Enhancing the expressiveness of linguistic structures

In the information society large amounts of information are being generated and transmitted constantly, especially in the most natural way for humans, i.e., natural language. Social networks, blogs, forums, and Q&A sites are a dynamic Large Knowledge Repository. So, Web 2.0 contains structured data but still the largest amount of information is expressed in natural language. Linguistic structures for text recognition enable the extraction of structured information from texts. However, the expressiveness of the current structures is limited as they have been designed with a strict order in their phrases, limiting their applicability to other languages and making them more sensible to grammatical errors. To overcome these limitations, in this paper we present a linguistic structure named ?linguistic schema?, with a richer expressiveness that introduces less implicit constraints over annotations

The theoretical molecular weight of NaYF ₄ :RE upconversion nanoparticles

Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) are utilized extensively for biomedical imaging, sensing, and therapeutic applications, yet the molecular weight of UCNPs has not previously been reported. Herein, we present a theory based upon the crystal structure of UCNPs to estimate the molecular weight of UCNPs: enabling insight into UCNP molecular weight for the first time. We estimate the theoretical molecular weight of various UCNPs reported in the literature, predicting that spherical NaYF4 UCNPs ~ 10 nm in diameter will be ~1 MDa (i.e. 106 g/mol), whereas UCNPs ~ 45 nm in diameter will be ~100 MDa (i.e. 108 g/mol). We also predict that hexagonal crystal phase UCNPs will be of greater molecular weight than cubic crystal phase UCNPs. Additionally we find that a Gaussian UCNP diameter distribution will correspond to a lognormal UCNP molecular weight distribution. Our approach could potentially be generalised to predict the molecular weight of other arbitrary crystalline nanoparticles: as such, we provide stand-alone graphic user interfaces to calculate the molecular weight both UCNPs and arbitrary crystalline nanoparticles. We expect knowledge of UCNP molecular weight to be of wide utility in biomedical applications where reporting UCNP quantity in absolute numbers or molarity will be beneficial for inter-study comparison and repeatability

Life-Space Mobility and Aging in Place

Research on older adults explores the notion of “aging in place”—providing older adults the opportunity to continue to occupy familiar surroundings, to live in their own homes and communities. But oftentimes one’s ability to stay or leave, particularly in old age, depends on the built environment. Mobility is the ability to meet the basic needs to access goods, activities, services, and social interactions as they relate to quality of life. Thus, mobility is essential to older adults due to their limited, or gradually reducing, physical and cognitive abilities. In transportation research, mobility is often regarded in terms of travel behavior and it is measured by the number of outside-home travel. However, in other fields, including public health, it refers to the relative ease and freedom of movement in all of its forms. This study intends to broaden the understanding of the environmental factors on older adults’ mobility in different life spaces, from one’s bedroom to sidewalk, from home to a final destination via walking, public transit and/or driving. We document and examine 1) the ways in which older adults talk about, understand, and make meaning of their experiences and conditions related to life-space mobility and, 2) how these frames of reference guide their ability to be able to age in place. To achieve these aims, we developed a life-space mobility assessment tool and conduct semi-structured interviews with 25 older adults who have participated in home accessibility modification programs in the U.S. Western region. Given that interviewees already have engaged in some level of self-determination to improve their lives at home, we are interested in their life-space mobility and which opportunities they might see to improve their auto sufficiency. Our work provides both a basis and springboard for studying further geographies and discussion about policy initiatives to effectively and equitably address growing mobility disparities

Local and global modes of drug action in biochemical networks

It becomes increasingly accepted that a shift is needed from the traditional target-based approach of drug development to an integrated perspective of drug action in biochemical systems. We here present an integrative analysis of the interactions between drugs and metabolism based on the concept of drug scope. The drug scope represents the set of metabolic compounds and reactions that are potentially affected by a drug. We constructed and analyzed the scopes of all US approved drugs having metabolic targets. Our analysis shows that the distribution of drug scopes is highly uneven, and that drugs can be classified into several categories based on their scopes. Some of them have small scopes corresponding to localized action, while others have large scopes corresponding to potential large-scale systemic action. These groups are well conserved throughout different topologies of the underlying metabolic network. They can furthermore be associated to specific drug therapeutic properties

Real-time massive convolution for audio applications on GPU

[EN] Massive convolution is the basic operation in multichannel acoustic signal processing. This field has experienced a major development in recent years. One reason for this has been the increase in the number of sound sources used in playback applications available to users. Another reason is the growing need to incorporate new effects and to improve the hearing experience. Massive convolution requires high computing capacity. GPUs offer the possibility of parallelizing these operations. This allows us to obtain the processing result in much shorter time and to free up CPU resources. One important aspect lies in the possibility of overlapping the transfer of data from CPU to GPU and vice versa with the computation, in order to carry out real-time applications. Thus, a synthesis of 3D sound scenes could be achieved with only a peer-to-peer music streaming environment using a simple GPU in your computer, while the CPU in the computer is being used for other tasks. Nowadays, these effects are obtained in theaters or funfairs at a very high cost, requiring a large quantity of resources. Thus, our work focuses on two mains points: to describe an efficient massive convolution implementation and to incorporate this task to real-time multichannel-sound applications. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.This work was partially supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (Projects TIN2008-06570-C04-02 and TEC2009-13741), Universidad Politecnica de Valencia through PAID-05-09 and Generalitat Valenciana through project PROMETEO/2009/2013Belloch Rodríguez, JA.; Gonzalez, A.; Martínez Zaldívar, FJ.; Vidal Maciá, AM. (2011). Real-time massive convolution for audio applications on GPU. Journal of Supercomputing. 58(3):449-457. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-011-0610-8S449457583Spors S, Rabenstein R, Herbordt W (2007) Active listening room compensation for massive multichannel sound reproduction system using wave-domain adaptive filtering. J Acoust Soc Am 122:354–369Huang Y, Benesty J, Chen J (2008) Generalized crosstalk cancellation and equalization using multiple loudspeakers for 3D sound reproduction at the ears of multiple listeners. In: IEEE int conference on acoustics, speech and signal processing, Las Vegas, USA, pp 405–408Cowan B, Kapralos B (2008) Spatial sound for video games and virtual environments utilizing real-time GPU-based convolution. In: Proceedings of the ACM FuturePlay 2008 international conference on the future of game design and technology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, November 3–5Belloch JA, Vidal AM, Martinez-Zaldivar FJ, Gonzalez A (2010) Multichannel acoustic signal processing on GPU. In: Proceedings of the 10th international conference on computational and mathematical methods in science and engineering, vol 1. Almeria, Spain, June 26–30, pp 181–187Cowan B, Kapralos B (2009) GPU-based one-dimensional convolution for real-time spatial sound generation. Sch J 3(5)Soliman SS, Mandyam DS, Srinath MD (1997) Continuous and discrete signals and systems. Prentice Hall, New YorkOppenheim AV, Willsky AS, Hamid Nawab S (1996) Signals and systems. Prentice Hall, New YorkopenGL: http://www.opengl.org/MKL library: http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-mkl/MKL library: http://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-ipp/CUFFT library: http://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/3_1/toolkit/docs/CUFFT_Library_3.1.pdfCUDA Toolkit 3.1: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cuda_3_1_downloads.htmlCUDA Toolkit 3.2: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cuda_3_1_downloads.htmlDatasheet of AC’97 SoundMAX Codec: http://www.xilinx.com/products/boards/ml505/datasheets/87560554AD1981B_c.pd

Obesity-induced insulin resistance in human skeletal muscle is characterised by defective activation of p42/p44 MAP kinase

Insulin resistance (IR), an impaired cellular, tissue and whole body response to insulin, is a major pathophysiological defect of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Although IR is closely associated with obesity, the identity of the molecular defect(s) underlying obesity-induced IR in skeletal muscle remains controversial; reduced post-receptor signalling of the insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS1) adaptor protein and downstream effectors such as protein kinase B (PKB) have previously been implicated. We examined expression and/or activation of a number of components of the insulin-signalling cascade in skeletal muscle of 22 healthy young men (with body mass index (BMI) range, 20–37 kg/m2). Whole body insulin sensitivity (M value) and body composition was determined by the hyperinsulinaemic (40 mU. min−1.m−2.), euglycaemic clamp and by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) respectively. Skeletal muscle (vastus lateralis) biopsies were taken before and after one hour of hyperinsulinaemia and the muscle insulin signalling proteins examined by western blot and immunoprecipitation assay. There was a strong inverse relationship between M-value and BMI. The most striking abnormality was significantly reduced insulin-induced activation of p42/44 MAP kinase, measured by specific assay, in the volunteers with poor insulin sensitivity. However, there was no relationship between individuals' BMI or M-value and protein expression/phosphorylation of IRS1, PKB, or p42/44 MAP kinase protein, under basal or hyperinsulinaemic conditions. In the few individuals with poor insulin sensitivity but preserved p42/44 MAP kinase activation, other signalling defects were evident. These findings implicate defective p42/44 MAP kinase signalling as a potential contributor to obesity-related IR in a non-diabetic population, although clearly multiple signalling defects underlie obesity associated IR

Os efeitos do cigarro e do consumo de café sobre a formação óssea e a integração óssea de implantes de hidroxiapatita

The present study aims to assess the effects of cigarette smoke inhalation and/or coffee consumption on bone formation and osseous integration of a dense hydroxyapatite (DHA) implant in rats. For this study, 20 male rats were divided into four groups (n = 5): CT (control) group, CE (coffee) group, CI (cigarette) group and CC (coffee + cigarette) group. During 16 weeks, animals in the CI group were exposed to cigarette smoke inhalation equivalent to 6 cigarettes per day; specimens in the CE group drank coffee as liquid diet; and rats in the CC group were submitted to both substances. In the 6th week a 5 mm slit in the parietal bone and a 4 mm slit in the tibia were performed on the left side: the former was left open while the latter received a DHA implant. As soon as surgeries were finished, the animals returned to their original protocols and after 10 weeks of exposure they were euthanised (ethically sacrificed) and the mentioned bones collected for histological processing. Data showed that exposure to cigarette smoke inhalation and coffee consumption did not interfere in weight gain and that solid and liquid diet consumption was satisfactory. Rats in the CC group showed a decrease in bone neoformation around the tibial DHA implant (31.8 ± 2.8) as well as in bone formation in the parietal slit (28.6 ± 2.2). On their own, cigarette smoke inhalation or coffee consumption also led to diminished bone neoformation around the implant and delayed the bone repair process in relation to the CT group. However, reduction in the bone repair process was accentuated with exposure to both cigarette smoke inhalation and coffee consumption in this study.O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar os efeitos do tabagismo e do consumo de café, isolada ou concomitantemente, sobre a formação óssea e a osseointegração de implantes hidroxiapatita densa. Foram utilizados 20 ratos machos, divididos em quatro grupos (n = 5): grupo CT (controle); grupo CA (café); grupo CI (cigarro), e grupo CC (cigarro + café). Durante 16 semanas, os animais do grupo CI foram expostos à fumaça de seis cigarros/dia; os animais do grupo CA consumiram café como dieta líquida, e os animais do grupo CC, ambas as substâncias. Após seis semanas de exposição, uma falha óssea de 5 mm foi produzida no osso parietal esquerdo e de 4 mm, na tíbia esquerda dos animais. A falha do parietal foi mantida aberta, enquanto na tíbia corpos cerâmicos de hidroxiapatita densa (HAD) foram implantados em cavidade produzida cirurgicamente. Após as cirurgias, os animais retornaram aos protocolos experimentais e, ao término de dez semanas, foram eutanasiados, sendo as tíbias e os parietais coletados para processamento histológico. A exposição à fumaça do cigarro e o consumo de café não interferiram no ganho de peso dos animais, e os consumos de dieta líquida e sólida foram satisfatórios entre os grupos. Os animais do grupo CC apresentaram menor volume de osso neoformado ao redor do implante de HAD na tíbia (31,8 ± 2,8) e menor osteogênese na falha produzida no osso parietal (28,6 ± 2,2). O café e o cigarro consumidos isoladamente provocam a diminuição do volume de osso ao redor do implante e o atraso no processo de reparação óssea. Observou-se que o consumo de café associado à exposição à fumaça do cigarro reduziu de forma acentuada o processo de reparação óssea, no presente estudo.Universidade José do Rosário VellanoUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Escola Paulista de MedicinaUniversidade Federal de AlfenasUniversidade Estadual de CampinasUniversidade José do Rosário Vellano Faculdade de MedicinaUNIFESP, EPMSciEL

The Role of Expert Opinion in Projecting Long-Term Survival Outcomes Beyond the Horizon of a Clinical Trial

INTRODUCTION: Clinical trials often have short follow-ups, and long-term outcomes such as survival must be extrapolated. Current extrapolation methods often produce a wide range of survival values. To minimize uncertainty in projections, we developed a novel method that incorporates formally elicited expert opinion in a Bayesian analysis and used it to extrapolate survival in the placebo arm of DAPA-CKD, a phase 3 trial of dapagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease (NCT03036150). METHODS: A summary of mortality data from 13 studies that included DAPA-CKD-like populations and training on elicitation were provided to six experts. An elicitation survey was used to gather the experts' 10- and 20-year survival estimates for patients in the placebo arm of DAPA-CKD. These estimates were combined with DAPA-CKD mortality and general population mortality (GPM) data in a Bayesian analysis to extrapolate long-term survival using seven parametric distributions. Results were compared with those from standard frequentist approaches (with and without GPM data) that do not incorporate expert opinion. RESULTS: The group expert-elicited estimate for 20-year survival was 31% (lower estimate, 10%; upper estimate, 40%). In the Bayesian analysis, the 20-year extrapolated survival across the seven distributions was 14.9-39.1%, a range that was 2.4- and 1.6-fold smaller than those produced by the frequentist methods (0.0-56.9% without and 0.0-39.2% with GPM data). CONCLUSIONS: Using expert opinion in a Bayesian analysis provided a robust method for extrapolating long-term survival in the placebo arm of DAPA-CKD. The method could be applied to other populations with limited survival data

Even free radicals should follow some rules: a guide to free radical research terminology and methodology.

Free radicals and oxidants are now implicated in physiological responses and in several diseases. Given the wide range of expertise of free radical researchers, application of the greater understanding of chemistry has not been uniformly applied to biological studies. We suggest that some widely used methodologies and terminologies hamper progress and need to be addressed. We make the case for abandonment and judicious use of several methods and terms and suggest practical and viable alternatives. These changes are suggested in four areas: use of fluorescent dyes to identify and quantify reactive species, methods for measurement of lipid peroxidation in complex biological systems, claims of antioxidants as radical scavengers, and use of the terms for reactive species