A text mining approach for the extraction of kinetic information from literature

Systems biology has fostered interest in the use of kinetic models to better understand the dynamic behavior of metabolic networks in a wide variety of conditions. Unfortunately, in most cases, data available in different databases are not sufficient for the development of such models, since a significant part of the relevant information is still scattered in the literature. Thus, it becomes essential to develop specific and powerful text mining tools towards this aim. In this context, this work has as main objective the development of a text mining tool to extract, from scientific literature, kinetic parameters, their respective values and their relations with enzymes and metabolites. The pipeline proposed integrates the development of a novel plug-in over the text mining tool @Note2. Overall, the results validate the developed approach

The compound Poisson limit ruling periodic extreme behaviour of non-uniformly hyperbolic dynamics

We prove that the distributional limit of the normalised number of returns to small neighbourhoods of periodic points of non-uniformly hyperbolic dynamical systems is compound Poisson. The returns to small balls around a fixed point in the phase space correspond to the occurrence of rare events, or exceedances of high thresholds, so that there is a connection between the laws of Return Times Statistics and Extreme Value Laws. The fact that the fixed point in the phase space is a repelling periodic point implies that there is a tendency for the exceedances to appear in clusters whose average sizes is given by the Extremal Index, which depends on the expansion of the system at the periodic point. We recall that for generic points, the exceedances, in the limit, are singular and occur at Poisson times. However, around periodic points, the picture is different: the respective point processes of exceedances converge to a compound Poisson process, so instead of single exceedances, we have entire clusters of exceedances occurring at Poisson times with a geometric distribution ruling its multiplicity. The systems to which our results apply include: general piecewise expanding maps of the interval (Rychlik maps), maps with indifferent fixed points (Manneville-Pomeau maps) and Benedicks-Carleson quadratic maps.Comment: To appear in Communications in Mathematical Physic

Requisitos para a conversão dos atos administrativos eletrônicos em cartáceos no Brasil

O estudo tem como objetivo identificar os requisitos legais da validade jurídica da cópia impressa do documento eletrônico para compor um processo administrativo tradicional no Direito Administrativo brasileiro. O ponto de partida foi a diferenciação entre documentos físico e eletrônico e a análise dos requisitos legais para sua validade jurídica. Os documentos eletrônicos podem ser nato-digitais ou digitalizados. A identificação do agente responsável pelo ato eletrônico é feita pela assinatura eletrônica. São admitidas as espécies assinatura digital e assinatura cadastrada. A lei brasileira presume a autenticidade e integridade dos atos administrativos eletrônicos nato-digitais com assinatura digital baseada em certificação digital emitida pela Infraestrutura de Chaves Públicas Brasileira (ICP-Brasil), mas não confere o mesmo status à assinatura cadastrada. Concluímos que a cópia impressa deste ato eletrônico original precisa ser autenticada para adquirir validade jurídica e produzir prova no processo administrativo convencional.The study aims to identify the legal requirements of the legal validity of the printed copy of the electronic document to compose a traditional administrative process in Brazilian Administrative Law. The starting point was the differentiation between physical and electronic documents and the analysis of legal requirements for their legal validity. Electronic documents can be native digital or scanned. The identification of the agent responsible for the electronic act is done by the electronic signature (login / password). The species digital signature and registered signature are accepted. Brazilian law presumes the authenticity and integrity of native digital electronic administrative acts with digital signature based on digital certification issued by the Brazilian Public Key Infrastructure (ICP-Brasil), but does not grant the same status to the registered signature. We conclude that the hard copy of this original electronic act must be authenticated to acquire legal validity and produce evidence in the conventional administrative proceeding.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Dominant microflora of picante cheese: Independent role upon proteolysis and lipolysis in model systems

Four species of bacteria (two species of enterococci, Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis, and two species of lactobacilli, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus paracasei) and three species of yeasts (Debaryomyces hansenii, Yarrowia lipolytica and Cryptococcus laurentii), previously isolated from Picante cheese were assayed for biochemical performance in proteolysis and lipolysis. In addition to the difference of the microbiological strains, the milk type (caprine or ovine), the ripening time (0 to 65 days) and the concentration of NaCl (0 to 14%(w/v)) have been deliberatly fixed in vitro curdled milk (previously prepared from heat-sterilized milk, coagulated with animal rennet and inoculated with each strain) and subject to 12 ºC. High proteolytic activity was demonstrated by Y. lipolytica and by all the other strains to a lesser extent; Y. lipolytica produced ca. 85% of WSN by 65 days of ripening whereas E. faecium, D. hansenii and C. laurentii produced levels of WSN ranging in 40-50%, and E. faecalis, L. plantarum and L. paracasei in 30- 40%. In terms of peptidolytic activity, measured by NPN contents and by release of free amino acids, once again Y. lipolytica presented the highest activity, followed by L. plantarum, L. paracasei, E. faecium and E. faecalis. Milk type, ripening time, and content of NaCl revealed to be statistically significant processing factors in terms of proteolysis; caprine milk, 65 days of ripening and lower contents of NaCl led to the highest values. The lipolytic activity, assessed by the release of butyric acid from tributyrin, was strong for Y. lipolytica and C. laurentii, whereas release of free fatty acids was observed at different rates for all strains under study. Ripening time proved to be a statistically significant factor for lipolysis, whereas milk type was not; lipolytic activities, measured as fat acidity index, were strongly affected by NaCl content and, as happened with release of free amino acids, the extent of fat hydrolysis was much more affected by the increase of NaCl from 0 to 7% than by its increase from 7% to 14%. Although it is not possible to directly compare results obtained in vitro using pure, single cultures with those obtained in loco using actual cheese, our results suggest that a mixed-strain starter for Picante cheese including L. plantarum, E. faecium (or E. faecalis) and D. hansenii (and/or Y. lipolytica) would be of potential interest.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Combining high pressure and electric fields towards nannochloropsis oculata eicosapentaenoic acid-rich extracts

Nannochloropsis oculata is naturally rich in eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). To turn this microalga into an economically viable source for commercial applications, extraction efficiency must be achieved. Pursuing this goal, emerging technologies such as high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and moderate electric fields (MEF) were tested, aiming to increase EPA accessibility and subsequent extraction yields. The innovative approach used in this study combined these technologies and associated tailored, less hazardous different solvent mixtures (SM) with distinct polarity indexes. Although the classical Folch SM with chloroform: methanol (PI 4.4) provided the highest yield concerning total lipids (166.4 mglipid/gbiomass), diethyl ether: ethanol (PI 3.6) presented statistically higher values in terms of EPA per biomass, corresponding to 1.3-fold increase. When SM were used in HHP and MEF, neither technology independently improved EPA extraction yields, although the sequential combination of technologies did result in 62% increment in EPA extraction. Overall, the SM and extraction methodologies tested (HHP—200 MPa, 21 °C, 15 min, followed by MEF processing at 40 °C, 15 min) enabled increased EPA extraction yields from wet N. oculata biomass. These findings are of high relevance for the food and pharmaceutical industries, providing viable alternatives to the “classical” extraction methodologies and solvents, with increased yields and lower environmental impact.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Data-driven prescription patterns in patients under maintenance treatment for respiratory diseases from the Portuguese prescription database

We aimed to identify prescription patterns in respiratory patients using an unsupervised (data-driven) method, in a random sample of patients aged >14 years (n=8799), retrieved from the Portuguese Electronic Medical Prescription database. Respiratory patients were defined if >2 packs of maintenance treatment for respiratory diseases were prescribed in 2016. We analysed all the prescriptions (n=39810) for respiratory diseases and exacerbations by medication type. Two-step clustering was based on the presence of ICS, LABA, LTRA, LAMA, LABA, SABA, SAMA and on the speciality of prescriber.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Dominant microflora of Picante cheese: effects on proteolysis and lipolysis

Four species of bacteria (Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis, Lactobacillus plantarum and L. paracasein and three species of yeasts (Debaryomyces hansenii, Yarrowia lipolytica and Cryptococcus laurentiU previously isolated from Picante cheese, were assayed for proteolysis and lipolysis. Milk type (caprine or ovine), ripening time (0 to 65 d) and concentration of NaCl (0 to 14 %(w/v)) have been assessed in terms of their effects upon in vitro curdled milk. Good evidence of proteolytic and peptidolytic activities was provided for Y. lipolytica, and at much lower levels for the other strains. Milk type, ripening time and content of NaCl appeared to be statistically significant processing factors in terms of proteolysis. Clear lipolytic activity was detected for Y. lipolytica, but release of free fatty acids to lesser extents was also observed for the other strains under study. Ripening time was statistically significant with regard to lipolysis but milk type was not. Lipolytic activities were strongly affected by presence of NaCl. According to experimental results, it is suggested that a mixed-strain starter for Picante cheese including L. plantarum, E. faecium (or E. faecalis,) and D. hansenii (and/or Y. lipolyticaj is of potential interest.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Development of a non-dairy probiotic fermented rice food with bifidobacterium animalis and streptococcus thermophilus

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio