Artificial Intelligence Methods in Fault Tolerant Control

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Tunable Ag@SiO2 core-shell nanocomposites for broad spectrum antibacterial applications

Silica encapsulated silver nanoparticle core-shell nanocomposites of tunable dimensions were synthesised via a one-pot reverse microemulsion route to achieve controlled release of Ag+ ions for broad spectrum antibacterial application. Silver release rates and bactericidal efficacy against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, S. aureus and P. aeruginosa respectively, were inversely proportional to nanoparticle core diameter (3-8 nm) and silica shell (7-14 nm) thickness, and readily tuned through a facile hydrothermal etching protocol employing a PVP stabiliser to introduce mesoporosity

Fatal Disseminated Cryptococcus gattii Infection in New Mexico

We report a case of fatal disseminated infection with Cryptococcus gattii in a patient from New Mexico. The patient had no history of recent travel to known C. gattii-endemic areas. Multilocus sequence typing revealed that the isolate belonged to the major molecular type VGIII. Virulence studies in a mouse pulmonary model of infection demonstrated that the strain was less virulent than other C. gattii strains. This represents the first documented case of C. gattii likely acquired in New Mexico

The Bidirectional Relationship Between Sleep and Inflammation Links Traumatic Brain Injury and Alzheimer's Disease

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are diseases during which the fine-tuned autoregulation of the brain is lost. Despite the stark contrast in their causal mechanisms, both TBI and AD are conditions which elicit a neuroinflammatory response that is coupled with physical, cognitive, and affective symptoms. One commonly reported symptom in both TBI and AD patients is disturbed sleep. Sleep is regulated by circadian and homeostatic processes such that pathological inflammation may disrupt the chemical signaling required to maintain a healthy sleep profile. In this way, immune system activation can influence sleep physiology. Conversely, sleep disturbances can exacerbate symptoms or increase the risk of inflammatory/neurodegenerative diseases. Both TBI and AD are worsened by a chronic pro-inflammatory microenvironment which exacerbates symptoms and worsens clinical outcome. Herein, a positive feedback loop of chronic inflammation and sleep disturbances is initiated. In thisreview, the bidirectional relationship between sleep disturbances and inflammation is discussed, where chronic inflammation associated with TBI and AD can lead to sleep disturbances and exacerbated neuropathology. The role of microglia and cytokines in sleep disturbances associated with these diseases is highlighted. The proposed sleep and inflammation-mediated link between TBI and AD presents an opportunity for a multifaceted approach to clinical intervention

Diagnostic accuracy of a clinical diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: An international case-cohort study

We conducted an international study of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) diagnosis among a large group of physicians and compared their diagnostic performance to a panel of IPF experts. A total of 1141 respiratory physicians and 34 IPF experts participated. Participants evaluated 60 cases of interstitial lung disease (ILD) without interdisciplinary consultation. Diagnostic agreement was measured using the weighted kappa coefficient (\u3baw). Prognostic discrimination between IPF and other ILDs was used to validate diagnostic accuracy for first-choice diagnoses of IPF and were compared using the Cindex. A total of 404 physicians completed the study. Agreement for IPF diagnosis was higher among expert physicians (\u3baw=0.65, IQR 0.53-0.72, p20 years of experience (C-index=0.72, IQR 0.0-0.73, p=0.229) and non-university hospital physicians with more than 20 years of experience, attending weekly MDT meetings (C-index=0.72, IQR 0.70-0.72, p=0.052), did not differ significantly (p=0.229 and p=0.052 respectively) from the expert panel (C-index=0.74 IQR 0.72-0.75). Experienced respiratory physicians at university-based institutions diagnose IPF with similar prognostic accuracy to IPF experts. Regular MDT meeting attendance improves the prognostic accuracy of experienced non-university practitioners to levels achieved by IPF experts

In Vitro Synergism of Silver Nanoparticles with Antibiotics as an Alternative Treatment in Multiresistant Uropathogens

The increase in the prevalence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has become one of the main health problems worldwide, thus threatening the era of antibiotics most frequently used in the treatment of infections. The need to develop new therapeutic strategies against multidrug resistant microorganisms, such as the combination of selected antimicrobials, can be considered as a suitable alternative. The in vitro activities of two groups of conventional antimicrobial agents alone and in combination with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were investigated against a set of ten multidrug resistant clinical isolate and two references strains by MIC assays and checkerboard testing, as well as their cytotoxicity, which was evaluated on human fibroblasts by MTT assay at the same concentration of the antimicrobial agents alone and in combination. Interesting results were achieved when the AgNPs and their combinations were characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Zeta Potential, Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), UV–visible spectroscopy and Fourier Transforms Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The in vitro activities of ampicillin, in combination with AgNPs, against the 12 microorganisms showed one Synergy, seven Partial Synergy and four Additive effects, while the results with amikacin and AgNPs showed three Synergy, eight Partial Synergy and one Additive effects. The cytotoxic effect at these concentrations presented a statistically significant decrease of their cytotoxicity (p < 0.05). These results indicate that infections caused by multidrug resistant microorganisms could be treated using a synergistic combination of antimicrobial drugs and AgNPs. Further studies are necessary to evaluate the specific mechanisms of action, which could help predict undesirable off-target interactions, suggest ways of regulating a drug’s activity, and identify novel therapeutic agents in this health problem

Comparative Analysis of Metaheuristics for Solving the Optimal Power Flow With Renewable Sources and Valve-Point Constraints

The Optimal Power Flow (OPF) problem, used to obtain efficient operation conditions with the lowest cost or the minimum power loss in electrical power systems, is a non-polynomial problem that becomes even harder to analyze when considering renewable energy sources (RES) with uncertain behavior. Therefore, establishing a manageable number of RES scenarios in the modeling is essential for optimizing cost-effective solutions, including those with constraints such as the valve-point effect and prohibited operational zones. This work compares three differential evolution algorithm (DEA) variants and four well-known metaheuristics: the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), the Bio-geographical Based Optimization (BBO), the Artificial Bee Colony Optimization (ABC), and the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The metaheuristics are compared: 1) to determine the one with the best performance considering RES; 2) to establish an approach to minimize and find the best set of scenarios representing variable RES; 3) to compare the success rate of convergence of the penalized function against the real objective function. Results show that BBO and PSO optimization are the best choices for solving the classic objective function of OPF. On the other hand, the DE/best/1 (DEAB) algorithm demonstrates the best performance when the valve-point effect with prohibited zones is considered. DEAB presents the largest weighted cumulative rating (WCR) and the second-best weighted cumulative successful rate (WCSR) for all the evaluated criteria