Emotion Classification and Intensity Prediction on Tweets

The task of finding an emotion associated with the text from individuals on a social media platform has become very crucial as it influences the current state of mind of a particular individual in real life. It also helps one to understand social behavior at a given point in time. Microblogging platforms like Twitter serves as a powerful tool for expressing one’s thoughts. Several work have been done in classifying the emotion associated with it. The thesis comprises of a system that first classifies the tweet into one of the four emotions - anger, joy, sadness, and fear with good accuracy. It is also important to understand the intensity of the emotion in determining how strong one’s tweet is. Hence, the second phase of the system is built using regressors that help in predicting the intensity of the emotion in the tweet. Both the classification and intensity prediction systems were evaluated on a competition dataset and the regressors outperformed the best system from the competition

Downregulation of CREB expression in Alzheimer's brain and in Aβ-treated rat hippocampal neurons

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Oxidative stress plays an important role in neuronal dysfunction and neuron loss in Alzheimer's brain. Previous studies have reported downregulation of CREB-mediated transcription by oxidative stress and Aβ. The promoter for CREB itself contains cyclic AMP response elements. Therefore, we examined the expression of CREB in the hippocampal neurons of Tg2576 mice, AD post-mortem brain and in cultured rat hippocampal neurons exposed to Aβ aggregates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Laser Capture Microdissection of hippocampal neurons from Tg2576 mouse brain revealed decreases in the mRNA levels of CREB and its target, BDNF. Immunohistochemical analysis of Tg2576 mouse brain showed decreases in CREB levels in hippocampus and cortex. Markers of oxidative stress were detected in transgenic mouse brain and decreased CREB staining was observed in regions showing abundance of astrocytes. There was also an inverse correlation between SDS-extracted Aβ and CREB protein levels in Alzheimer's post-mortem hippocampal samples. The levels of CREB-regulated BDNF and BIRC3, a caspase inhibitor, decreased and the active cleaved form of caspase-9, a marker for the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis, was elevated in these samples. Exposure of rat primary hippocampal neurons to Aβ fibrils decreased CREB promoter activity. Decrease in CREB mRNA levels in Aβ-treated neurons was reversed by the antioxidant, N-acetyl cysteine. Overexpression of CREB by adenoviral transduction led to significant protection against Aβ-induced neuronal apoptosis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings suggest that chronic downregulation of CREB-mediated transcription results in decrease of CREB content in the hippocampal neurons of AD brain which may contribute to exacerbation of disease progression.</p

Modulation of Apoptosis Pathways by Oxidative Stress and Autophagy in β Cells

Human islets isolated for transplantation are exposed to multiple stresses including oxidative stress and hypoxia resulting in significant loss of functional β cell mass. In this study we examined the modulation of apoptosis pathway genes in islets exposed to hydrogen peroxide, peroxynitrite, hypoxia, and cytokines. We observed parallel induction of pro- and antiapoptotic pathways and identified several novel genes including BFAR, CARD8, BNIP3, and CIDE-A. As BNIP3 is an inducer of autophagy, we examined this pathway in MIN6 cells, a mouse beta cell line and in human islets. Culture of MIN6 cells under low serum conditions increased the levels of several proteins in autophagy pathway, including ATG4, Beclin 1, LAMP-2, and UVRAG. Amino acid deprivation led to induction of autophagy in human islets. Preconditioning of islets with inducers of autophagy protected them from hypoxia-induced apoptosis. However, induction of autophagy during hypoxia exacerbated apoptotic cell death. ER stress led to induction of autophagy and apoptosis in β cells. Overexpression of MnSOD, an enzyme that scavenges free radicals, resulted in protection of MIN6 cells from cytokine-induced apoptosis. Ceramide, a mediator of cytokine-induced injury, reduced the active phosphorylated form of Akt and downregulated the promoter activity of the antiapoptotic gene bcl-2. Furthermore, cytokine-stimulated JNK pathway downregulated the bcl-2 promoter activity which was reversed by preincubation with SP600125, a JNK inhibitor. Our findings suggest that β cell apoptosis by multiple stresses in islets isolated for transplantation is the result of orchestrated gene expression in apoptosis pathway

Processing and characterization of polystyrene nanocomposites based on CoAl layered double hydroxide

AbstractThe present work deals with the development of polystyrene (PS) nanocomposites through solvent blending technique with diverse contents of modified CoAl layered double hydroxide (LDH). The prepared PS as well as PS/CoAl LDH (1–7 wt.%) nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), rheological analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The XRD results suggested the formation of exfoliated structure, while TEM images clearly indicated the intercalated morphology of PS nanocomposites at higher loading. The presence of various functional groups in the CoAl LDH and PS/CoAl LDH nanocomposites was verified by FTIR analysis. TGA data confirmed that the thermal stability of PS composites was enhanced significantly as compared to pristine PS. While considering 15% weight loss as a reference point, it was found that the thermal degradation (Td) temperature increased up to 28.5 °C for PS nanocomposites prepared with 7 wt.% CoAl LDH loading over pristine PS. All the nanocomposite samples displayed superior glass transition temperature (Tg), in which PS nanocomposites containing 7 wt.% LDH showed about 5.5 °C higher Tg over pristine PS. In addition, the kinetics for thermal degradation of the composites was studied using Coats-Redfern method. The Criado method was ultimately used to evaluate the decomposition reaction mechanism of the nanocomposites. The complex viscosity and rheological muduli of nanocomposites were found to be higher than that of pristine PS when the frequency increased from 0.01 to 100 s−1

Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria mediated moisture stress alleviation in the early stages of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety CO 51

Drought is one of the abiotic stresses that have a significant impact on agricultural growth across the world. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) inoculation in rice plants may be a viable and environmentally acceptable method of sustaining the development and yield of drought-stressed rice plants. The current study focused on the alleviation of drought in the early stages of rice variety CO 51 using PGPR isolated from the rhizosphere of xerophytes. The seeds were treated with bio inoculants and subjected to different moisture stress levels (10%, 20% and 30%) using PEG 6000. The seeds treated with bio inoculants exhibited higher germination percentage and growth traits such as shoot length root length and fresh weight, especially seeds treated with Bacillus velezensis VKSB5 (MT729963), and Bacillus altitudinis MLSB2 (MT729964) over uninoculated plants. This was found to be due to the increased proline accumulation and antioxidant activity in these seedlings, which plays a major role in drought alleviation by altering the osmotic potential and by its ROS scavenging mechanism. Hence this study provides evidence for the effective drought ameliorating ability of these cultures during the initial growth stages of rice. Further studies can contribute to the development of effective bio-inoculants for the mitigation of drought in rice

28. Prospective study of Management and Outcomes of Liver Trauma in Blunt Injury Abdomen Cases in Government Rajaji Hospital, Madurai

Modern day have seen a tremendous improvement in mans life style and comforts. But along with comforts, challenging threats to human health has also been emerging .The rapid increase in the number of motor vehicles resulted in very rapid increase in number of victims to blunt abdominal trauma. Motor vehicle accidents accounts for about 75 to 80% of the blunt abdominal trauma. The indian mortality rates for trauma are 20 times more than that of western countries. Blunt injury of abdomen is also a result from fall from height, assault with blunt objects, sport injuries, bomb blast. Due to the delay in diagnosis and inadequate treatment of liver injuries, most of the cases are becoming fatal. The knowledge in the management of blunt liver trauma has been increasing progressively.the morbidity and mortality remains at large. The reasons for this due to the time interval between the trauma and admission of the victim, inadequate and lack of appropriate surgical treatment, delay in the diagnosis, post operative complications. Liver involved in abdominal injuries vast majority of times. In case of patients with hemodynamic stability conservative management is the management of choice. With GRH, Madurai being tertiary care centre for south tamilnadu, the availability of blunt injury cases in adequate numbers, this study would serve to evaluate the modes of clinical presentations of blunt liver injury and signifying the precise management of various grades of liver injuries with its post operative morbidity and mortality. males are more common victims of Liver trauma in blunt injury abdomen as in stavros gourgiotis et al .low grade liver injuries accounts more than a high grade injuries as in stavros gourgiotis et al.low grade injuries favours the management towards non operative management most of the times ,Hepatorraphy accounts 42% and perihepatic packing accounts for 15%, Mortality rate in our study was 16 %. Most common age group involved is 41-50 years. Road traffic accident forms the most common mode of injury. So efforts should be made to bring road traffic regulations into strict action and traffic norms regulated. Measures should taken for early transport of the patients from the accident site to the trauma centres should be undertaken. Blunt injury abdomen is usually less obvious. Hence, repeated examination by multi specialty personnel in a specialized trauma care centre was required. X ray abdomen erect is a useful investigation to exclude associated hollow viscus injuries. CECT forms the core investigation of choice in dealing with Liver trauma in blunt injury abdomen patients, becomes more important investigation modality for grading of liver injury and to deciding operative and conservative management. Early diagnosis and repeated clinical examination and use of appropriate investigations are key for managing liver trauma in Blunt abdominal injuries

Mechanical, thermal and morphological characteristics of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanocomposites reinforced with Cu-Cr layered double hydroxide

The current work deals with the influence of Cu-Cr layered double hydroxide (LDH) on the properties of PMMA nanocomposites. The Cu-Cr LDH was organically modified with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in order to obtain LDH layers more compatible with polymer chains. PMMA with various quantities of Cu-Cr LDH nanofiller (1-5 wt%) and 5 wt% of polystyrene-grafted maleic anhydride were first melted and extruded in a twin screw extruder and, finally, processed by injection moulding machine to prepare testing specimens. The nanocomposites were examined by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and submitted to thermogravimetric (TGA), tensile and hardness testing. The XRD analysis showed an exfoliated structure of the nanocomposites whereas TEM exhibited the intercalated morphology at higher LDH contents. The TGA results revealed that the thermal degradation temperature was enhanced by the incorporation of Cu-Cr LDH. When 50% of the initial sample weight is established as point of comparison, the decomposition temperature of the nanocomposites was increased about 26 - 32 oC with respect to neat PMMA. From the mechanical analysis, it was also observed that PMMA nanocomposite with 1 wt% LDH presented higher tensile strength and hardness than neat PMMA.Portugal Programa Operacional Regional do Norte de Portugal -NORTE 2020, projeto ref. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-00015 “TSSiPRO-Technologies for Sustainable and Smart Innovative Products

Harris-Hessian Algorithm for Coin Apprehension

Abstract-Coins square measure integral a part of our day to day life. We tend to use coins everyplace like grocery market, banks, buses, trains etc. Therefore it is a basic want that coin is recognized and counted. The target of this paper is to classify the Indian coins of different denomination discharged recently. The objective is to notice the Indian coins and count its total worth. The system is projected to design coin recognition by applying Advanced HarrisHessian Algorithm, supported the parameters of Indian coins such as size, shape, weight, surface and so on . This paper presents a coin recognition methodology with rotation invariance. For circle detection use Hough Transform

Segmentation of satellite images using machine learning algorithms for cloud classification

12-18Clouds play a significant role in determining the state of a changing weather. Clouds offer useful information for forecasting precipitation and provide measurement for showcasing solar irradiance variability. The influence of specific types of clouds on rainfall prediction and solar radiance has been discussed in this paper. Various segmentation algorithms, clustering algorithms and supervised machine learning algorithms such as K Nearest Neighbors and Random forest have been used to segment/classify the clouds using the dataset obtained from INSAT-3DR satellite. Clouds have been classified into high level clouds (Cirrus clouds), medium level clouds (Alto clouds) and low level clouds (Stratus clouds) in accordance with the altitude and cloud densities. The performance metrics has been found for the segmented images. Parameters that provide optimum results for supervised machine learning algorithms have been explored. On the images, different machine learning algorithms have been compared

Synergistic induction of heme oxygenase-1 by the components of the antioxidant supplement Protandim. Free Radic.

Protandim is an antioxidant supplement that consists of five ingredients, namely, ashwagandha, bacopa extract, green tea extract, silymarin, and curcumin, each with known therapeutic properties. Protandim was formulated with the objective of combining multiple phytochemicals at low nontoxic doses to gain synergy among them. A recent clinical study demonstrated the in vivo antioxidant effects of Protandim (S.K. Nelson et al., 2006, Free Radic. Biol. Med. 40, 341-347). The objective of the present study was to determine if the components of Protandim induce heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in a synergistic manner in cultured MIN6 cells, a mouse β-cell line, and in SK-N-MC cells, a human neuroblastoma cell line. When the components of Protandim were tested alone at low doses, curcumin showed minimal induction, whereas the others were unable to induce the HO-1 promoter, assayed by transient transfection. All components together, however, produced a strongly synergistic induction of around three-to ninefold in a dose-dependent manner, greatly exceeding the sum of the parts. Similar findings were obtained for the expression of HO-1 at the mRNA and protein levels. Protandim-mediated HO-1 induction involved the presence of ARE sites in the HO-1 promoter and nuclear translocalization of the transcription factor Nrf2, which binds to ARE sites. The involvement of multiple signaling pathways, including PI3-kinase/Akt, p38MAPK, and PKCδ, in HO-1 induction seems to be the probable mechanism of synergy between the components of Protandim. There were significant increases in the levels of total glutathione in Protandimtreated cells. These findings suggest that the use of a combination of phytochemicals may be an efficient method for the induction of antioxidant enzymes