Compressed k2-Triples for Full-In-Memory RDF Engines

Current "data deluge" has flooded the Web of Data with very large RDF datasets. They are hosted and queried through SPARQL endpoints which act as nodes of a semantic net built on the principles of the Linked Data project. Although this is a realistic philosophy for global data publishing, its query performance is diminished when the RDF engines (behind the endpoints) manage these huge datasets. Their indexes cannot be fully loaded in main memory, hence these systems need to perform slow disk accesses to solve SPARQL queries. This paper addresses this problem by a compact indexed RDF structure (called k2-triples) applying compact k2-tree structures to the well-known vertical-partitioning technique. It obtains an ultra-compressed representation of large RDF graphs and allows SPARQL queries to be full-in-memory performed without decompression. We show that k2-triples clearly outperforms state-of-the-art compressibility and traditional vertical-partitioning query resolution, remaining very competitive with multi-index solutions.Comment: In Proc. of AMCIS'201

Transcultural adaptation and validation of the Spanish language version of the questionnaire OQLQ for the assessment of quality of life in orthognathic patients

Orthognathic surgery is the cornerstone of the treatment of dentofacial deformities, which have a great psychological and social impact on the life of the patient. Patient satisfaction and the impact on quality of life have recently become clinical parameters of growing importance. The aim of this study was to undertake a transcultural adaptation, translation to Spanish and validation of this version of the questionnaire OQLQ, used to measure quality of life in the context of Spanish culture. Validation of the OQLQ questionnaire to the Spanish language was carried out through the methodology of translation and back translation, conceptual equivalence and piloting. The Spanish version was applied through a cross-sectional study to a total of 50 patients undergoing orthognathic surgery. The adapted and validated version showed adequate metric properties of reliability, change sensitivity and validity. In this study, a positive impact of orthognathic surgery on the specific quality of life was evident in 96% of patients, with an average improvement of 58% with respect to the initial score. Dentofacial deformities have a marked negative impact on the lives of patients, with orthognathic surgery being a therapeutic tool of great value in improving the quality of life in social, functional and aesthetic terms. The pilot test of this Spanish language version of the OQLQ proved valid for the assessment of quality of life in Spanish-speaking orthognathic patients or those with a Spanish culture

Controlled manipulation of enzyme specificity through immobilization-induced flexibility constraints

It is thought that during immobilization enzymes, as dynamic biomolecules, may become distorted and this may alter their catalytic properties. However, the effects of different immobilization strategies on enzyme rigidity or flexibility and their consequences in specificity and stereochemistry at large scale has not been yet clearly evaluated and understood. This was here investigated by using as model an ester hydrolase, isolated from a bacterium inhabiting a karstic lake, with broad substrate spectrum (72 esters being converted; 61.5 U mg$^{-1}$ for glyceryl tripropionate) but initially non-enantiospecific. We found that the enzyme (7 nm × 4.4 nm × 4.2 nm) could be efficiently ionic exchanged inside the pores (9.3 nm under dry conditions) of amino-functionalized ordered mesoporous material (NH$_{2}$-SBA-15), achieving a protein load of 48 mg g−1, and a specific activity of 4.5 ± 0.1 U mg$^{-1}$. When the enzyme was site-directed immobilized through His interaction with an immobilized cationon the surface of two types of magnetic micro-particles through hexahistidine-tags, protein loads up to 10.2 μg g$^{-1}$ and specific activities of up to 29.9 ± 0.3 U mg$^{-1}$, were obtained. We found that ionically exchanged enzyme inside pores of NH2-SBA-15 drastically narrowed the substrate range (17 esters), to an extent much higher than ionically exchanged enzyme on the surface of magnetic micro-particles (up to 61 esters). This is attributed to differences in surface chemistry, particle size, and substrate accessibility to the active site tunnel. Our results also suggested, for the first time, that immobilization of enzymes in pores of similar size may alter the enzyme structures and produce enzyme active centers with different configuration which promote stereochemical conversions in a manner different to those arising from surface immobilization, where the strength of the ionic exchange also has an influence. This was shown by demonstrating that when the enzyme was introduced inside pores with a diameter (under dry conditions) slightly higher than that of the enzyme crystal structure a biocatalyst enantiospecific for ethyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate was produced, a feature not found when using wider pores. By contrast, immobilization on the surface of ferromagnetic microparticles produced selective biocatalysts for methyl (S)-(+)-mandelate or methyl (S)-lactate depending on the functionalization. This study illustrates the benefits of extensive analysis of the substrate spectra to better understand the effects of different immobilization strategies on enzyme flexibility/rigidity, as well as substrate specificity and stereochemistry. Our results will help to design tunable materials and interfaces for a controlled manipulation of specificity and to transform non-enantiospecific enzymes into stereo-chemically substrate promiscuous biocatalysts capable of converting multiple chiral molecules

Infrared Fluorescent Imaging as a Potent Tool for In Vitro, Ex Vivo and In Vivo Models of Visceral Leishmaniasis

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is hypoendemic in the Mediterranean region, where it is caused by the protozoan Leishmania infantum. An effective vaccine for humans is not yet available and the severe side-effects of the drugs in clinical use, linked to the parenteral administration route of most of them, are significant concerns of the current leishmanicidal medicines. New drugs are desperately needed to treat VL and phenotype-based High Throughput Screenings (HTS) appear to be suitable to achieve this goal in the coming years. We generated two infrared fluorescent L. infantum strains, which stably overexpress the IFP 1.4 and iRFP reporter genes and performed comparative studies of their biophotonic properties at both promastigote and amastigote stages. To improve the fluorescence emission of the selected reporter in intracellular amastigotes, we engineered distinct constructs by introducing regulatory sequences of differentially-expressed genes (A2, AMASTIN and HSP70 II). The final strain that carries the iRFP gene under the control of the L. infantum HSP70 II downstream region (DSR), was employed to perform a phenotypic screening of a collection of small molecules by using ex vivo splenocytes from infrared-infected BALB/c mice. In order to further investigate the usefulness of this infrared strain, we monitored an in vivo infection by imaging BALB/c mice in a time-course study of 20 weeks. The near-infrared fluorescent L. infantum strain represents an important step forward in bioimaging research of VL, providing a robust model of phenotypic screening suitable for HTS of small molecule collections in the mammalian parasite stage. Additionally, HSP70 II+L. infantum strain permitted for the first time to monitor an in vivo infection of VL. This finding accelerates the possibility of testing new drugs in preclinical in vivo studies, thus supporting the urgent and challenging drug discovery program against this parasitic diseaseThis research was supported by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (www.mineco.gob.es) grants AGL2010-16078/GAN to RBF and CYTED 214RT0482 to RMR; Instituto de Salud Carlos III (www.isciii.es) grants PI12/00104 to RMR and RICET RD12/0018/0004 to MF; Junta de Castilla y León (www.jcyl.es) grants Gr238 and LE182U13; European Commision (cordis.europa.eu/home_es.html), grant HOMIN - 317057-FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN and BIOIMID (http://www.fundacionareces.es) Proyecto de Excelencia Instituto Sanitario “La Princesa” and Fundación Ramón Areces to MF. SK is granted from AECC Foundation (https://www.aecc.es). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the anuscrip

A Sensitivity Analysis for Quality Measures of Quantitative Association Rules

There exist several fitness function proposals based on a combination of weighted objectives to optimize the discovery of association rules. Nevertheless, some differences in the measures used to assess the quality of association rules could be obtained according to the values of such weights. Therefore, in such proposals it is very important the user’s decision in order to specify the weights or coefficients of the optimized objectives. Thus, this work presents an analysis on the sensitivity of several quality measures when the weights included in the fitness function of the existing QARGA algorithm are modified. Finally, a comparative analysis of the results obtained according to the weights setup is provided.MICYT TIN2011-28956-C02-00Junta de Andalucía P11-TIC-752

Novel electronic device to quantify the cyclic fatigue resistance of endodontic reciprocating files after using and sterilization

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the time of use (TU) and sterilization cycles (SC) of endodontic reciprocating files on cyclic fatigue resistance. Methods: One-hundred-and-twenty (120) Procodile NiTi endodontic reciprocating instruments were selected at random and distributed into the following study groups: A: 0 sterilization cycles/0s time of use (n = 10); B: 0/60 (n = 10); C: 0/120 (n = 10); D: 1/0 (n = 10); E: 1/60 (n = 10); F: 1/120 (n = 10); G: 5/0 (n = 10); H: 5/60 (n = 10); I: 5/120 (n = 10); J: 10/0 (n = 10); K: 10/60 (n = 10); and L: 10/120 (n = 10). A dynamic cyclic fatigue device was designed using computer-aided design/computer-aided engineering (CAD/CAE) technology and created with a 3D printer to simulate the pecking motion performed by the clinician. Failure of the endodontic rotary instrument was detected by a light-emitting diode-light-dependent resistor (LED-LDR) system controlled by an Arduino driver complex and management software. The results were analyzed using the ANOVA test. Results: All pairwise comparisons presented statistically significant differences between the time to failure, number of cycles to failure and number of cycles of in-and-out movement for the time of use study groups (p 0.05). Conclusions: The time of use of NiTi endodontic reciprocating files negatively affects dynamic cyclic fatigue resistance. Dynamic cyclic resistance is not affected by the number of sterilization cycles

Especies de caza: procesos de extinción ocultos tras elevados tamaños de censo

Management of game species may involve a risk of alteration of their genetic properties. Local adaptations may be disrupted if artificially selected individuals from farms or those belonging to distant geographical areas are introduced to increase population density or trophy “quality”. In Spain, red deer (Cervus elaphus) from different European subspecies have been introduced to increase the size of trophies (antlers) of local populations. Legislation against these introductions is not effective for various reasons, and once the individuals are in the Iberian peninsula it is virtually impossible to prevent their spreading throughout the whole territory without a genetic tool to distinguish between autochthonous and foreign specimens. We have developed such a genetic test and propose a strategy to dissuade land–owners from importing foreign deer. Since deer are bred mainly for their antlers, our strategy is based on an agreement with the National Trophy Body in Spain which rejects trophies from foreign populations. Rejection decreases the value of the trophy so that it becomes more profitable to produce autochthonous deer. Using such a strategy at some critical step in the production or commercialization process may be a good model to apply in protecting genetic properties of exploited species.La gestión de las especies de caza puede conllevar riesgos de alteración de sus propiedades genéticas. Las adaptaciones locales pueden deteriorarse si ejemplares producidos mediante selección artificial en granjas o procedentes de áreas geográficas distantes, son introducidos para aumentar la densidad poblacional o la "calidad" de los trofeos de caza. En España, se han introducido ejemplares de ciervo ibérico (Cervus elaphus) procedentes de distintas subespecies europeas para aumentar así el tamaño de las cuernas (trofeos de caza) de las poblaciones autóctonas. La legislación contra este tipo de introducciones no es eficaz por diversos motivos y, una vez introducidos los ejemplares en la península ibérica, es prácticamente imposible prevenir su dispersión por todo el territorio sin contar con herramientas genéticas que permitan diferenciar los ejemplares autóctonos de los foráneos. Nosotros hemos desarrollado un test genético para este fin, y hemos propuesto una estrategia para disuadir a lospropietarios de llevar a cabo la importación de ejemplares foráneos. Puesto que los ciervos se crían fundamentalmente por su cornamenta como trofeo de caza, nuestra estrategia se ha basado en un acuerdo con la Junta Nacional de Homologación de Trofeos de Caza, para que ésta rechace los trofeos pertenecientes a ejemplares foráneos. Este rechazo reduce el valor de los ejemplares procedentes de otras poblaciones y favorece la producción de ciervo autóctono. Sugerimos que la utilización de estrategias de este tipo en puntos clave de procesos de producción o comercialización, puede ser un buen modelo a aplicar para proteger las propiedades genéticas de las especies sujetas a explotación por el hombre

Game species: extinction hidden by census numbers

Management of game species may involve a risk of alteration of their genetic properties. Local adaptations may be disrupted if artificially selected individuals from farms or those belonging to distant geographical areas are introduced to increase population density or trophy ‘quality’. In Spain, red deer (Cervus elaphus) from different European subspecies have been introduced to increase the size of trophies (antlers) of local populations. Legislation against these introductions is not effective for various reasons, and once the individuals are in the Iberian peninsula it is virtually impossible to prevent their spreading throughout the whole territory without a genetic tool to distinguish between autochthonous and foreign specimens. We have developed such a genetic test and propose a strategy to dissuade land-owners from importing foreign deer. Since deer are bred mainly for their antlers, our strategy is based on an agreement with the National Trophy Body in Spain which rejects trophies from foreign populations. Rejection decreases the value of the trophy so that it becomes more profitable to produce autochthonous deer. Using such a strategy at some critical step in the production or commercialisation process may be a good model to apply in protecting genetic properties of exploited species