ANALYTICS AND DATA SCIENCE APPLIED TO THE TRAJECTORY OUTLIER DETECTION

Nowadays, logistics for transportation and distribution of merchandise are a key element to increase the competitiveness of companies. However, the election of alternative routes outside the panned routes causes the logistic companies to provide a poor-quality service, with units that endanger the appropriate deliver of merchandise and impacting negatively the way in which the supply chain works. This paper aims to develop a module that allows the processing, analysis and deployment of satellite information oriented to the pattern analysis, to find anomalies in the paths of the operators by implementing the algorithm TODS, to be able to help in the decision making. The experimental results show that the algorithm detects optimally the abnormal routes using historical data as a base

Calmodulin antagonizes amyloid-β peptides-mediated inhibition of brain plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase

AbstractThe synaptosomal plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase (PMCA) plays an essential role in regulating intracellular Ca2+ concentration in brain. We have recently found that PMCA is the only Ca2+ pump in brain which is inhibited by amyloid-β peptide (Aβ), a neurotoxic peptide implicated in the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) [1], but the mechanism of inhibition is lacking. In the present study we have characterized the inhibition of PMCA by Aβ. Results from kinetic assays indicate that Aβ aggregates are more potent inhibitors of PMCA activity than monomers. The inhibitory effect of Aβ could be blocked by pretreating the purified protein with Ca2+-calmodulin, the main endogenous activator of PMCA, and the activity of truncated PMCA lacking the calmodulin binding domain was not affected by Aβ. Dot-overlay experiments indicated a physical association of Aβ with PMCA and also with calmodulin. Thus, calmodulin could protect PMCA from inhibition by Aβ by burying exposed sites on PMCA, making them inaccessible to Aβ, and also by direct binding to the peptide. These results suggest a protective role of calmodulin against neuronal Ca2+ dysregulation by PMCA inhibition induced by Aβ

Racotumomab: an anti=idiotype vaccine related to N=glycolyl=containing=gangliosides: Preclinical and clinical data

Neu-glycolyl (NeuGc)-containing gangliosides are attractive targets for immunotherapy with anti-idiotype mAbs, because these glycolipids are not normal components of the cytoplasmic membrane in humans, but their expression has been demonstrated in several human malignant tumors. Racotumomab is an anti-idiotype mAb specific to P3 mAb, an antibody which reacts to NeuGc-containing gangliosides, sulfatides, and other antigens expressed in tumors. Preparations containing racotumomab were able to induce a strong anti-metastatic effect in tumor-bearing mice. Different Phase I clinical trials have been conducted in patients with advanced melanoma, breast cancer, and lung cancer. The results of these clinical trials demonstrated the low toxicity and the high immunogenicity of this vaccine. The induced antibodies recognized and directly killed tumor cells expressing NeuGcGM3. A Phase II/III multicenter, controlled, randomized, double blind clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of aluminum hydroxide-precipitated racotumomab vaccine in overall survival in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. The clinical results of this study showed a significant clinical benefit in the patients who were treated with the anti-idiotype vaccine.Fil: Vazquez, Ana M.. Center of Molecular Immunology; CubaFil: Hernandez, Ana M.. Center of Molecular Immunology; CubaFil: Macias, Amparo. Center of Molecular Immunology; CubaFil: Montero, Enrique. Center of Molecular Immunology; CubaFil: Gomez, Daniel Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Alonso, Daniel Fernando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Gabri, Mariano Rolando. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología; ArgentinaFil: Gomez, Roberto E.. Elea Laboratories; Argentin

Penalized function-on-function partial leastsquares regression

This paper deals with the "function-on-function'" or "fully functional" linear regression problem. We address the problem by proposing a novel penalized Function-on-Function Partial Least-Squares (pFFPLS) approach that imposes smoothness on the PLS weights. Our proposal introduces an appropriate finite-dimensional functional space with an associated set of bases on which to represent the data and controls smoothness with a roughness penalty operator. Penalizing the PLS weights imposes smoothness on the resulting coefficient function, improving its interpretability. In a simulation study, we demonstrate the advantages of pFFPLS compared to non-penalized FFPLS. Our comparisons indicate a higher accuracy of pFFPLS when predicting the response and estimating the true coefficient function from which the data were generated. We also illustrate the advantages of our proposal with two case studies involving two well-known datasets from the functional data analysis literature. In the first one, we predict log precipitation curves from the yearly temperature profiles recorded in 35 weather stations in Canada. In the second case study, we predict the hip angle profiles during a gait cycle of children from their corresponding knee angle profiles

Mandatory cost and other cost coming from the adoption of quality certifications in the hospitality business

The adaptation to the regulation of hospitality business implies a relevant cost in the profit and loss account. Additionally, some companies in this business decide to add some voluntary quality and environmental certification systems, which also yields to increased costs. The purpose of this paper is to quantify these costs and to analyse if the hotel size influences them. A total of 67 different costs were considered in hotels of all sizes, in the region of Catalonia as one of the most relevant touristic markets in Europe. Data were collected from the regulation applied to the hospitality sector, from specialised consultant companies and from a questionnaire supplied to 472 hotels in August and September 2008. The main results of this study show that the unitary cost by room, considering both, compulsory and voluntary costs, is lower in big hotels. On the other side, the smaller hotels are suffering high unitary costs. These results could be useful for the strategic orientation of hotels due to the relevance of costs to determine the competitive position of a firm. The main contribution of this work is to analyse the effects of compulsory costs and voluntary cost derived from the implementation of quality and environmental certifications in the hospitality sector, which could strongly affect the performance of this industry

Активація м’язів плечового пояса та плеча людини в перебігу двосуглобових рухів руки, що виконуються при дії зовнішніх навантажень протилежних напрямів

У дослідах на чотирьох добровольцях досліджувалася координація центральних рухових команд (ЦРК), що керували повільними двосуглобовими рухами руки в горизонтальній площині. Як кореляти інтенсивності таких команд розглядались поточні амплітуди ЕМГ, відведених від шести м’язів плечового пояса і плеча й підданих повному випрямленню та низькочастотній фільтрації. Зокрема, досліджували залежність координації ЦРК від напрямку зовнішньої сили, яка прикладалася до дистальної частини передпліччя. Як виявилося, координація ЦРК істотно залежить від напрямку сили, що згинає ліктьовий суглоб. Згідно з результатами дослідження, ЕМГ певних м’язів у разі виконання двосуглобового руху може бути представлена як лінійна комбінація ЕМГ, зареєстрованих у перебігу послідовних односуглобових рухів в умовах пересування референтної точки кисті в ту ж саму точку операційного простору, що й при двосуглобовому русі. Отримані дані можуть вважатися підтвердженням принципу суперпозиції елементарних ЦРК під час виконання складних рухів кінцівок

Toward a Dynamic Threshold for Quality-Score Distortion in Reference-Based Alignment

The intrinsic high entropy metadata, known as quality scores, are largely the cause of the substantial size of sequence data files. Yet, there is no consensus on a viable reduction of the resolution of the quality score scale, arguably because of collateral side effects. In this paper we leverage on the penalty functions of HISAT2 aligner to rebin the quality score scale in such a way as to avoid any impact on sequence alignment, identifying alongside a distortion threshold. We tested our findings on whole-genome sequence and RNA sequence data, and contrasted the results with three methods for lossy distortion of the quality scores

Efficacy and safety of discontinuing antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated respiratory tract infections when deemed unnecessary. A multicentre, randomized clinical trial in primary care

Antibacterial agent; Antibiotic stewardship; Primary health careAgente antibacteriano; Administración de antibióticos; Atención primaria de saludAgent antibacterià; Administració d'antibiòtics; Atenció primària de salutObjectives To determine the benefits and harms of discontinuing unnecessary antibiotic therapy for uncomplicated respiratory tract infections (RTI) when antibiotics are considered no longer necessary. Methods Multicentre, open-label, randomized controlled clinical trial in primary care centres from 2017 to 2020 (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02900820). Adults with RTIs—acute rhinosinusitis, sore throat, influenza or acute bronchitis—who had previously taken any dose of antibiotic for less than 3 days, which physicians no longer deemed necessary were recruited. The patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to discontinuing antibiotic therapy or the usual strategy of continuing antibiotic treatment. The primary outcome was the duration of severe symptoms (number of days scoring 5 or 6 on a six-item Likert scale). Secondary outcomes included days with symptoms, moderate symptoms (scores of 3 or 4), antibiotics taken, adverse events, patient satisfaction and complications within the first 3 months. Results A total of 467 patients were randomized, out of which 409 were considered valid for the analysis. The mean (SD) duration of severe symptoms was 3.0 (1.5) days for the patients assigned to discontinuation and 2.8 (1.3) days for those allocated to the control group (mean difference 0.2 days; 95% CI –0.1 to 0.4 days). Patients randomized to the discontinuation group used fewer antibiotics after the baseline visit (52/207 (25.1%) versus 182/202 (90.1%); p 0.001). Patients assigned to antibiotic continuation presented a relative risk of adverse events of 1.47 (95% CI 0.80–2.71), but the need for further health-care contact in the following 3 months was slightly lower (RR 0.61; 95% CI 0.28–1.37). Conclusions Discontinuing antibiotic treatment for uncomplicated RTIs when clinicians consider it unnecessary is safe and notably reduces antibiotic consumption.This work was supported by the Catalan Society of Family Medicine, grant number FAP1601. The funder of the study had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or writing of the report. This trial was registered with the ClinicalTrials.gov database (Identifier: NCT02900820)

A randomised clinical trial to evaluate the effects of Plantago ovata husk in Parkinson patients: changes in levodopa pharmacokinetics and biochemical parameters

P. 296-305Background: Plantago ovata husk therapy could be used in patients with Parkinson disease to reduce the symptoms of gastrointestinal disorders, but it is important to know whether this compound modifies levodopa pharmacokinetics. The maintenance of constant plasma concentrations of levodopa abolishes the clinical fluctuations in parkinsonian patients. The aim of this randomised clinical trial was to establish the influence of the fiber Plantago ovata husk in the pharmacokinetics of levodopa when administered to Parkinson patients well controlled by their oral medication. Methods: To evaluate the effects of this fiber on several biochemical parameters. 18 volunteers participated in the study and received alternatively two treatments (Plantago ovata husk or placebo) with their usual levodopa/carbidopa oral dose. On days 0 (initial situation), 14 and 35 of the study, blood samples were taken to assess levodopa pharmacokinetics and to determine biochemical parameters. Results: Levodopa Cmax was very similar in the initial situation (603.2 ng/ml) and after placebo administration (612.0 ng/ml), being slightly lower (547.8 ng/ml) when Plantago ovata husk was given. AUC was very similar in the three groups: initial situation.- 62.87 μg.min/ml, fiber treatment.- 64.47 μg.min/ml and placebo treatment.- 65.10 μg.min/ml. Fiber reduced significantly the number of peaks observed in the levodopa concentrations, maintaining concentrations more stable. No significant differences were found in total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and triglycerides with the administration of Plantago ovata husk. Conclusions: Plantago ovata husk administration caused a smoothing and homogenization of levodopa absorption, providing more stable concentrations and final higher levels, resulting in a great benefit for patients.S