An Application of Artificial Intelligence for the Joint Estimation of Amplitude and Two-Dimensional Direction of Arrival of Far Field Sources Using 2-L-Shape Array

An easy and efficient approach, based on artificial intelligence technique, is proposed to jointly estimate the amplitude, elevation, and azimuth angles of far field sources impinging on 2-L-shape array. In these proposed artificial intelligence techniques, the metaheuristics based on genetic algorithm and simulated annealing are used as global optimizers assisted with rapid local version of pattern search for optimization of the adaptive parameters. The performance metric is employed on a fitness evaluation function depending on mean square error which is optimum and requires single snapshot to converge. The proposed approaches are easy to understand, and simple to implement; the genetic algorithm specifically hybridized with pattern search generates fairly good results. The comparison of the given schemes is carried out with 1-L-shape array, as well as, with parallel-shape array and is found to be in good agreement in terms of accuracy, convergence rate, computational complexity, and mean square error. The effectiveness and efficiency of the given schemes are examined through Monte Carlo simulations and their inclusive statistical analysis

Identification of systemic immune response markers through metabolomic profiling of plasma from calves given an intra-nasally delivered respiratory vaccine

International audienceVaccination procedures within the cattle industry are important disease control tools to minimize economic and welfare burdens associated with respiratory pathogens. However, new vaccine, antigen and carrier technologies are required to combat emerging viral strains and enhance the efficacy of respiratory vaccines, particularly at the point of pathogen entry. New technologies, specifically metabolomic profiling, could be applied to identify metabolite immune-correlates representative of immune protection following vaccination aiding in the design and screening of vaccine candidates. This study for the first time demonstrates the ability of untargeted UPLC-MS metabolomic profiling to identify metabolite immune correlates characteristic of immune responses following mucosal vaccination in calves. Male Holstein Friesian calves were vaccinated with Pfizer Rispoval® PI3 + RSV intranasal vaccine and metabolomic profiling of post-vaccination plasma revealed 12 metabolites whose peak intensities differed significantly from controls. Plasma levels of glycocholic acid, N-[(3α,5β,12α)-3,12-Dihydroxy-7,24-dioxocholan-24-yl]glycine, uric acid and biliverdin were found to be significantly elevated in vaccinated animals following secondary vaccine administration, whereas hippuric acid significantly decreased. In contrast, significant upregulation of taurodeoxycholic acid and propionylcarnitine levels were confined to primary vaccine administration. Assessment of such metabolite markers may provide greater information on the immune pathways stimulated from vaccine formulations and benchmarking early metabolomic responses to highly immunogenic vaccine formulations could provide a means for rapidly assessing new vaccine formulations. Furthermore, the identification of metabolic systemic immune response markers which relate to specific cell signaling pathways of the immune system could allow for targeted vaccine design to stimulate key pathways which can be assessed at the metabolic level

DIVA metabolomics: Differentiating vaccination status following viral challenge using metabolomic profiles

Publication history: Accepted - 5 March 2018; Published online - 4 April 2018Bovine Respiratory Disease (BRD) is a major source of economic loss within the agricultural industry. Vaccination against BRD-associated viruses does not offer complete immune protection and vaccine failure animals present potential routes for disease spread. Serological differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals (DIVA) is possible using antigen-deleted vaccines, but during virus outbreaks DIVA responses are masked by wild-type virus preventing accurate serodiagnosis. Previous work by the authors has established the potential for metabolomic profiling to reveal metabolites associated with systemic immune responses to vaccination. The current study builds on this work by demonstrating for the first time the potential to use plasma metabolite profiling to differentiate between vaccinated and non-vaccinated animals following infection-challenge. Male Holstein Friesian calves were intranasally vaccinated (Pfizer RISPOVAL®PI3+RSV) and subsequently challenged with Bovine Parainfluenza Virus type-3 (BPI3V) via nasal inoculation. Metabolomic plasma profiling revealed that viral challenge led to a shift in acquired plasma metabolite profiles from day 2 to 20 p.i., with 26 metabolites identified whose peak intensities were significantly different following viral challenge depending on vaccination status. Elevated levels of biliverdin and bilirubin and decreased 3-indolepropionic acid in non-vaccinated animals at day 6 p.i. may be associated with increased oxidative stress and reactive oxygen scavenging at periods of peak virus titre. During latter stages of infection, increased levels of N-[(3α,5β,12α)-3,12-dihydroxy-7,24-dioxocholan-24-yl]glycine and lysophosphatidycholine and decreased enterolactone in non-vaccinated animals may reflect suppression of innate immune response mechanisms and progression to adaptive immune responses. Levels of hexahydrohippurate were also shown to be significantly elevated in non-vaccinated animals from days 6 to 20 p.i. These findings demonstrate the potential of metabolomic profiling to identify plasma markers that can be employed in disease diagnostic applications to both differentially identify infected non-vaccinated animals during disease outbreaks and provide greater information on the health status of infected animals.This research was funded by a Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) Northern Ireland postgraduate studentship awarded to Darren Gra

Comparing the immune response to a novel intranasal nanoparticle PLGA vaccine and a commercial BPI3V vaccine in dairy calves

peer-reviewedBackground There is a need to improve vaccination against respiratory pathogens in calves by stimulation of local immunity at the site of pathogen entry at an early stage in life. Ideally such a vaccine preparation would not be inhibited by the maternally derived antibodies. Additionally, localized immune response at the site of infection is also crucial to control infection at the site of entry of virus. The present study investigated the response to an intranasal bovine parainfluenza 3 virus (BPI3V) antigen preparation encapsulated in PLGA (poly dl-lactic-co-glycolide) nanoparticles in the presence of pre-existing anti-BPI3V antibodies in young calves and comparing it to a commercially available BPI3V respiratory vaccine. Results There was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in BPI3V-specific IgA in the nasal mucus of the BPI3V nanoparticle vaccine group alone. Following administration of the nanoparticle vaccine an early immune response was induced that continued to grow until the end of study and was not observed in the other treatment groups. Virus specific serum IgG response to both the nanoparticle vaccine and commercial live attenuated vaccine showed a significant (P < 0.05) rise over the period of study. However, the cell mediated immune response observed didn’t show any significant rise in any of the treatment groups. Conclusion Calves administered the intranasal nanoparticle vaccine induced significantly greater mucosal IgA responses, compared to the other treatment groups. This suggests an enhanced, sustained mucosal-based immunological response to the BPI3V nanoparticle vaccine in the face of pre-existing antibodies to BPI3V, which are encouraging and potentially useful characteristics of a candidate vaccine. However, ability of nanoparticle vaccine in eliciting cell mediated immune response needs further investigation. More sustained local mucosal immunity induced by nanoparticle vaccine has obvious potential if it translates into enhanced protective immunity in the face of virus outbreak

Risk for sleep apnea syndrome in Pakistan: a cross-sectional survey utilizing the Berlin questionnaire

Purpose: The Purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of individuals at high risk for developing obstructive sleep apnea in the Pakistani population using a validated questionnaire. Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional survey using a pre-validated, interviewer-administered questionnaire conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital. All healthy individuals above 18 years of age attending a seminar were included as participants after consent. Results: The percentage of people in the high-risk group was calculated to be 12.4% out of a population of 137. Presence of snoring, hypertension, and body mass index \u3e 27.5 kg/m(2) was found to be more prevalent in high-risk individuals. Conclusions: A significant proportion of the population is at high risk for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Sidelobe Reduction in Non-Contiguous OFDM-Based Cognitive Radio Systems Using a Generalized Sidelobe Canceller

In orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), sidelobes of the modulated subcarriers cause high out-of-band (OOB) radiation, resulting in interference to licensed and un-licensed users in a cognitive radio system environment. In this work, we present a novel technique based on a generalized sidelobe canceller (GSC) for the reduction of sidelobes. The upper branch of the GSC consists of a weight vector designed by multiple constraints to preserve the desired portion of the input signal. The lower branch has a blocking matrix that blocks the desired portion and preserves the undesired portion (the sidelobes) of the input signal, followed by an adaptive weight vector. The adaptive weight vector adjusts the amplitudes of the undesired portion (the sidelobes) so that when the signal from the lower branch is subtracted from the signal from the upper branch, it results in cancellation of the sidelobes of the input signal. The effectiveness and strength of the proposed technique are verified through extensive simulations. The proposed technique produces competitive results in terms of sidelobe reduction as compared to existing techniques

Multiple Target Localization with Bistatic Radar Using Heuristic Computational Intelligence Techniques

We assume Bistatic Phase Multiple Input Multiple Output radar having passive Centrosymmetric Cross Shape Sensor Array (CSCA) on its receiver. Let the transmitter of this Bistatic radar send coherent signals using a subarray that gives a fairly wide beam with a large solid angle so as to cover up any potential relevant target in the near field. We developed Heuristic Computational Intelligence (HCI) based techniques to jointly estimate the range, amplitude, and elevation and azimuth angles of these multiple targets impinging on the CSCA. In this connection, first the global search optimizers, that is,are developed separately Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Differential Evolution (DE) are developed separately, and, to enhance the performances further, both of them are hybridized with a local search optimizer called Active Set Algorithm (ASA). Initially, the performance of PSO, DE, PSO hybridized with ASA, and DE hybridized with ASA are compared with each other and then with some traditional techniques available in literature using root mean square error (RMSE) as figure of merit

Common Radiological Findings in Children with Suspected Foreign Body Inhalation

Background: Aspirated foreign bodies, an emergency situation, affecting children mostly in the first decade of life, either go undetected, are misdiagnosed or discovered unexpectedly. The purpose of this study was to determine the common radiological findings among children with suspected foreign body inhalation at Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar Pakistan.Material and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted at the Department of ENT, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, from April 2017 to October 2017. All patients (n=141) were subjected to detailed history and clinical examination. X ray chest (AP and lateral views) was performed to detect common radiological findings i.e., radiopaque foreign body (FB), pneumonia, emphysema, atelectasis and air trapping. The age and gender-stratified radiological findings were analyzed using Chi square test to see effect modifications, with P-value &lt; .05 as statistically significant.Results: In this study, mean age was 8±3.563 years, with most of the children with suspected FB inhalation presenting in the 1-6 years age group (n=82; 58%). Sixty percent children were male while 40% were female, with emphysema (28%) and air trapping (25%) as the most common radiological findings. Radiopaque FB was detected in 16% of children on X-ray chest.Conclusions: Children with suspected foreign bodies should be thoroughly evaluated by both clinical and radiological examination