A Mining Algorithm under Fuzzy Taxonomic Structures

Most conventional data-mining algorithms identify the relationships among transactions using binary values and find rules at a single concept level. Transactions with quantitative values and items with taxonomic relations are, however, commonly seen in real-world applications. Besides, the taxonomic structures may also be represented in a fuzzy way. This paper thus proposes a fuzzy multiple-level mining algorithm for extracting fuzzy association rules under given fuzzy taxonomic structures. The proposed algorithm adopts a top-down progressively deepening approach to finding large itemsets. It integrates fuzzy-set concepts, data-mining technologies and multiple-level fuzzy taxonomy to find fuzzy association rules from given transaction data sets. Each item uses only the linguistic term with the maximum cardinality in later mining processes, thus making the number of fuzzy regions to be processed the same as the number of the original items. The algorithm therefore focuses on the most important linguistic terms for reduced time complexit

How tyramine β-hydroxylase controls the production of octopamine, modulating the mobility of beetles

Biogenic amines perform many kinds of important physiological functions in the central nervous system (CNS) of insects, acting as neuromodulators, neurotransmitters, and neurohormones. The five most abundant types of biogenic amines in invertebrates are dopamine, histamine, serotonin, tyramine, and octopamine (OA). However, in beetles, an important group of model and pest insects, the role of tyramine beta-hydroxylase (T beta H) in the OA biosynthesis pathway and the regulation of behavior remains unknown so far. We therefore investigated the molecular characterization and spatiotemporal expression profiles of T beta H in red flour beetles (Triboliun castaneum). Most importantly, we detected the production of OA and measured the crawling speed of beetles after dsTcT beta H injection. We concluded that TcT beta H controls the biosynthesis amount of OA in the CNS, and this in turn modulates the mobility of the beetles. Our new results provided basic information about the key genes in the OA biosynthesis pathway of the beetles, and expanded our knowledge on the physiological functions of OA in insects

Investigation on the mechanism of peripheral axonal injury in glaucoma

AIM: To compare the angles of longitudinal section of sclera around optic nerve heads and the never fiber layer changes in healthy adults and patients with glaucoma, and to investigate the mechanism of peripheral retinal axonal injury, with the combined knowledge of biomechanics. METHODS: The optical nerves and their peripheral tissue specimen in the 12 eyes from health adult donators and 12 eyes from glaucoma patient donators were dyed by Glees' method to compare the angles of longitudinal section of sclera around optic nerve heads(through optic nerve center), and to observe the anatomical features of the peripheral retinal axons. RESULTS: The mean angle of longitudinal section of sclera around optic nerve in healthy adults was 73.3°, while that in patients with absolute glaucoma was 75.6°. The difference showed no significance(t=1.44, P>0.05). There was a sharp bend in the course of peripheral optical fiber in healthy adults. However, the optic nerve fiber disappeared completely in patients with glaucoma end stage. CONCLUSION: The angle between the medial edge and leading edge of sclera(around optic nerve heads)is an acute angle. The optical fiber in glaucoma end stage disappeared completely. The phenomenon may be related to high intraocular pressure, the sclera shape, the shear modulus of sclera and axons, and “axonal bending-injury” mechanism

An alternative Candida spp. cell wall disruption method using a basic sorbitol lysis buffer and glass beads

This report describes a modified, cost-effective method of cell wall disruption for the yeast Candida spp., which employs the use of glass beads in a simple sorbitol lysis buffer. This method can be used in conjunction with a commercial RNA or genomic DNA isolation method to obtain high-quality RNA or DNA

Photoproduction of nitric oxide in seawater

Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-lived intermediate of the oceanic nitrogen cycle. However, our knowledge about its production and consumption pathways in oceanic environments is rudimentary. In order to decipher the major factors affecting NO photochemical production, we irradiated several artificial seawater samples as well as 31 natural surface seawater samples in laboratory experiments. The seawater samples were collected during a cruise to the western tropical North Pacific Ocean (WTNP, a N-S section from 36 to 2 degrees N along 146 to 143 degrees E with 6 and 12 stations, respectively, and a W-E section from 137 to 161 degrees E along the Equator with 13 stations) from November 2015 to January 2016. NO photoproduction rates from dissolved nitrite in artificial seawater showed increasing trends with decreasing pH, increasing temperature, and increasing salinity. In contrast, NO photoproduction rates (average: 0.5 +/- 0.2 x 10(-12) mol L-1 s(-1)) in the natural seawater samples from the WTNP did not show any correlations with pH, water temperature, salinity, or dissolved inorganic nitrite concentrations. The flux induced by NO photoproduction in the WTNP (average: 13 x 10(-12) mol M-2 S-1) was significantly larger than the NO air-sea flux density (average: 1.8 x 10(-12) Mol M-2 S-1), indicating a further NO loss process in the surface layer

Gaussian orthogonal ensemble statistics in graphene billiards with the shape of classically integrable billiards

L.H. thanks Professor A. Rycerz for helpful discussions. This work was supported by NSF of China under Grants No. 11135001, No. 11375074, and No. 11422541, as well as by the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education of China under Grant No. 20130211110008. Y.C.L. and H.Y.X. were supported by AFOSR under Grant No. FA9550-15-1-0151 and by ONR under Grant No. N00014-15-1-2405.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Predicting Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Performance Using Flow-Cytometry-Derived High and Low Nucleic Acid Content Cells

Having a tool to monitor the microbial abundances rapidly and to utilize the data to predict the reactor performance would facilitate the operation of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). This study aims to achieve the aforementioned scenario by developing a linear regression model that incorporates a time-lagging mode. The model uses low nucleic acid (LNA) cell numbers and the ratio of high nucleic acid (HNA) to LNA cells as an input data set. First, the model was trained using data sets obtained from a 35 L pilot-scale AnMBR. The model was able to predict the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency and methane production 3.5 days in advance. Subsequent validation of the model using flow cytometry (FCM)-derived data (at time t – 3.5 days) obtained from another biologically independent reactor did not exhibit any substantial difference between predicted and actual measurements of reactor performance at time t. Further cell sorting, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and correlation analysis partly attributed this accurate prediction to HNA genera (e.g., Anaerovibrio and unclassified Bacteroidales) and LNA genera (e.g., Achromobacter, Ochrobactrum, and unclassified Anaerolineae). In summary, our findings suggest that HNA and LNA cell routine enumeration, along with the trained model, can derive a fast approach to predict the AnMBR performance

The Impacts of Swimming Exercise on Hippocampal Expression of Neurotrophic Factors in Rats Exposed to Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress

Depression is associated with stress-induced neural atrophy in limbic brain regions, whereas exercise has antidepressant effects as well as increasing hippocampal synaptic plasticity by strengthening neurogenesis, metabolism, and vascular function. A key mechanism mediating these broad benefits of exercise on the brain is induction of neurotrophic factors, which instruct downstream structural and functional changes. To systematically evaluate the potential neurotrophic factors that were involved in the antidepressive effects of exercise, in this study, we assessed the effects of swimming exercise on hippocampal mRNA expression of several classes of the growth factors (BDNF, GDNF, NGF, NT-3, FGF2, VEGF, and IGF-1) and peptides (VGF and NPY) in rats exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS). Our study demonstrated that the swimming training paradigm significantly induced the expression of BDNF and BDNF-regulated peptides (VGF and NPY) and restored their stress-induced downregulation. Additionally, the exercise protocol also increased the antiapoptotic Bcl-xl expression and normalized the CUMS mediated induction of proapoptotic Bax mRNA level. Overall, our data suggest that swimming exercise has antidepressant effects, increasing the resistance to the neural damage caused by CUMS, and both BDNF and its downstream neurotrophic peptides may exert a major function in the exercise related adaptive processes to CUMS

The in vivo study on the radiobiologic effect of prolonged delivery time to tumor control in C57BL mice implanted with Lewis lung cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>High-precision radiation therapy techniques such as IMRT or sterotactic radiosurgery, delivers more complex treatment fields than conventional techniques. The increased complexity causes longer dose delivery times for each fraction. The purpose of this work is to explore the radiobiologic effect of prolonged fraction delivery time on tumor response and survival in vivo.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>1-cm-diameter Lewis lung cancer tumors growing in the legs of C57BL mice were used. To evaluate effect of dose delivery prolongation, 18 Gy was divided into different subfractions. 48 mice were randomized into 6 groups: the normal control group, the single fraction with 18 Gy group, the two subfractions with 30 min interval group, the seven subfractions with 5 min interval group, the two subfractions with 60 min interval group and the seven subfractions with 10 min interval group. The tumor growth tendency, the tumor growth delay and the mice survival time were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The tumor growth delay of groups with prolonged delivery time was shorter than the group with single fraction of 18 Gy (P < 0.05). The tumor grow delay of groups with prolonged delivery time 30 min was longer than that of groups with prolonged delivery time 60 min P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between groups with same delivery time (P > 0.05). Compared to the group with single fraction of 18 Gy, the groups with prolonged delivery time shorten the mice survival time while there was no significant difference between the groups with prolonged delivery time 30 min and the groups with prolonged delivery time 60 min.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The prolonged delivery time with same radiation dose shorten the tumor growth delay and survival time in the mice implanted with Lewis lung cancer. The anti-tumor effect decreased with elongation of the total interfractional time.</p

Influence of Reducing Agents on Biosafety and Biocompatibility of Gold Nanoparticles

Extensive biomedical applications of nanoparticles are mainly determined by their safety and compatibility in biological systems. The aim of this study was to compare the biosafety and biocompatibility of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) prepared with HEPES buffer, which is popular for cell culture, and sodium citrate, a frequent reducing agent. From experimental results on the body weight and organ coefficients of acute oral toxicity tests, it could be observed that HEPES-prepared GNPs are biologically safer than citric-prepared GNPs at the same dose of 500 μg/kg. The in vitro cell viability was higher for HEPES-prepared GNPs than citric-prepared GNPs at 5.0- and 10.0-ug/mL concentrations. More reactive oxygen species (ROS) were generated in the cell suspension when supplemented with citric-prepared GNPs than HEPES-prepared GNPs when their concentrations were higher than 20 μg/mL. The results stated that HEPES-prepared GNPs had better biosafety and biocompatibility than citric-prepared GNPs. This study not only revealed the influence of reducing agent on biosafety and biocompatibility of nanomaterials but also provided accumulative evidence for nanomaterials in biomedical applications. [Figure: see text