Climbing depth-bounded adjacent discrepancy search for solving hybrid flow shop scheduling problems with multiprocessor tasks

This paper considers multiprocessor task scheduling in a multistage hybrid flow-shop environment. The problem even in its simplest form is NP-hard in the strong sense. The great deal of interest for this problem, besides its theoretical complexity, is animated by needs of various manufacturing and computing systems. We propose a new approach based on limited discrepancy search to solve the problem. Our method is tested with reference to a proposed lower bound as well as the best-known solutions in literature. Computational results show that the developed approach is efficient in particular for large-size problems

Facteurs Predictifs De Malignite D\'un Nodule Thyroidien

Buts : étudier les facteurs prédictifs de malignité des nodules thyroïdiens et comparer nos résultats à ceux de la littérature. Patients et méthodes : Il s\'agit d\'une étude rétrospective a propos de 282 cas de nodules thyroïdiens opérés à l\' hôpital de Mahdia entre 1988 et 2003. Résultats : L\'âge moyen était de 44 ans. Le risque de malignité des nodules thyroïdiens était de 15,6% . Ce risque était plus important chez les hommes (50%) que chez les femmes (13,3%). Certains facteurs étaient hautement prédictifs de malignité comme l\'âge supérieur à 60 ans, les signes de compression, les adénopathies cervicales et le caractère fixe et dure du nodule thyroidien Conclusion : Certains signes cliniques et para cliniques ont une grande valeur en matière de bénignité ou de malignité des nodules thyroïdiens.Aim : Study the predictive factors of malignancy of thyroid gland nodules and compare our results to those of the literature. Patients and methods : A retrospective study about 282 cases of thyroid gland nodules treated in Madhya hospital between 1988 and 2003. Results : The middle age was 44 years. The risk of malignancy was 15,6 %. This risk was higher in men (50 %) then in women (13,3 %). Some factors were highly predictive of malignancy like age superior then 60 years, neck lymph nodes … Conclusion: Some clinic and para clinic signs have an important value in benignancy or malignancy of thyroid gland nodules. Journal Tunisien d\'ORL et de chirurgie cervico-faciale Vol. 18 2007: pp. 20-2

An elitist quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm for the flexible job-shop scheduling problem

The flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP) is vital to manufacturers especially in today’s constantly changing environment. It is a strongly NP-hard problem and therefore metaheuristics or heuristics are usually pursued to solve it. Most of the existing metaheuristics and heuristics, however, have low efficiency in convergence speed. To overcome this drawback, this paper develops an elitist quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm. The algorithm aims to minimise the maximum completion time (makespan). It performs a global search with the quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm and a local search with a method that is inspired by the motion mechanism of the electrons around an atomic nucleus. Three novel algorithms are proposed and their effect on the whole search is discussed. The elitist strategy is adopted to prevent the optimal solution from being destroyed during the evolutionary process. The results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the best-known algorithms for FJSPs on most of the FJSP benchmarks

Automatic Detection of Malignant Masses in Digital Mammograms Based on a MCET-HHO Approach

Digital image processing techniques have become an important process within medical images. These techniques allow the improvement of the images in order to facilitate their interpretation for specialists. Within these are the segmentation methods, which help to divide the images by regions based on different approaches, in order to identify details that may be complex to distinguish initially. In this work, it is proposed the implementation of a multilevel threshold segmentation technique applied to mammography images, based on the Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO) algorithm, in order to identify regions of interest (ROIs) that contain malignant masses. The method of minimum cross entropy thresholding (MCET) is used to select the optimal threshold values for the segmentation. For the development of this work, four mammography images were used (all with presence of a malignant tumor), in their two views, craniocaudal (CC) and mediolateral oblique (MLO), obtained from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM). Finally, the ROIs calculated were compared with the original ROIs of the database through a series of metrics, to evaluate the behavior of the algorithm. According to the results obtained, where it is shown that the agreement between the original ROIs and the calculated ROIs is significantly high, it is possible to conclude that the proposal of the MCET-HHO algorithm allows the automatic identification of ROIs containing malignant tumors in mammography images with significant accuracy.Digital image processing techniques have become an important process within medical images. These techniques allow the improvement of the images in order to facilitate their interpretation for specialists. Within these are the segmentation methods, which help to divide the images by regions based on different approaches, in order to identify details that may be complex to distinguish initially. In this work, it is proposed the implementation of a multilevel threshold segmentation technique applied to mammography images, based on the Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO) algorithm, in order to identify regions of interest (ROIs) that contain malignant masses. The method of minimum cross entropy thresholding (MCET) is used to select the optimal threshold values for the segmentation. For the development of this work, four mammography images were used (all with presence of a malignant tumor), in their two views, craniocaudal (CC) and mediolateral oblique (MLO), obtained from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM). Finally, the ROIs calculated were compared with the original ROIs of the database through a series of metrics, to evaluate the behavior of the algorithm. According to the results obtained, where it is shown that the agreement between the original ROIs and the calculated ROIs is significantly high, it is possible to conclude that the proposal of the MCET-HHO algorithm allows the automatic identification of ROIs containing malignant tumors in mammography images with significant accuracy

Oral HPV infection and MHC class II deficiency (A study of two cases with atypical outcome)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Major histocompatibility complex class II deficiency, also referred to as bare lymphocyte syndrome is a rare primary Immunodeficiency disorder characterized by a profondly deficient human leukocyte antigen class II expression and a lack of cellular and humoral immune responses to foreign antigens. Clinical manifestations include extreme susceptibility to viral, bacterial, and fungal infections. The infections begin in the first year of life and involve usually the respiratory system and the gastrointestinal tract. Severe malabsorption with failure to thrive ensues, often leading to death in early childhood. Bone marrow transplantation is the curative treatment.</p> <p>Case reports</p> <p>Here we report two cases with a late outcome MHC class II deficiency. They had a long term history of recurrent bronchopulmonary and gastrointestinal infections. Bone marrow transplantation could not be performed because no compatible donor had been identified. At the age of 12 years, they developed oral papillomatous lesions related to HPV (human papillomavirus). The diagnosis of HPV infection was done by histological examination. HPV typing performed on the tissue obtained at biopsy showed HPV type 6. The lesions were partially removed after two months of laser treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Viral infections are common in patients with MHC class II and remain the main cause of death. Besides warts caused by HPV infection do not exhibit a propensity for malignant transformation; they can cause great psychosocial morbidity.</p

Human Cellular Immune Response to the Saliva of Phlebotomus papatasi Is Mediated by IL-10-Producing CD8+ T Cells and Th1-Polarized CD4+ Lymphocytes

Cutaneous leishmaniasis affects millions of people worldwide and is caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania. The parasite is transmitted during sand fly bites. While probing the skin for a blood meal, vectors salivate into the host's skin. Sand fly saliva contains several components that increase hemorrhage and interfere with the host's inflammatory response. Data obtained in mice originally indicate that immunization against saliva protected from leishmaniasis supporting possibility that leishmaniasis could be prevented by a vaccine based on sand fly saliva. Herein we investigated the nature and the importance of the cellular immune response developed against sand fly saliva by individuals at risk of cutaneous leishmaniasis due to Leishmania major. We demonstrated that the immunity against saliva is dominated by the activation of lymphocytes producing a suppressive cytokine called IL-10. These data may preclude the protective effect of sand fly saliva pre-exposure in humans. Further experiments revealed that the production of IL-10 masked the presence of a second kind of lymphocytes producing IFN-γ, a rather protective cytokine. The latter finding highlights the importance of the identification of the proteins activating the latter lymphocytes in order to develop vaccines based on selected proteins from the saliva of sand flies

Patients with primary immunodeficiencies are a reservoir of poliovirus and a risk to polio eradication

ABSTARCT: Immunodeficiency-associated vaccine-derived polioviruses (iVDPVs) have been isolated from primary immunodeficiency (PID) patients exposed to oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV). Patients may excrete poliovirus strains for months or years; the excreted viruses are frequently highly divergent from the parental OPV and have been shown to be as neurovirulent as wild virus. Thus, these patients represent a potential reservoir for transmission of neurovirulent polioviruses in the post-eradication era. In support of WHO recommendations to better estimate the prevalence of poliovirus excreters among PIDs and characterize genetic evolution of these strains, 635 patients including 570 with primary antibody deficiencies and 65 combined immunodeficiencies were studied from 13 OPV-using countries. Two stool samples were collected over 4 days, tested for enterovirus, and the poliovirus positive samples were sequenced. Thirteen patients (2%) excreted polioviruses, most for less than 2 months following identification of infection. Five (0.8%) were classified as iVDPVs (only in combined immunodeficiencies and mostly poliovirus serotype 2). Non-polio enteroviruses were detected in 30 patients (4.7%). Patients with combined immunodeficiencies had increased risk of delayed poliovirus clearance compared to primary antibody deficiencies. Usually, iVDPV was detected in subjects with combined immunodeficiencies in a short period of time after OPV exposure, most for less than 6 months. Surveillance for poliovirus excretion among PID patients should be reinforced until polio eradication is certified and the use of OPV is stopped. Survival rates among PID patients are improving in lower and middle income countries, and iVDPV excreters are identified more frequently. Antivirals or enhanced immunotherapies presently in development represent the only potential means to manage the treatment of prolonged excreters and the risk they present to the polio endgame. Keywords: Poliovirus eradication, Immunodeficiency-associated vaccine-derived polioviruses, Oral poliovirus vaccine, Humoral immunodeficiency, Combined immunodeficiency, Primary immunodeficienc

An enigma in the genetic responses of plants to salt stresses

Soil salinity is one of the main factors restricting crop production throughout the world. Various salt tolerance traits and the genes controlling these traits are responsible for coping with salinity stress in plants. These coping mechanisms include osmotic tolerance, ion exclusion, and tissue tolerance. Plants exposed to salinity stress sense the stress conditions, convey specific stimuli signals, and initiate responses against stress through the activation of tolerance mechanisms that include multiple genes and pathways. Advances in our understanding of the genetic responses of plants to salinity and their connections with yield improvement are essential for attaining sustainable agriculture. Although a wide range of studies have been conducted that demonstrate genetic variations in response to salinity stress, numerous questions need to be answered to fully understand plant tolerance to salt stress. This chapter provides an overview of previous studies on the genetic control of salinity stress in plants, including signaling, tolerance mechanisms, and the genes, pathways, and epigenetic regulators necessary for plant salinity tolerance

Biotechnological Perspective of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS)-Mediated Stress Tolerance in Plants

All environmental cues lead to develop secondary stress conditions like osmotic and oxidative stress conditions that reduces average crop yields by more than 50% every year. The univalent reduction of molecular oxygen (O2) in metabolic reactions consequently produces superoxide anions (O2•−) and other reactive oxygen species (ROS) ubiquitously in all compartments of the cell that disturbs redox potential and causes threat to cellular organelles. The production of ROS further increases under stress conditions and especially in combination with high light intensity. Plants have evolved different strategies to minimize the accumulation of excess ROS like avoidance mechanisms such as physiological adaptation, efficient photosystems such as C4 or CAM metabolism and scavenging mechanisms through production of antioxidants and antioxidative enzymes. Ascorbate-glutathione pathway plays an important role in detoxifying excess ROS in plant cells, which includes superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in detoxifying O2•−radical and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) respectively, monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDHAR), dehydroascorbate reductase (DHAR) and glutathione reductase (GR) involved in recycling of reduced substrates such as ascorbate and glutathione. Efficient ROS management is one of the strategies used by tolerant plants to survive and perform cellular activities under stress conditions. The present chapter describes different sites of ROS generation and and their consequences under abiotic stress conditions and also described the approaches to overcome oxidative stress through genomics and genetic engineering