTLR7 and Huh7.5 RIG-I, TLR3 or TLR7) after infection with HCV (strain JFH-1) was studied by measuring the expression levels of IFNβ, TRAIL, DR4, DR5 and their correlation to viral replication.HCV replicating RNA induces IFN in LH86 cells. The IFN induction system is functional in LH86, and the expression of the RIG-I and TLR3 in LH86 is comparable to the primary hepatocytes. Both proteins appear to play important roles in suppression of viral replication. We found that innate immunity against HCV is associated with the induction of apoptosis by RIG-I through the TRAIL pathway and the establishment of an antiviral state by TLR3. HCV envelope proteins interfere with the expression of TLR3 and RIG-I.These findings correlate with the lower expression level of PRRs in HCV chronic patients and highlight the importance of the PRRs in the initial interaction of the virus and its host cells. This work represents a novel mechanism of viral pathogenesis for HCV and demonstrates the role of PRRs in viral infection

A hyper-heuristic with two guidance indicators for bi-objective mixed-shift vehicle routing problem with time windows

In this paper, a Mixed-Shift Vehicle Routing Problem is proposed based on a real-life container transportation problem. In a long planning horizon of multiple shifts, transport tasks are completed satisfying the time constraints. Due to the different travel distances and time of tasks, there are two types of shifts (long shift and short shift) in this problem. The unit driver cost for long shifts is higher than that of short shifts. A mathematical model of this Mixed-Shift Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (MS-VRPTW) is established in this paper, with two objectives of minimizing the total driver payment and the total travel distance. Due to the large scale and nonlinear constraints, the exact search showed is not suitable to MS-VRPTW. An initial solution construction heuristic (EBIH) and a selective perturbation Hyper-Heuristic (GIHH) are thus developed. In GIHH, five heuristics with different extents of perturbation at the low level are adaptively selected by a high level selection scheme with the Hill Climbing acceptance criterion. Two guidance indicators are devised at the high level to adaptively adjust the selection of the low level heuristics for this bi-objective problem. The two indicators estimate the objective value improvement and the improvement direction over the Pareto Front, respectively. To evaluate the generality of the proposed algorithms, a set of benchmark instances with various features is extracted from real-life historical datasets. The experiment results show that GIHH significantly improves the quality of the final Pareto Solution Set, outperforming the state-of-the-art algorithms for similar problems. Its application on VRPTW also obtains promising results

Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells Up-Regulate Toll-Like Receptor Expression and Produce Inflammatory Mediators in Response to Cigarette Smoke Extract

Several reports link cigarette smoking with leukemia. However, the effects of cigarette smoke extract (CSE) on bone marrow hematopoiesis remain unknown. The objective of this study was to elucidate the direct effects of cigarette smoke on human bone marrow hematopoiesis and characterize the inflammatory process known to result from cigarette smoking. Bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMCs) from healthy individuals when exposed to CSE had significantly diminished CFU-E, BFU-E and CFU-GM. We found increased nuclear translocation of the NF-κB p65 subunit and, independently, enhanced activation of AKT and ERK1/2. Exposure of BMCs to CSE induced IL-8 and TGF-β1 production, which was dependent on NF-κB and ERK1/2, but not on AKT. CSE treatment had no effect on the release of TNF-α, IL-10, or VEGF. Finally, CSE also had a significant induction of TLR2, TLR3 and TLR4, out of which, the up-regulation of TLR2 and TLR3 was found to be dependent on ERK1/2 and NF-κB activation, but not AKT. These results indicate that CSE profoundly inhibits the growth of erythroid and granulocyte-macrophage progenitors in the bone marrow. Further, CSE modulates NF-κB- and ERK1/2-dependent responses, suggesting that cigarette smoking may impair bone marrow hematopoiesis in vivo as well as induce inflammation, two processes that proceed malignant transformation

Instrumentos de avaliação do aleitamento materno e seu uso na prática clínica

RESUMO Objetivos Identificar instrumentos de avaliação da amamentação e sua aplicação na prática clínica, validação e adaptação transcultural. Método Revisão integrativa, realizada em seis bases de dados e em uma biblioteca eletrônica, entre agosto/2014-dezembro/2015, sem limitação temporal. Resultados Foram identificados 19 instrumentos de avaliação do AM. Destes, 12 foram validados e cinco foram adaptados transculturalmente. Quanto à aplicação, destacam-se seu uso para a avaliação do risco de desmame (BAPT) e a percepção/comportamento da mulher em amamentar (BSES-SF e IIFAS). Conclusão A identificação dos instrumentos disponíveis e de suas indicações para a avaliação do AM pode auxiliar profissionais na escolha pelo instrumento a ser utilizado, qualificando a assistência materno-infantil

DCs Pulsed with Novel HLA-A2-Restricted CTL Epitopes against Hepatitis C Virus Induced a Broadly Reactive Anti-HCV-Specific T Lymphocyte Response

OBJECTIVE: To determine the capacity of dendritic cells (DCs) loaded with single or multiple-peptide mixtures of novel hepatitis C virus (HCV) epitopes to stimulate HCV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) effector functions. METHODS: A bioinformatics approach was used to predict HLA-A2-restricted HCV-specific CTL epitopes, and the predicted peptides identified from this screen were synthesized. Subsequent IFN-γ ELISPOT analysis detected the stimulating function of these peptides in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from both chronic and self-limited HCV infected subjects (subjects exhibiting spontaneous HCV clearance). Mature DCs, derived in vitro from CD14(+) monocytes harvested from the study subjects by incubation with appropriate cytokine cocktails, were loaded with novel peptide or epitope peptide mixtures and co-cultured with autologous T lymphocytes. Granzyme B (GrB) and IFN-γ ELISPOT analysis was used to test for epitope-specific CTL responses. T-cell-derived cytokines contained in the co-cultured supernatant were detected by flow cytometry. RESULTS: We identified 7 novel HLA-A2-restricted HCV-specific CTL epitopes that increased the frequency of IFN-γ-producing T cells compared to other epitopes, as assayed by measuring spot forming cells (SFCs). Two epitopes had the strongest stimulating capability in the self-limited subjects, one found in the E2 and one in the NS2 region of HCV; five epitopes had a strong stimulating capacity in both chronic and self-limited HCV infection, but were stronger in the self-limited subjects. They were distributed in E2, NS2, NS3, NS4, and NS5 regions of HCV, respectively. We also found that mDCs loaded with novel peptide mixtures could significantly increase GrB and IFN-γ SFCs as compared to single peptides, especially in chronic HCV infection subjects. Additionally, we found that DCs pulsed with multiple epitope peptide mixtures induced a Th1-biased immune response. CONCLUSIONS: Seven novel and strongly stimulating HLA-A2-restricted HCV-specific CTL epitopes were identified. Furthermore, DCs loaded with multiple-epitope peptide mixtures induced epitope-specific CTLs responses

Impaired phagocytosis and reactive oxygen species production in phagocytes is associated with systemic vasculitis

BACKGROUND: Anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies associated vasculitides (AAV) is a group of autoimmune diseases, characterized by small vessel inflammation. Phagocytes such as neutrophils and monocytes are the main effector cells found around the inflamed vessel wall. Therefore, we wanted to investigate aspects of function and activation of these cells in patients with AAV.METHODS: Flow cytometry was used to evaluate: the expression of activation markers (CD11c, CD62L, CD177 and C5aR); the number of recently released neutrophils from bone marrow, defined as CD10(-)D16(low) cells in peripheral blood; and the capacity of peripheral blood monocytes and polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) to produce reactive oxygen species and to phagocytose opsonized bacteria.RESULTS: AAV patients (n = 104) showed an increase of CD10(-)CD16(low) neutrophils and total PMN in peripheral blood, suggesting a combination of increased bone marrow release and prolonged survival. An increased percentage of AAV PMN expressed CD177 but no other signs of activation were seen. A decreased production of reactive oxygen species was observed in AAV phagocytes, which was associated with disease activity. Moreover, granulocytes from patients with microscopic polyangiitis showed lower oxidative burst capacity compared to patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis or eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis. In addition, decreased phagocytosis capacity was seen in PMN and monocytes.CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that phagocytes from AAV patients have impaired function, are easily mobilized from bone marrow but are not particularly activated. The association between low reactive oxygen species formation in PMN and disease severity is consistent with findings in other autoimmune diseases and might be considered as a risk factor