A New Approach to the Numerical Solution of Fractional Order Optimal Control Problems

In this article, a new numerical method is proposed for solving a class of fractional order optimal control problems. The fractional derivative is considered in the Caputo sense. This approach is based on a combination of the perturbation homotopy and parameterization methods. The control function u(t) is approximated by polynomial functions with unknown coefficients. This method converts the fractional order optimal control problem to an optimization problem. Numerical results are included to demonstrate the validity and applicability of the method

DNA methylation changes in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

The etiology of the major psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, remains poorly understood. Postmortem brain studies have revealed altered expression of multiple mRNAs, affecting neurotransmission, metabolism, myelination and other functions. Epigenetic mechanisms could be involved, because for a limited number of genes, the alterations of mRNA levels have been linked to inverse DNA methylation changes at sites of the corresponding promoters. However, results from independent studies have been inconsistent, and when expressed in quantitative terms, disease-related methylation changes appear to be comparatively subtle. A recent study identified approximately 100 loci with altered CpG methylation in schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, the majority of which were gender-specific. Additional work will be necessary to clarify the origin and timing of these methylation changes in psychosis and to determine the specific cell types affected in the diseased brain

Association of socio-economic status and visual impairment: A population-based study in Iran

Backgrounds: To assess the role of socio-economic inequality in visual impairment (VI) in Varamin district, Iran. Patients and Methods: Using multistage cluster sampling method, 60 clusters (each with 50 subjects) were recruited and underwent clinical eye examinations. Socio-economic status (SES) was identified based on education, occupation, family assets and housing conditions that were measured at the participants’ households using a semi-structured questionnaire and a two-step cluster analysis model. In addition, principal component analysis and the concentration index were used to identify the gap between high and low SES groups. Results: Participants were categorized in high (522, 24.4%), moderate (974, 43.1%) and low (763, 33.7%) socio-economic levels. In these levels, the prevalence of VI was 5.9% (95% CI: 3.3 to 8.6), 10.4% (95% CI: 8.4-12.4), and 12.6% (95% CI: 10.1 to 15.1), respectively. The prevalence of VI in people with low SES was significantly greater than those in high SES level. The proportions of avoidable causes were relatively high in all SES levels (more than 80%) with no significant difference between different levels. Conclusions: There is significant inequality in VI prevalence in Varamin district. Avoidable causes are high in all SES groups. Therefore, community-based modalities and preventive programs with a specific notice to poorer SES groups are recommended to improve eye health in this district. © 2017, Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved

A chromosomal connectome for psychiatric and metabolic risk variants in adult dopaminergic neurons

BACKGROUND: Midbrain dopaminergic neurons (MDN) represent 0.0005% of the brain\u27s neuronal population and mediate cognition, food intake, and metabolism. MDN are also posited to underlay the neurobiological dysfunction of schizophrenia (SCZ), a severe neuropsychiatric disorder that is characterized by psychosis as well as multifactorial medical co-morbidities, including metabolic disease, contributing to markedly increased morbidity and mortality. Paradoxically, however, the genetic risk sequences of psychosis and traits associated with metabolic disease, such as body mass, show very limited overlap. METHODS: We investigated the genomic interaction of SCZ with medical conditions and traits, including body mass index (BMI), by exploring the MDN\u27s spatial genome, including chromosomal contact landscapes as a critical layer of cell type-specific epigenomic regulation. Low-input Hi-C protocols were applied to 5-10 x 10(3) dopaminergic and other cell-specific nuclei collected by fluorescence-activated nuclei sorting from the adult human midbrain. RESULTS: The Hi-C-reconstructed MDN spatial genome revealed 11 Euclidean hot spots of clustered chromatin domains harboring risk sequences for SCZ and elevated BMI. Inter- and intra-chromosomal contacts interconnecting SCZ and BMI risk sequences showed massive enrichment for brain-specific expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), with gene ontologies, regulatory motifs and proteomic interactions related to adipogenesis and lipid regulation, dopaminergic neurogenesis and neuronal connectivity, and reward- and addiction-related pathways. CONCLUSIONS: We uncovered shared nuclear topographies of cognitive and metabolic risk variants. More broadly, our PsychENCODE sponsored Hi-C study offers a novel genomic approach for the study of psychiatric and medical co-morbidities constrained by limited overlap of their respective genetic risk architectures on the linear genome

Optimal control of fredholm integral equations

In this paper a numerical method is proposed for solving optimal control problems governed by Fredholm integral equations (OCF). The method is based upon sinc wavelet and parametrization method and transforms the problem to a nonlinear programming problem. Control function u(t) and state function are approximated by a finite combination of elements of a basis and by a finite combination of sinc wavelet respectively. Numerical examples show the validity and applicability of the proposed method

Pembingkaian Berita Media Online : Kasus Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan sebagai Tenaga Kerja Wanita (TKW)

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui bagaimana suatu realitas kejadian dikonstruksi oleh media online khususnya pemberitaan tentang kasus Kekerasan terhadap Perempuan sebagai Tenaga Kerja Wanita (TKW). Penelitian ini menggunakan paradigma konstruksionis. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah penelitian kualitatif deskriptif, dengan analisis framing untuk melihat bagaimana media online seperti Tempo.co dan Republika online dalam membingkai pemberitaan kasus kekerasan terhadap perempuan. Penelitian ini menggunakan teori yang diberikan oleh Zhongdang Pan dan Gerald M Kosicki. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa pemberitaan yang dilakukan Republika online cenderung bersikap netral dalam menyikapi kasus kekerasan TKW yang menimpa Erwiana Sulistyaningsih, sedangkan media Tempo.co memiliki kecenderungan kontra terhadap pemerintah. Media Tempo.co mengkonstruksikan dan mengarahkan pembaca untuk menilai Pemerintah sebagai pihak yang bersalah. Ketika pembaca melihat isi pemberitaan Tempo.co, yang terlintas dan diingat pembaca adalah pihak pemerintah seperti BNP2TKI merupakan pihak yang tidak bertanggung jawab atas penyebab berulangnya kasus penyiksaan TKI, baik dalam hal pengawasan TKW maupun membantu penyelesaian administrasi rumah sakit dimana Erwiana di rawat. Media Tempo.co menunjukkan kecenderungannya untuk mendukung Erwiana sebagai korban. Selain itu layaknya media online umumnya, headline menjadi salah satu senjata utama dalam menarik perhatian masyarakat untuk membacanya begitu juga dengan Tempo maupun Republika. Ini berarti, media online seperti Tempo dan Republika lebih menjual headline dalam tiap pemberitaan disajikan dan kadang mengesampingkan konten berita itu sendir

GAD1 mRNA Expression and DNA Methylation in Prefrontal Cortex of Subjects with Schizophrenia

Dysfunction of prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia includes changes in GABAergic mRNAs, including decreased expression of GAD1, encoding the 67 kDa glutamate decarboxylase (GAD67) GABA synthesis enzyme. The underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Alterations in DNA methylation as an epigenetic regulator of gene expression are thought to play a role but this hypothesis is difficult to test because no techniques are available to extract DNA from GAD1 expressing neurons efficiently from human postmortem brain. Here, we present an alternative approach that is based on immunoprecipitation of mononucleosomes with anti-methyl-histone antibodies differentiating between sites of potential gene expression as opposed to repressive or silenced chromatin. Methylation patterns of CpG dinucleotides at the GAD1 proximal promoter and intron 2 were determined for each of the two chromatin fractions separately, using a case-control design for 14 schizophrenia subjects affected by a decrease in prefrontal GAD1 mRNA levels. In controls, the methylation frequencies at CpG dinucleotides, while overall higher in repressive as compared to open chromatin, did not exceed 5% at the proximal GAD1 promoter and 30% within intron 2. Subjects with schizophrenia showed a significant, on average 8-fold deficit in repressive chromatin-associated DNA methylation at the promoter. These results suggest that chromatin remodeling mechanisms are involved in dysregulated GABAergic gene expression in schizophrenia

A simple method for improving the specificity of anti-methyl histone antibodies

Antibodies differentiating between the mono-, di- and trimethylated forms of specific histone lysine residues are a critical tool in epigenome research, but show variable specificity, potentially limiting comparisons across studies and between samples. Using trimethyl histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me3)-a mark enriched at transcription start sites (TSS) of active genes-as an example, we describe how simple co-incubation with synthetic peptide of the K4me2 modification leads to increased specificity for K4me3 and a much sharper peak distribution proximal to TSS following chromatin immunoprecipitation and massively parallel sequencing (ChIP-Seq)

Replacing Sugar by Date Syrup in Gaz and Investigation of Texture Properties

Date Syrup is a natural sweetener that is suitable replacement for sugar in food stuffs formulation. In this Research Amounts of 25-100 percent of sugar in Gaz formulation were replaced with date syrup and to study effect of its use in product formulation, characteristics of texture, color and sensory analyse of treatments were investigated. Statistical analyse of data was also done by SPSS software and Dankan test. The results of this research showed that amount of used date syrup in formulation had a significant effect on color parameters (L*,a*,b*), texture characteristics and sensory analyse of samples. By increase of date syrup in Gaz formulation, samples texture became softer than control sample and yellowness and redness index of samples were increasedDoi: DOI: 10.12777/ijse.6.1.11-15 [How to cite this article: Shafiei, Z., Hojjatoleslami, M., Soha, S., and Shariati, M.A. 2014. The Influence of Malt Extraction Adding to UF Fresh Low Fat Cheese on Its Textural Properties. International Journal of Science and Engineering, 6(1):57-60. Doi: 10.12777/ijse.6.1.11-1