Cosine Harmony Search (CHS) for Static Optimization

Harmony Search (HS) is a behaviour imitation of a musician looking for the balance harmony. HS suffers to find the best parameter tuning especially for Pitch Adjustment Rate (PAR). PAR plays a crucial role in selecting historical solution and adjusting it using Bandwidth (BW) value. However, PAR in HS requires to be initialized with a constant value at the beginning step. On top of that, it also causes delay in convergence speed due to disproportion of global and local search capabilities. Even though, some HS variants claimed to overcome that shortcoming by introducing the self-modification of pitch adjustment rate, some of their justification were imprecise and required deeper and extensive experiments. Local Opposition-Based Learning Self-Adaptation Global Harmony Search (LHS) implements a heuristic factor, η for self-modification of PAR. It (η) manages the probability for selecting the adaptive step either as global or worst. If the value of η is large, the opportunity to select the global adaptive step is high, so the algorithm will further exploit for better harmony value. Otherwise, if η is small, the worst adaptive step is prone to be selected, therefore the algorithm will close to the global best solution. In this paper, regarding to the HS problem, we introduce a Cosine Harmony Search (CHS) by incorporating embedment of cosine and additional strategy rule with self-modification of pitch tuning to enlarge the exploitation capability of solution space. The additional strategy employs the η inspired by LHS and contains the cosine parameter. We test our proposed CHS on twelve standard static benchmark functions and compare it with basic HS and five state-of-the-art HS variants. Our proposed method and these state-of-the-art algorithms executed using 30 and 50 dimensions. The numerical results demonstrated that the CHS has outperformed with other state-of-the-art in accuracy and convergence speed evaluations

Prevalence of Bombay phenotype among Bangladeshi ‘O’ blood group population

Background: The Bombay blood group, a rare type often confused with ‘O’, poses a critical transfusion risk, requiring specific compatibility with Bombay (Oh) blood. With a lack of data in Bangladesh, this study aimed to establish a comprehensive database for the rare Bombay phenotype, crucial for transfusion safety. Objective was to determine the frequency prevalence of Bombay phenotype among ‘O’ blood group individuals. Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University from January 2020 to June 2021 involved, aseptic collection of 3 ml venous blood sample, with forward and reverse blood grouping revealing a ‘O’ phenotype. Utilizing anti-H lectin resolved discrepancies and confirmed the absence of ‘H’ antigen in individuals with Bombay blood groups. Blood samples of Bombay phenotype individuals showed the following reactions: anti-A (-), anti-B (-), anti-AB (-), anti-H (-), A cells 4+, B cells 4+, O cells 4+. Results: Among 10,000 individuals with apparent blood group ‘O’, 99.97% were identified as ‘O’ blood type, while only 0.03% exhibited the rare Bombay blood group. ABO and Rh-D blood group frequencies varied over the study period, with B +ve at the highest (28.31%) and AB -ve at the lowest (0.21% to 0.23%). Overall, O +ve had the highest frequency (97.29%), and Bombay blood group was rare, with ‘O’ dominating at 99.97%. Conclusions: The study identified a 0.03% prevalence of the Bombay phenotype. Due to its potential confusion with ‘O’ blood group, transfusing ‘O’ blood to Bombay individuals carries a substantial risk of severe hemolytic reactions, including fatal consequences

Clinical Pharmacokinetics of Clavulanic Acid, a Novel β- Lactamase Isolated from Streptomyces clavuligerus and Its Variability

The clavulanic acid derived by fermentation of Streptomyces clavuligerus and possessed the capability to inactivate a broad range of β-lactamase enzymes. A complex physicochemical process involves the binding of clavulanic acid to β-lactamases in which clavulanic acid itself deplete irreversibly along with β-lactamase enzyme rendering amoxicillin spared which otherwise would hydrolyze by an enzyme. It is therefore termed as ‘suicide ‘inhibitor for β-lactamases. We discussed here pharmacokinetic parameters and identified factors responsible for the variability of absorption of clavulanic acid. The results based on individual plasma concentration-time curve of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid in an open, randomized, two-way crossover study involving 10 healthy male subjects administered with two amoxiclav formulations

Field Survey of Thermal Comfort and Sleep Quality in the Bedrooms with Different Cooling Strategies in Malaysia

This study aims to determine the indoor comfort temperature before sleep and after wake up in air-conditioning (AC) mode with different adaptive cooling strategies. Two units of guest rooms on the university campus were used with a total of 20 participants. The arbitrary-controlled AC setting (case 1) and control of thermostat setting by 3∘C higher than case 1 with installing of cool bed padding (case 2) were employed as cooling strategies in this study. The measurement parameters were indoor and outdoor air temperatures, globe temperature, relative humidity, air velocity, and AC electricity consumption. The questionnaire survey has also been distributed twice a day for “before going to bed” and “after waking up” during measurement simultaneously. It was observed that thermal sensation vote (TSV) indicated for both cases were within -1 ≤ TSV ≤ 1 and respondents might accept the present condition for both cases. Mean thermal preference (TP) in both cases either “before going to bed” and “after waking up” was found mostly close to “0 no change” (0.1 ≤ TP ≤ 0.3) for all cases. Overall comfort (OC) ranged between 4.7 and 4.9 for both cases, indicating for “comfortable.” However, air movement sensation (AMS) shows respondent felt weak airflow inside the room for all ventilation strategies. The skin moisture sensation (SMS) shows value pointed to neutral feeling for all cases. The comfort temperature obtained by Griffiths’ method was approximately 24∘C and 25∘C that for case 1 and case 2, respectively. Meanwhile, most of the respondents experienced calmness during sleeping and satisfied with their sleep in both cases. Sleep efficiency index (SEI) shows case 2 was higher rather than case 1. It seems the second adaptive cooling strategy might effective for reducing AC energy consumption by about 32% and increase 2% of SEI without affecting respondents’ thermal comfort.     Keywords: thermal comfort, sleep quality, air-conditionin

Protein phosphatase 5 regulates titin phosphorylation and function at a sarcomere-associated mechanosensor complex in cardiomyocytes.

Serine/threonine protein phosphatase 5 (PP5) is ubiquitously expressed in eukaryotic cells; however, its function in cardiomyocytes is unknown. Under basal conditions, PP5 is autoinhibited, but enzymatic activity rises upon binding of specific factors, such as the chaperone Hsp90. Here we show that PP5 binds and dephosphorylates the elastic N2B-unique sequence (N2Bus) of titin in cardiomyocytes. Using various binding and phosphorylation tests, cell-culture manipulation, and transgenic mouse hearts, we demonstrate that PP5 associates with N2Bus in vitro and in sarcomeres and is antagonistic to several protein kinases, which phosphorylate N2Bus and lower titin-based passive tension. PP5 is pathologically elevated and likely contributes to hypo-phosphorylation of N2Bus in failing human hearts. Furthermore, Hsp90-activated PP5 interacts with components of a sarcomeric, N2Bus-associated, mechanosensor complex, and blocks mitogen-activated protein-kinase signaling in this complex. Our work establishes PP5 as a compartmentalized, well-controlled phosphatase in cardiomyocytes, which regulates titin properties and kinase signaling at the myofilaments

Dark matter phenomenology in Z'2 broken singlet extended 2HDM

Many different approaches have been made to explain the nature of dark matter (DM), but it remains and unsolved mystery of our universe. In this work we examine a type II two-Higgs-doublet model extended by a complex singlet (2HDMS), where the pseudo-scalar component of the singlet acts as a natural DM candidate. The DM candidate is stabilized by a Z'2 symmetry, which is broken spontaneously by the singlet acquiring a vacuum expectation value (vev). This vev in turn causes the scalar component of the singlet to mix with the scalar components of the two doublets, which results in three scalar Higgs particles. Additionally we aim to include an excess around 95 GeV, which was observed at CSM and LEP and can be explained by one of the three scalar Higgs particles. After introducing the model, we apply experimental and theoretical constraints and find a viable benchmark point. We then look into the DM phenomenology as well as collider phenomenology.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Nebulette knockout mice have normal cardiac function, but show Z-line widening and up-regulation of cardiac stress markers

Aims: Nebulette is a 109 kDa modular protein localized in the sarcomeric Z-line of the heart. In vitro studies have suggested a role of nebulette in stabilizing the thin filament, and missense mutations in the nebulette gene were recently shown to be causative for dilated cardiomyopathy and endocardial fibroelastosis in human and mice. However, the role of nebulette in vivo has remained elusive. To provide insights into the function of nebulette in vivo, we generated and studied nebulette-deficient (nebl-/-) mice. Methods and results: Nebl-/- mice were generated by replacement of exon 1 by Cre under the control of the endogenous nebulette promoter, allowing for lineage analysis using the ROSA26 Cre reporter strain. This revealed specific expression of nebulette in the heart, consistent with in situ hybridization results. Nebl-/- mice exhibited normal cardiac function both under basal conditions and in response to transaortic constriction as assessed by echocardiography and haemodynamic analyses. Furthermore, histological, IF, and western blot analysis showed no cardiac abnormalities in nebl-/- mice up to 8 months of age. In contrast, transmission electron microscopy showed Z-line widening starting from 5 months of age, suggesting that nebulette is important for the integrity of the Z-line. Furthermore, up-regulation of cardiac stress responsive genes suggests the presence of chronic cardiac stress in nebl-/- mice. Conclusion: Nebulette is dispensable for normal cardiac function, although Z-line widening and up-regulation of cardiac stress markers were found in nebl-/- heart. These results suggest that the nebulette disease causing mutations have dominant gain-of-function effects

Role of Helicobacter pylori

Background. Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is a bleeding disorder in which the immune system destroys native platelets. In this condition an autoantibody is generated against a platelet antigen. ITP affects women more often than men and is more common in children than adults. Objective. To assess the effect of Helicobacter pylori eradication therapy (HPET) on platelet count in Helicobacter pylori associated chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (chronic ITP) in adult. Materials and Methods. It is an interventional prospective study conducted at Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, from 2014 to 2015. A set of 85 patients diagnosed with chronic ITP were included in the study via convenient sampling. Patients with platelets count < 100 × 109/L for >3 months were selected. They were posed to first-line investigations which comprised complete blood count (CBC) and peripheral blood smear examination followed by second-line tests including bone marrow examination and Helicobacter pylori stool specific antigen (HpSA-EIA). Standard H. pylori eradication therapy was offered and the patients were assessed at regular intervals for 6 months. Results. Of the 85 study patients, 32 (37.6%) were male and 53 (62.3%) were female. Mean ages of H. pylori positive and negative subjects were 43.89 ± 7.06 and 44.75 ± 7.91 years, respectively. Bone marrow examination confirmed the diagnosis and excluded other related BM disorders. H. pylori stool antigen (HpSA) was detected in 34 (40%) patients and hence regarded as H. pylori positive; the rest were negative. Treatment with eradication therapy significantly improved the mean platelet counts from 48.56±21.7 × 109/l to 94.2±26.8 × 109/l. Conclusion. We concluded that the anti-H. pylori eradication therapy improves blood platelet counts in chronic immune thrombocytopenia

Multilevel Thresholding of Brain Tumor MRI Images: Patch-Levy Bees Algorithm versus Harmony Search Algorithm

Image segmentation of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) plays a crucial role among radiologists in terms of diagnosing brain disease. Parts of the brain such as white matter, gray matter and cerebrospinal fluids (CFS), have to be clearly determined by the radiologist during the process of brain abnormalities detection. Manual segmentation is grueling and may be prone to error, which can in turn affect the result of the diagnosis. Nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms such as Harmony Search (HS), which was successfully applied in multilevel thresholding for brain tumor segmentation instead of the Patch-Levy Bees algorithm (PLBA). Even though the PLBA is one powerful multilevel thresholding, it has not been applied to brain tumor segmentation. This paper focuses on a comparative study of the PLBA and HS for brain tumor segmentation. The test dataset consisting of nine images was collected from the Tuanku Muhriz UKM Hospital (HCTM). As for the result, it shows that the PLBA has significantly outperformed HS. The performance of both algorithms is evaluated in terms of solution quality and stability

Simple and High Yielding Method for Preparing Tissue Specific Extracellular Matrix Coatings for Cell Culture

Background: The native extracellular matrix (ECM) consists of a highly complex, tissue-specific network of proteins and polysaccharides, which help regulate many cellular functions. Despite the complex nature of the ECM, in vitro cell-based studies traditionally assess cell behavior on single ECM component substrates, which do not adequately mimic the in vivo extracellular milieu. Methodology/Principal Findings: We present a simple approach for developing naturally derived ECM coatings for cell culture that provide important tissue-specific cues unlike traditional cell culture coatings, thereby enabling the maturation of committed C2C12 skeletal myoblast progenitors and human embryonic stem cells differentiated into cardiomyocytes. Here we show that natural muscle-specific coatings can (i) be derived from decellularized, solubilized adult porcine muscle, (ii) contain a complex mixture of ECM components including polysaccharides, (iii) adsorb onto tissue culture plastic and (iv) promote cell maturation of committed muscle progenitor and stem cells. Conclusions: This versatile method can create tissue-specific ECM coatings, which offer a promising platform for cell cultur