Towards a Knowledge Graph Based Platform for Public Procurement

Procurement affects virtually all sectors and organizations particularly in times of slow economic recovery and enhanced transparency. Public spending alone will soon exceed EUR 2 trillion per annum in the EU. Therefore, there is a pressing need for better insight into, and management of government spending. In the absence of data and tools to analyse and oversee this complex process, too little consideration is given to the development of vibrant, competitive economies when buying decisions are made. To this end, in this short paper, we report our ongoing work for enabling procurement data value chains through a knowledge graph based platform with data management, analytics, and interaction.acceptedVersio

Sheehan Suicidality Tracking Scale (S-STS): reliability, convergent and discriminative validity in young Italian adults.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The Sheehan Suicidality Tracking Scale (S-STS) is a patient self-report or clinician-administered rating scale that tracks spontaneous and treatment-emergent suicidal ideation and behaviors. This study set out to evaluate the reliability, convergent and divergent validity of the S-STS in a sample of college students, a population with a high risk of completed and attempted suicide. METHODS: Cross-sectional, survey design. Participants (303 undergraduate students; males: 42%) completed several measures assessing psychological distress (General Health Questionnaire; GHQ); self-esteem (Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale; RSES); social support (Modified Social Support Survey; MOSSS); and suicidal behavior, including ideation and attempts (S-STS). RESULTS: Both internal consistency and test-retest stability were excellent for the S-STS-global score. The S-STS subscale on suicide ideation also showed good reliability, while the subscale on suicidal behavior showed some inconsistency at retest. Convergent and divergent validity of S-STS was confirmed. All S-STS items loaded on a single factor, which had an excellent fit for the unidimensional model, thus justifying the use of the S-STS as a screening tool. In a mediation model, self-esteem and social support explained 45% of the effects of psychological distress on suicide ideation and behavior as measured by the S-STS-global score. CONCLUSIONS: This study provided promising evidence on the convergent, divergent, internal consistency and test-retest stability of the Sheehan Suicidality Tracking Scale. The cross-sectional design and lack of measures of hopelessness and helplessness prevent any conclusion about the links of suicidal behavior with self-esteem and social support

A critical review of both the synthesis approach and the receptor profile of the 8-chloro-1-(2′,4′-dichlorophenyl)-N-piperidin-1-yl-1,4,5,6-Tetrahydrobenzo[6,7] cyclohepta[1,2-c ]pyrazole-3-carboxamide and analogue derivatives

8-Chloro-1-(2′,4′-dichlorophenyl)-N-piperidin-1-yl-1,4,5,6-Tetrahydrobenzo[6,7]cyclohepta[1,2-c]pyrazole-3-carboxamide 9a was discovered as potent and selective CB1 antagonist by part of our group few years ago. In particular it was reported to have an affinity towards the CB1 cannabinoid receptor (CB1R), expressed as Ki, of 0.00035 nM. Nevertheless significantly divergent data were reported for the same compound from other laboratories. To unequivocally define the receptor profile of 9a, we have critically reviewed both its synthesis approach and binding data. Here we report that, in contrast to our previously reported data, 9a showed a Ki value for CB1R in the order of nanomolar rather than of fentomolar range. The new determined receptor profile of 9a was also ascertained for analogue derivatives 9b-i, as well as for 12. Moreover, the structural features of the synthesized compounds necessary for CB1R were investigated. Amongst the novel series, effects on CB1R intrinsic activity was highlighted due to the substituents at the position 3 of the pyrazole ring of the 1,4,5,6-Tetrahydrobenzo[6,7]cyclohepta[1,2-c]pyrazole scaffold.Although the cannabinoid receptor profile of 9a was reviewed in this work, the relevance of this compound in CB1R antagonist based drug discovery is confirmed

Novel natural non-nucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase identified by shape- and structure-based virtual screening techniques

In this work we report a parallel application of both docking- and shape-based virtual screening (VS) methods, followed by Molecular Dynamics simulations (MDs), for discovering new compounds able to inhibit the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity. Specifically, we screened more than 143000 natural compounds commercially available in the ZINC database against the best five RT crystallographic models, taking into account the five approved NNRTIs as query compounds. As a result, 20 hit molecules were selected and tested on biochemical assays for the inhibition of the RNA dependent DNA polymerase RT function and, among them, an indoline pyrrolidine (hit1), an indonyl piperazine (hit2) and an indolyl indolinone (hit3) derivatives were identified as novel non-nucleoside RT inhibitors in the low micromolar range

Towards a Knowledge Graph Based Platform for Public Procurement

Procurement affects virtually all sectors and organizations particularly in times of slow economic recovery and enhanced transparency. Public spending alone will soon exceed EUR 2 trillion per annum in the EU. Therefore, there is a pressing need for better insight into, and management of government spending. In the absence of data and tools to analyse and oversee this complex process, too little consideration is given to the development of vibrant, competitive economies when buying decisions are made. To this end, in this short paper, we report our ongoing work for enabling procurement data value chains through a knowledge graph based platform with data management, analytics, and interaction