Ontology-based Fuzzy Markup Language Agent for Student and Robot Co-Learning

An intelligent robot agent based on domain ontology, machine learning mechanism, and Fuzzy Markup Language (FML) for students and robot co-learning is presented in this paper. The machine-human co-learning model is established to help various students learn the mathematical concepts based on their learning ability and performance. Meanwhile, the robot acts as a teacher's assistant to co-learn with children in the class. The FML-based knowledge base and rule base are embedded in the robot so that the teachers can get feedback from the robot on whether students make progress or not. Next, we inferred students' learning performance based on learning content's difficulty and students' ability, concentration level, as well as teamwork sprit in the class. Experimental results show that learning with the robot is helpful for disadvantaged and below-basic children. Moreover, the accuracy of the intelligent FML-based agent for student learning is increased after machine learning mechanism.Comment: This paper is submitted to IEEE WCCI 2018 Conference for revie

AMPK-α1 functions downstream of oxidative stress to mediate neuronal atrophy in Huntington's disease

AbstractHuntington's disease (HD) is an autosomal dominant neurological disorder that is induced by a CAG trinucleotide expansion in exon 1 of the Huntingtin (HTT) gene. We previously reported that the abnormal activation of an important energy sensor, AMP-activated protein kinase α1 (AMPK-α1), occurs in the brains of mice and patients with HD, which suggests that this abnormal activation may contribute to neuronal degeneration in HD. In the present study, we demonstrated that the elevated oxidative stress that was evoked by a polyQ-expanded mutant HTT (mHTT) caused the abnormal activation of AMPK-α1 and, subsequently, resulted in neurotoxicity in a striatal progenitor cell line (STHdhQ109) and in the striatum of a transgenic mouse model of HD (R6/2). The systematic administration of an antioxidant (N-acetyl-cysteine, NAC) to R6/2 mice suppressed the activation of AMPK-α1, reduced neuronal toxicity, which was assessed by the activation of caspases, increased neuronal density, ameliorated ventricle enlargement, and improved motor dysfunction. This beneficial effect of NAC in vivo appears to be direct because NAC also reduced the activation of AMPK-α1 and the death of STHdhQ109 cells upon elevated oxidative stress. Moreover, the activation of AMPK enhanced the level of oxidative stress in STHdhQ109 cells, in primary neurons of R6/2 mice, and in the striatum of two different HD mouse models (R6/2 and Hdh150Q/+), whereas the inhibition of AMPK reduced the level of oxidative stress. Collectively, our findings suggest that positive feedback regulation between the elevated oxidative stress and the activation of AMPK-α1 contributes to the progression of HD

Short-term glutamine supplementation decreases lung inflammation and the receptor for advanced glycation end-products expression in direct acute lung injury in mice

BACKGROUND: Glutamine (GLN) has been reported to improve clinical and experimental sepsis outcomes. However, the mechanisms underlying the actions of GLN remain unclear, and may depend upon the route of GLN administration and the model of acute lung injury (ALI) used. The aim of this study was to investigate whether short-term GLN supplementation had an ameliorative effect on the inflammation induced by direct acid and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge in mice. METHODS: Female BALB/c mice were divided into two groups, a control group and a GLN group (4.17% GLN supplementation). After a 10-day feeding period, ALI was induced by intratracheal administration of hydrochloric acid (pH 1.0; 2 mL/kg of body weight [BW]) and LPS (5 mg/kg BW). Mice were sacrificed 3 h after ALI challenge. In this early phase of ALI, serum, lungs, and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) from the mice were collected for further analysis. RESULTS: The results of this study showed that ALI-challenged mice had a significant increase in myeloperoxidase activity and expression of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α in the lung compared with unchallenged mice. Compared with the control group, GLN pretreatment in ALI-challenged mice reduced the levels of receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) and IL-1β production in BALF, with a corresponding decrease in their mRNA expression. The GLN group also had markedly lower in mRNA expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and NADPH oxidase-1. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the benefit of dietary GLN may be partly contributed to an inhibitory effect on RAGE expression and pro-inflammatory cytokines production at an early stage in direct acid and LPS-induced ALI in mice

Identifying early decline of daily function and its association with physical function in chronic kidney disease: performance-based and self-reported measures

Objective To verify self-reported basic and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) with a disability and the results of performance-based tests (namely the Taiwan performance-based IADL (TPIADL), the 2-minute step test (2MST), the 30-second chair-stand test (30-s CST), and handgrip dynamometer measurement) to identify disability early and assess the associations with functional fitness in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD). Methods A cross-sectional study of 99 patients with stage 4–5 CKD and 57 healthy elderly adults were recruited. Self-reported measures were used to collect information on basic (Barthel Index) and IADL (Lawton–Brody scale). Objective measures of the TPIADL and functional fitness (2MST, 30-s CST, handgrip dynamometer) were also assessed. Results Only IADL, as detected by the TPIADL, were impaired to a greater extent in the CKD patients than those of healthy elderly adults. Among all the patients with CKD, a greater impairment in the TPIADL remained statistically associated with a lower ability in the 2MST. A one step increase in the 2MST score was significantly associated with an improvement of 0.2 s in the total performance time of the TPIADL. Conclusion Performance-based measures, such as the TPIADL, may detect a functional limitation before it becomes measurable by traditional self-reported basic and IADL scales; functional limitation is mainly associated with cardiac endurance for advanced CKD