Evidence for active maintenance of inverted repeat structures identified by a comparative genomic approach

Inverted repeats have been found to occur in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic genomes. Usually they are short and some have important functions in various biological processes. However, long inverted repeats are rare and can cause genome instability. Analyses of C. elegans genome identified long, nearly-perfect inverted repeat sequences involving both divergently and convergently oriented homologous gene pairs and complete intergenic sequences. Comparisons with the orthologous regions from the genomes of C. briggsae and C. remanei show that the inverted repeat structures are often far more conserved than the sequences. This observation implies that there is an active mechanism for maintaining the inverted repeat nature of the sequences

Distributed Training Large-Scale Deep Architectures

Scale of data and scale of computation infrastructures together enable the current deep learning renaissance. However, training large-scale deep architectures demands both algorithmic improvement and careful system configuration. In this paper, we focus on employing the system approach to speed up large-scale training. Via lessons learned from our routine benchmarking effort, we first identify bottlenecks and overheads that hinter data parallelism. We then devise guidelines that help practitioners to configure an effective system and fine-tune parameters to achieve desired speedup. Specifically, we develop a procedure for setting minibatch size and choosing computation algorithms. We also derive lemmas for determining the quantity of key components such as the number of GPUs and parameter servers. Experiments and examples show that these guidelines help effectively speed up large-scale deep learning training

Structural equation model of psychological constructs of transtheoretical model, motives for physical activity, and amount of physical activity among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Malaysia

Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Supporting information: S1 Data. SEM data. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266104.s001 (PDF)Copyright: © 2022 Hidrus et al. Background: This study aimed determine the structural relationship between psychological constructs of the transtheoretical model (TTM; processes of change, decisional balance, and exercise self-efficacy), motives for physical activity (PA), and amount of PA among Malaysians with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Method: All participants were recruited from the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia using a cross-sectional study design with purposive) sampling method. A total of 331 participants were recruited for the present study. Before participation in the study, they were informed that participation in the study was totally voluntary. Those who agreed to participate voluntarily were required to complete the self-administered questionnaire set, which included the processes of change, decisional balance, exercise self-efficacy, physical activity and leisure motivation, and international physical activity questionnaires. Data analysis of structural equation modeling was performed using Mplus 8. Results: From the 331 participants, most of whom were male (52%) and Malay (89.4%), with a mean age of 62.6 years (standard deviation = 10.29). The final structural equation model fit the data well based on several fit indices [Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) = 0.059, Comparative Fit Index (CFI) = 0.953, Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) = 0.925, Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR) = 0.031]. A total of 16 significant path relationships linked between the TTM, motives for PA, and amount of PA. Conclusion: The pros of decisional balance, others’ expectations, and psychological condition were constructs that directly affected PA, whereas the other constructs had a significant indirect relationship with the amount of PA. A positive mindset is crucial in deciding a behavioral change toward an active lifestyle in people with T2DM.Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia for Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS) with Project Code: FRGS/1/2020/SKK06/USM/03/1 (Funder website: https://www.mohe.gov.my/en/services/research/mygrants)

Observation of SQUID-like behavior in fiber laser with intra-cavity epsilon-near-zero effect

Establishing relations between fundamental effects in far-flung areas of physics is a subject of great interest in the current research. We here report realization of a novel photonic system akin to the radio-frequency superconducting quantum interference device (RF-SQUID), in a fiber laser cavity with epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) nanolayers as intra-cavity components. Emulating the RF-SQUID scheme, the photonic counterpart of the supercurrent, represented by the optical wave, circulates in the cavity, passing through effective optical potential barriers. Different ENZ wavelengths translate into distinct spectral outputs through the variation of cavity resonances, emulating the situation with a frequency-varying tank circuit in the RF-SQUID. Due to the presence of the ENZ element, the optical potential barrier is far lower for selected frequency components, granting them advantage in the gain-resource competition. The findings reported in this work provide a deeper insight into the ultrafast ENZ photonics, revealing a new path towards the design of nanophotonic on-chip devices with various operational functions, and offer a new approach to study superconducting and quantum-mechanical systems.Comment: to be published in Laser & Photonics Review

Antimicrobial resistance of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella Enteritidis isolated from vegetable farms and retail markets in Malaysia

Listeriosis and salmonellosis are the major foodborne illnesses worldwide. Over the last decade, increasing reports about the antibiotic resistance of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella from diverse sources have prompted public health concerns, especially in developing countries with over reliance or misuse of antibiotic drugs in the treatment of humans and animals. In this study, antibiotic susceptibility profiles of 58 L. monocytogenes and 12 Salmonella Enteritidis strains from vegetable farms and retail markets in Malaysia were tested by the standard disk diffusion method. Listeria monocytogenes isolates were found to exhibit 100% resistance to penicillin G. Also, high resistance patterns were observed for meropenem (70.7%) and rifampicin (41.4%). The multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR) index of L. monocytogenes isolates ranged from 0.11 to 0.56. Besides, the antibiogram results revealed that multidrug-resistant (MDR) S. Enteritidis were detected and all the S. Enteritidis isolates demonstrated resistance to at least four antibiotics. Ampicillin, amoxicillin, and trimethoprim failed to inhibit all the S. Enteritidis strains. Salmonella Enteritidis isolates also displayed high resistance to nalidixic acid (75.0%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (75.0%), and chloramphenicol (66.7%). Findings in this study indicated that vegetables could be potential sources of multidrug resistance of L. monocytogenes and S. Enteritidis, which can be a serious issue and a major concern for public health. Thus, there is a great need for surveillance programs in Malaysia to continuously monitor the antibiotic resistance profiles of important pathogens

Alfven node-free vibrations of white dwarf in the model of solid star with toroidal magnetic field

In the context of the white dwarf asteroseismology, we investigate vibrational properties of a non-convective solid star with an axisymmetric purely toroidal intrinsic magnetic field of two different shapes. Focus is laid on regime of node-free global Lorentz-force-driven vibrations about symmetry axis at which material displacements have one and the same form as those for nodeless spheroidal and torsional vibrations restored by Hooke's force of elastic shear stresses. Particular attention is given to the even-parity poloidal Alfven modes whose frequency spectra are computed in analytic form showing how the purely toroidal magnetic fields completely buried beneath the star surface can manifest itself in seismic vibrations of non-magnetic white dwarfs. The obtained spectral formulae are discussed in juxtaposition with those for Alfven modes in the solid star model with the poloidal, homogeneous internal and dipolar external, magnetic field whose inferences are relevant to Alfven vibrations in magnetic white dwarfs.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Towards a comprehensive evaluation of ultrasound speckle reduction

Over the last three decades, several despeckling filters have been developed to reduce the speckle noise inherently present in ultrasound images without losing the diagnostic information. In this paper, a new intensity and feature preservation evaluation metric for full speckle reduction evaluation is proposed based contrast and feature similarities. A comparison of the despeckling methods is done, using quality metrics and visual interpretation of images profiles to evaluate their performance and show the benefits each one can contribute to noise reduction and feature preservation. To test the methods, noise-free images and simulated B-mode ultrasound images are used. This way, the despeckling techniques can be compared using numeric metrics, taking the noise-free image as a reference. In this study, a total of seventeen different speckle reduction algorithms have been documented based on adaptive filtering, diffusion filtering and wavelet filtering, with sixteen qualitative metrics estimation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio