4,991 research outputs found
Learning from medical data streams: an introduction
Clinical practice and research are facing a new challenge created by the rapid growth of health information science and technology, and the complexity and volume of biomedical data. Machine learning from medical data streams is a recent area of research that aims to provide better knowledge extraction and evidence-based clinical decision support in scenarios where data are produced as a continuous flow. This year's edition of AIME, the Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, enabled the sound discussion of this area of research, mainly by the inclusion of a dedicated workshop. This paper is an introduction to LEMEDS, the Learning from Medical Data Streams workshop, which highlights the contributed papers, the invited talk and expert panel discussion, as well as related papers accepted to the main conference
Interaction of colloids with a nematic-isotropic interface
The Landau-de Gennes free energy is used to calculate the interaction between
long cylindrical colloids and the nematic-isotropic (NI) interface. This
interaction has two contributions: one is specific of liquid crystals and
results from the deformation of the director field close to the particles or to
the interface, while the other is generic and results from wetting and surface
tension effects.
Deep in the nematic phase the director field of long cylindrical colloids,
with strong homeotropic anchoring, exhibits two half-integer defect lines. As
the colloid moves towards the interface, the director configuration changes
through a series of discontinuous transitions, where one or two of the defects
are annihilated. In addition, the NI interface bends towards the colloid in
order to minimize the elastic free energy in the nematic. In the isotropic
phase, the colloid is surrounded by a thin nematic layer that reduces the
surface free energy under favorable wetting conditions.
The interaction has a well-defined minimum near the interface. In this region
the director and interfacial structures are complex and cannot be described
analytically. Using the numerical results for the Landau-de Gennes free energy
in the harmonic region, we obtained simple scaling laws for the (linear) force
on the colloid
Colloidal interactions in two dimensional nematics
The interaction between two disks immersed in a 2D nematic is investigated
(i) analitically using the tensor order parameter formalism for the nematic
configuration around isolated disks and (ii) numerically using finite element
methods with adaptive meshing to minimize the corresponding Landau-de Gennes
free energy. For strong homeotropic anchoring, each disk generates a pair of
defects with one-half topological charge responsible for the 2D quadrupolar
interaction between the disks at large distances. At short distance, the
position of the defects may change, leading to unexpected complex interactions
with the quadrupolar repulsive interactions becoming attractive. This short
range attraction in all directions is still anisotropic. As the distance
between the disks decreases their preferred relative orientation with respect
to the far-field nematic director changes from oblique to perpendicular.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure
Helminth infections, atopy, asthma and allergic diseases: protocol for a systematic review of observational studies worldwide.
INTRODUCTION: Childhood infections, particularly those caused by helminths are considered to be important environmental exposures influencing the development of allergic diseases. However, epidemiological studies focusing on the relationship between helminth infections and risk of allergic diseases, performed worldwide, show inconsistent findings. Previous systematic reviews of observational studies published 10 or more years ago showed conflicting findings for effects of helminths on allergic diseases. Over the past 10 years there has been growing literature addressing this research area and these need to be considered in order to appreciate the most contemporary evidence. The objective of the current systematic review will be to provide an up-to-date synthesis of findings of observational studies investigating the influence of helminth infections on atopy, and allergic diseases. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This systematic review protocol was registered at PROSPERO. We will search Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, AMED, ISI Web of Science, WHO Global Health Library, Scielo, IndMed, PakMediNet, KoreaMed, Ichushi for published studies from 1970 to January 2020. Bibliographies of all eligible studies will be reviewed to identify additional studies. Unpublished and ongoing research will also be searched in key databases. There will be no language or geographical restrictions regarding publications. Critical Appraisal Skills Programme quality assessment tool will be used to appraise methodological quality of included studies. A descriptive summary with data tables will be constructed, and if adequate, meta-analysis using random-effects will be performed. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist will be followed for reporting of the systematic review. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Since this systematic review will be only based on published and retrievable literature, no ethics approval will be sought. The multidisciplinary team performing this systematic review will participate in relevant dissemination activities. Findings will be presented at scientific meetings and publish the systematic review in international, peer-reviewed, open-access journals. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020167249
Crossover Scales at the Critical Points of Fluids with Electrostatic Interactions
Criticality in a fluid of dielectric constant D that exhibits Ising-type
behavior is studied as additional electrostatic (i.e., ionic) interactions are
turned on. An exploratory perturbative calculation is performed for small
ionicity as measured by the ratio of the electrostatic energy to the strength
of the short-range nonionic (i.e., van der Waals) interactions in the uncharged
fluid.
With the aid of distinct transformations for the short-range and for the
Coulombic interactions, an effective Hamiltonian with coefficients depending on
the ionicity is derived at the Debye-Hueckel limiting-law level for a fully
symmetric model. The crossover between classical (mean-field) and Ising
behavior is then estimated using a Ginzburg criterion. This indicates that the
reduced crossover temperature depends only weakly on the ionicity (and on the
range of the nonionic potentials); however, the trends do correlate with the,
much stronger, dependence observed experimentally.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure; submitted to J. Chem. Phy
Improved burn wound healing using a bioactive peptide
[Excerpt] Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are good candidates to treat burn wounds, a major cause of morbidity, impaired life quality and resources consumption in developed countries. We took advantage of a commercially available hydrogel, Carbopol, a vehicle for topical administration that maintains a moist environment within the wound site. We hypothesized that the incorporation of LLKKK18 conjugated to dextrin would improve the healing process in rat burns. Whereas the hydrogel improves healing, LLKKK18 released from the dextrin conjugates further accelerates wound closure, and simultaneously improving the quality of healing. Indeed, the release of LLKKK18 reduces oxidative stress and inflammation (low neutrophil and macrophage infiltration and pro-inflammatory cytokines levels). Importantly, it induced a faster resolution of the inflammatory stage through early M2 macrophage recruitment. In addition, LLKKK18 stimulates angiogenesis (increased VEGF and microvessel development in vivo), potentially contributing to more effective transport of nutrients and cytokines. Moreover, collagen staining evaluated by Masson’s Trichrome was visually much more intense after treatment with LLKKK18, suggesting higher collagen deposition. (...
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