GEANN: Scalable Graph Augmentations for Multi-Horizon Time Series Forecasting

Encoder-decoder deep neural networks have been increasingly studied for multi-horizon time series forecasting, especially in real-world applications. However, to forecast accurately, these sophisticated models typically rely on a large number of time series examples with substantial history. A rapidly growing topic of interest is forecasting time series which lack sufficient historical data -- often referred to as the ``cold start'' problem. In this paper, we introduce a novel yet simple method to address this problem by leveraging graph neural networks (GNNs) as a data augmentation for enhancing the encoder used by such forecasters. These GNN-based features can capture complex inter-series relationships, and their generation process can be optimized end-to-end with the forecasting task. We show that our architecture can use either data-driven or domain knowledge-defined graphs, scaling to incorporate information from multiple very large graphs with millions of nodes. In our target application of demand forecasting for a large e-commerce retailer, we demonstrate on both a small dataset of 100K products and a large dataset with over 2 million products that our method improves overall performance over competitive baseline models. More importantly, we show that it brings substantially more gains to ``cold start'' products such as those newly launched or recently out-of-stock

Hydrodynamic Regulation of Monocyte Inflammatory Response to an Intracellular Pathogen

Systemic bacterial infections elicit inflammatory response that promotes acute or chronic complications such as sepsis, arthritis or atherosclerosis. Of interest, cells in circulation experience hydrodynamic shear forces, which have been shown to be a potent regulator of cellular function in the vasculature and play an important role in maintaining tissue homeostasis. In this study, we have examined the effect of shear forces due to blood flow in modulating the inflammatory response of cells to infection. Using an in vitro model, we analyzed the effects of physiological levels of shear stress on the inflammatory response of monocytes infected with chlamydia, an intracellular pathogen which causes bronchitis and is implicated in the development of atherosclerosis. We found that chlamydial infection alters the morphology of monocytes and trigger the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α, IL-8, IL-1β and IL-6. We also found that the exposure of chlamydia-infected monocytes to short durations of arterial shear stress significantly enhances the secretion of cytokines in a time-dependent manner and the expression of surface adhesion molecule ICAM-1. As a functional consequence, infection and shear stress increased monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells under flow and in the activation and aggregation of platelets. Overall, our study demonstrates that shear stress enhances the inflammatory response of monocytes to infection, suggesting that mechanical forces may contribute to disease pathophysiology. These results provide a novel perspective on our understanding of systemic infection and inflammation

Biophysical and biochemical outcomes of Chlamydia pneumoniae infection promotes pro-atherogenic matrix microenvironment

Multiple studies support the hypothesis that infectious agents may be involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Chlamydia pneumoniae is strongly implicated in atherosclerosis, but the precise role has been underestimated and poorly understood due to the complexity of the disease process. In this work, we test the hypothesis that C. pneumoniae-infected macrophages lodged in the subendothelial matrix contribute to atherogenesis through pro-inflammatory factors and by cell-matrix interactions. To test this hypothesis, we used a 3D infection model with freshly isolated PBMC infected with live C. pneumoniae and chlamydial antigens encapsulated in a collagen matrix, and analyzed the inflammatory responses over 7 days. We observed that infection significantly upregulates the secretion of cytokines TNF-, IL-1, IL-8, MCP-1, MMP, oxidative stress, transendothelial permeability, and LDL uptake. We also observed that infected macrophages form clusters, and substantially modify the microstructure and mechanical properties of the extracellular matrix to an atherogenic phenotype. Together, our data demonstrates that C. pneumoniae-infection drives a low-grade, sustained inflammation that may predispose in the transformation to atherosclerotic foci

Two-Year Follow-up of Necrotic Herpetic Retinopathy in a Renal Transplant Recipient

Visual disturbances are common in patients who received renal transplant. Visual acuity is reduced in 60% of renal transplant patients after 10-year posttransplant. The most common causes are cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, and hypertensive retinopathy. However, infectious causes of visual loss are rare and most commonly associated with cytomegalovirus and toxoplasmosis infections. Here, we report a 32-year-old male who developed visual loss 6 months after receiving a live-related kidney transplant. The patient had a history of varicella infection in the immediate posttransplant period. The visual loss was secondary to acute retinal necrosis probably secondary to a Varicella infection. This rare manifestation is even more unique in a posttransplant scenario which is usually associated with progressive outer retinal necrosis. The patient had developed irreversible visual loss secondary to the retinal necrosis. Here, we report this rare association as well as 2-year ophthalmological follow-up of this patient

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Not AvailableObjective: The comparison of the socio-economic status of fishers and primary producers of the coastal India would tried to find out the potential gaps and suggested the measures to be taken for improving their living standards. Methods: The NSSO-68th round unit level data of fishers and primary producers for all the coastal states and UTs except Goa and Lakshadweep Islands was retrieved and used in the study. The results are represented with frequency tables and bar diagrams. The Z test to compare means and population proportions were used to test for its significant difference. Findings: The results revealed that the parity is existed between the fishers and primary producers with respect to their family size, religion, social group, training, subsidiary activity, employment status, land ownership, savings account and membership with associations. However, there is no parity in the literacy, MGNREG beneficiaries, land utilising for cultivation and average monthly expenditure. The literates among fishers and agricultural households are found to be more than the rural average literacy rate. There is scope to increase the MGNREG beneficiaries among fishers through proper implementation of the scheme to reduce the unemployment during lean season as their percentage was found to be less than the agricultural households. The fishers engaged in subsidiary activity were found to be less. Since the average income of fishers was less than the agricultural households, motivation of fishers to take up subsidiary activities may provide them to earn additional income to overcome the debt trap and during lean seasons. The average monthly consumption expenditure of fishers was comparatively lesser than the agricultural households because of their poor accessibility to various goods and services. Application: The living standards of agricultural dependent population are comparatively lower than the people of any other sectors. The fisheries sector, being the fastest growing sector among the allied sectors of agriculture, the benefits thus obtained can be distributed in favour of poor fishers to improve their living conditions by adopting proper policies.Not Availabl

Intranasal vaccination with Chlamydia pneumoniae induces cross-species immunity against genital Chlamydia muridarum challenge in mice.

Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the world and specifically in the United States, with the highest incidence in age-groups 14-19 years. In a subset of females, the C. trachomatis genital infection leads to serious pathological sequelae including pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility. Chlamydia pneumoniae, another member of the same genus, is a common cause of community acquired respiratory infection with significant number of children aged 5-14 yr displaying sero-conversion. Since these bacteriae share several antigenic determinants, we evaluated whether intranasal immunization with live C. pneumoniae (1×10(6) inclusion forming units; IFU) in 5 week old female C57BL/6 mice would induce cross-species protection against subsequent intravaginal challenge with Chlamydia muridarum (5×10(4) IFU), which causes a similar genital infection and pathology in mice as C. trachomatis in humans. Mice vaccinated intranasally with live C. pneumoniae, but not mock (PBS) immunized animals, displayed high levels of splenic cellular antigen-specific IFN-γ production and serum antibody response against C. muridarum and C. trachomatis. Mice vaccinated with C. pneumoniae displayed a significant reduction in the vaginal C. muridarum shedding as early as day 12 after secondary i.vag. challenge compared to PBS (mock) immunized mice. At day 19 after C. muridarum challenge, 100% of C. pneumoniae vaccinated mice had cleared the infection compared to none (0%) of the mock immunized mice, which cleared the infection by day 27. At day 80 after C. muridarum challenge, C. pneumoniae vaccinated mice displayed a significant reduction in the incidence (50%) and degree of hydrosalpinx compared to mock immunized animals (100%). These results suggest that respiratory C. pneumoniae infection induces accelerated chlamydial clearance and reduction of oviduct pathology following genital C. muridarum challenge, and may have important implications to the C. trachomatis-induced reproductive disease in humans

Splenic cellular antigen-specific IFN-γ response following immunization.

<p>C57BL/6 mice (3 mice/group) were treated i.n. with <i>C. pneumoniae</i> (1×10⁶ IFU/mouse), or <i>C. muridarum</i> (0.5×10³ IFU/mouse) in 25 µl of PBS, or PBS alone (mock). On day 14, animals were euthanized and splenocytes were tested by ELISA for antigen-specific IFN-γ production against <i>C. mur</i>, <i>C. tra,</i> or the unrelated antigen BSA. Cells cultured in media alone were used to evaluate baseline cytokine production from isolated splenocytes. Results are expressed as mean ± SEM of IFN-γ production per culture condition. *Significant (P<0.05, ANOVA) differences in IFN-γ production from splenocytes of <i>C. pne</i> versus <i>C. mur</i> immunized mice upon stimulation with <i>C. mur</i> or <i>C. tra</i>. Results are representative of two independent experiments.</p