Towards a Taxonomy of Cognitive RPA Components

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a discipline that is increasingly growing hand in hand with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning enabling the so-called cognitive automation. In such context, the existing RPA platforms that include AI-based solutions clas sify their components, i.e. constituting part of a robot that performs a set of actions, in a way that seems to obey market or business deci sions instead of common-sense rules. To be more precise, components that present similar functionality are identified with different names and grouped in different ways depending on the platform that provides the components. Therefore, the analysis of different cognitive RPA platforms to check their suitability for facing a specific need is typically a time consuming and error-prone task. To overcome this problem and to pro vide users with support in the development of an RPA project, this paper proposes a method for the systematic construction of a taxonomy of cognitive RPA components. Moreover, such a method is applied over components that solve selected real-world use cases from the industry obtaining promising resultsMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2016-76956-C3-2-RJunta de Andalucía CEI-12-TIC021Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial P011-19/E0

The impact of signal-to-noise ratio, diffusion-weighted directions and image resolution in cardiac diffusion tensor imaging - insights from the ex-vivo rat heart

Background: Cardiac diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is limited by scan time and signal-to-noise (SNR) restrictions. This invariably leads to a trade-off between the number of averages, diffusion-weighted directions (ND), and image resolution. Systematic evaluation of these parameters is therefore important for adoption of cardiac DTI in clinical routine where time is a key constraint. Methods: High quality reference DTI data were acquired in five ex-vivo rat hearts. We then retrospectively set 2 ≤ SNR ≤ 97, 7 ≤ ND ≤ 61, varied the voxel volume by up to 192-fold and investigated the impact on the accuracy and precision of commonly derived parameters. Results: For maximal scan efficiency, the accuracy and precision of the mean diffusivity is optimised when SNR is maximised at the expense of ND. With typical parameter settings used clinically, we estimate that fractional anisotropy may be overestimated by up to 13% with an uncertainty of ±30%, while the precision of the sheetlet angles may be as poor as ±31°. Although the helix angle has better precision of ±14°, the transmural range of helix angles may be under-estimated by up to 30° in apical and basal slices, due to partial volume and tapering myocardial geometry. Conclusions: These findings inform a baseline of understanding upon which further issues inherent to in-vivo cardiac DTI, such as motion, strain and perfusion, can be considered. Furthermore, the reported bias and reproducibility provides a context in which to assess cardiac DTI biomarkers

Radiation Impairs Perineural Invasion by Modulating the Nerve Microenvironment

Perineural invasion (PNI) by cancer cells is an ominous clinical event that is associated with increased local recurrence and poor prognosis. Although radiation therapy (RT) may be delivered along the course of an invaded nerve, the mechanisms through which radiation may potentially control PNI remain undefined. murine sciatic nerve model was used to study how RT to nerve or cancer affects nerve invasion by cancer.Cancer cell invasion of the DRG was partially dependent on DRG secretion of glial-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). A single 4 Gy dose of radiation to the DRG alone, cultured with non-radiated cancer cells, significantly inhibited PNI and was associated with decreased GDNF secretion but intact DRG viability. Radiation of cancer cells alone, co-cultured with non-radiated nerves, inhibited PNI through predominantly compromised cancer cell viability. In a murine model of PNI, a single 8 Gy dose of radiation to the sciatic nerve prior to implantation of non-radiated cancer cells resulted in decreased GDNF expression, decreased PNI by imaging and histology, and preservation of sciatic nerve motor function.Radiation may impair PNI through not only direct effects on cancer cell viability, but also an independent interruption of paracrine mechanisms underlying PNI. RT modulation of the nerve microenvironment may decrease PNI, and hold significant therapeutic implications for RT dosing and field design for patients with cancers exhibiting PNI

Characterization of Inhibitory Anti-Duffy Binding Protein II Immunity: Approach to Plasmodium vivax Vaccine Development in Thailand

Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein region II (DBPII) is an important vaccine candidate for antibody-mediated immunity against vivax malaria. A significant challenge for vaccine development of DBPII is its highly polymorphic nature that alters sensitivity to neutralizing antibody responses. Here, we aim to characterize naturally-acquired neutralizing antibodies against DBPII in individual Thai residents to give insight into P. vivax vaccine development in Thailand. Anti-DBPII IgG significantly increased in acute vivax infections compared to uninfected residents and naive controls. Antibody titers and functional anti-DBPII inhibition varied widely and there was no association between titer and inhibition activity. Most high titer plasmas had only a moderate to no functional inhibitory effect on DBP binding to erythrocytes, indicating the protective immunity against DBPII binding is strain specific. Only 5 of 54 samples were highly inhibitory against DBP erythrocyte-binding function. Previously identified target epitopes of inhibitory anti-DBPPII IgG (H1, H2 and H3) were localized to the dimer interface that forms the DARC binding pocket. Amino acid polymorphisms (monomorphic or dimorphic) in H1 and H3 protective epitopes change sensitivity of immune inhibition by alteration of neutralizing antibody recognition. The present study indicates Thai variant H1.T1 (R308S), H3.T1 (D384G) and H3.T3 (K386N) are the most important variants for a DBPII candidate vaccine needed to protect P. vivax in Thai residents

Impact of therapy on quality of life, neurocognitive function and their correlates in glioblastoma multiforme: a review

The maintenance of quality of life (QoL) in patients with high-grade glioma is an important endpoint during treatment, particularly in those with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) given its dismal prognosis despite limited advances in standard therapy. It has proven difficult to identify new therapies that extend survival in patients with recurrent GBM, so one of the primary aims of new therapies is to reduce morbidity, restore or preserve neurologic functions, and the capacity to perform daily activities. Apart from temozolomide, cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agents do not appear to significantly impact response or survival, but produce toxicity that is likely to negatively impact QoL. New biological agents, such as bevacizumab, can induce a clinically meaningful proportion of durable responses among patients with recurrent GBM with an acceptable safety profile. Emerging evidence suggests that bevacizumab produces an improvement or preservation of neurocognitive function in GBM patients, suggestive of QoL improvement, in most poor-prognosis patients who would otherwise be expected to show a sudden and rapid deterioration in QoL

Accurate Encoding and Decoding by Single Cells: Amplitude Versus Frequency Modulation

Cells sense external concentrations and, via biochemical signaling, respond by regulating the expression of target proteins. Both in signaling networks and gene regulation there are two main mechanisms by which the concentration can be encoded internally: amplitude modulation (AM), where the absolute concentration of an internal signaling molecule encodes the stimulus, and frequency modulation (FM), where the period between successive bursts represents the stimulus. Although both mechanisms have been observed in biological systems, the question of when it is beneficial for cells to use either AM or FM is largely unanswered. Here, we first consider a simple model for a single receptor (or ion channel), which can either signal continuously whenever a ligand is bound, or produce a burst in signaling molecule upon receptor binding. We find that bursty signaling is more accurate than continuous signaling only for sufficiently fast dynamics. This suggests that modulation based on bursts may be more common in signaling networks than in gene regulation. We then extend our model to multiple receptors, where continuous and bursty signaling are equivalent to AM and FM respectively, finding that AM is always more accurate. This implies that the reason some cells use FM is related to factors other than accuracy, such as the ability to coordinate expression of multiple genes or to implement threshold crossing mechanisms

Multiple Changes in Peptide and Lipid Expression Associated with Regeneration in the Nervous System of the Medicinal Leech

peer reviewe

Anesthetic action on the transmission delay between cortex and thalamus explains the beta-buzz observed under propofol anesthesia

In recent years, more and more surgeries under general anesthesia have been performed with the assistance of electroencephalogram (EEG) monitors. An increase in anesthetic concentration leads to characteristic changes in the power spectra of the EEG. Although tracking the anesthetic-induced changes in EEG rhythms can be employed to estimate the depth of anesthesia, their precise underlying mechanisms are still unknown. A prominent feature in the EEG of some patients is the emergence of a strong power peak in the β–frequency band, which moves to the α–frequency band while increasing the anesthetic concentration. This feature is called the beta-buzz. In the present study, we use a thalamo-cortical neural population feedback model to reproduce observed characteristic features in frontal EEG power obtained experimentally during propofol general anesthesia, such as this beta-buzz. First, we find that the spectral power peak in the α– and δ–frequency ranges depend on the decay rate constant of excitatory and inhibitory synapses, but the anesthetic action on synapses does not explain the beta-buzz. Moreover, considering the action of propofol on the transmission delay between cortex and thalamus, the model reveals that the beta-buzz may result from a prolongation of the transmission delay by increasing propofol concentration. A corresponding relationship between transmission delay and anesthetic blood concentration is derived. Finally, an analytical stability study demonstrates that increasing propofol concentration moves the systems resting state towards its stability threshold

C. elegans Agrin Is Expressed in Pharynx, IL1 Neurons and Distal Tip Cells and Does Not Genetically Interact with Genes Involved in Synaptogenesis or Muscle Function

Agrin is a basement membrane protein crucial for development and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction in vertebrates. The C. elegans genome harbors a putative agrin gene agr-1. We have cloned the corresponding cDNA to determine the primary structure of the protein and expressed its recombinant fragments to raise specific antibodies. The domain organization of AGR-1 is very similar to the vertebrate orthologues. C. elegans agrin contains a signal sequence for secretion, seven follistatin domains, three EGF-like repeats and two laminin G domains. AGR-1 loss of function mutants did not exhibit any overt phenotypes and did not acquire resistance to the acetylcholine receptor agonist levamisole. Furthermore, crossing them with various mutants for components of the dystrophin-glycoprotein complex with impaired muscle function did not lead to an aggravation of the phenotypes. Promoter-GFP translational fusion as well as immunostaining of worms revealed expression of agrin in buccal epithelium and the protein deposition in the basal lamina of the pharynx. Furthermore, dorsal and ventral IL1 head neurons and distal tip cells of the gonad arms are sources of agrin production, but no expression was detectable in body muscles or in the motoneurons innervating them. Recombinant worm AGR-1 fragment is able to cluster vertebrate dystroglycan in cultured cells, implying a conservation of this interaction, but since neither of these proteins is expressed in muscle of C. elegans, this interaction may be required in different tissues. The connections between muscle cells and the basement membrane, as well as neuromuscular junctions, are structurally distinct between vertebrates and nematodes

Comparative analyses imply that the enigmatic sigma factor 54 is a central controller of the bacterial exterior

Contains fulltext : 95738.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Sigma-54 is a central regulator in many pathogenic bacteria and has been linked to a multitude of cellular processes like nitrogen assimilation and important functional traits such as motility, virulence, and biofilm formation. Until now it has remained obscure whether these phenomena and the control by Sigma-54 share an underlying theme. RESULTS: We have uncovered the commonality by performing a range of comparative genome analyses. A) The presence of Sigma-54 and its associated activators was determined for all sequenced prokaryotes. We observed a phylum-dependent distribution that is suggestive of an evolutionary relationship between Sigma-54 and lipopolysaccharide and flagellar biosynthesis. B) All Sigma-54 activators were identified and annotated. The relation with phosphotransfer-mediated signaling (TCS and PTS) and the transport and assimilation of carboxylates and nitrogen containing metabolites was substantiated. C) The function annotations, that were represented within the genomic context of all genes encoding Sigma-54, its activators and its promoters, were analyzed for intra-phylum representation and inter-phylum conservation. Promoters were localized using a straightforward scoring strategy that was formulated to identify similar motifs. We found clear highly-represented and conserved genetic associations with genes that concern the transport and biosynthesis of the metabolic intermediates of exopolysaccharides, flagella, lipids, lipopolysaccharides, lipoproteins and peptidoglycan. CONCLUSION: Our analyses directly implicate Sigma-54 as a central player in the control over the processes that involve the physical interaction of an organism with its environment like in the colonization of a host (virulence) or the formation of biofilm