From eye-blinks to state construction : diagnostic benchmarks for online representation learning

We present three new diagnostic prediction problems inspired by classical-conditioning experiments to facilitate research in online prediction learning. Experiments in classical conditioning show that animals such as rabbits, pigeons, and dogs can make long temporal associations that enable multi-step prediction. To replicate this remarkable ability, an agent must construct an internal state representation that summarizes its interaction history. Recurrent neural networks can automatically construct state and learn temporal associations. However, the current training methods are prohibitively expensive for online prediction—continual learning on every time step—which is the focus of this paper. Our proposed problems test the learning capabilities that animals readily exhibit and highlight the limitations of the current recurrent learning methods. While the proposed problems are nontrivial, they are still amenable to extensive testing and analysis in the small-compute regime, thereby enabling researchers to study issues in isolation, ultimately accelerating progress towards scalable online representation learning method

Insights on the Application of the Retro Michael-Type Addition on Maleimide-Functionalized Gold Nanoparticles in Biology and Nanomedicine

The glutathione-mediated retro Michael-type addition reaction is demonstrated to take place at the interface of small water-soluble maleimide-functionalized gold nanoparticles (Maleimide-AuNP). The retro Michael-type addition reaction can be blocked by hydrolyzing the Michael addition thioether adduct at the nanoparticle’s interface under reaction conditions that do not cause AuNP decomposition. This procedure “locks” the molecule of interest onto the Maleimide-AuNP template for potential uses in medical imaging and bioconjugation, ensuring no loss of the molecular cargo from the nanocarrier. On the other hand, the glutathione-mediated retro Michael-type addition reaction can be exploited for delivering a molecular payload. As a proof of concept, a fluorogenic molecular cargo was incorporated onto a Maleimide-AuNP and delivered via the glutathione-mediated retro Michael-type addition reaction

Integrating association rules mined from health-care data with ontological information for automated knowledge generation

Association rule mining can be combined with complex network theory to automatically create a knowledge base that reveals how certain drugs cause side-effects on patients when they interact with other drugs taken by the patient when they have two or more diseases. The drugs will interact with on-target and off-target proteins often in an unpredictable way. A computational approach is necessary to be able to unravel the complex relationships between disease comorbidities. We built statistical models from the publicly available FAERS dataset to reveal interesting and potentially harmful drug combinations based on sideeffects and relationships between co-morbid diseases. This information is very useful to medical practitioners to tailor patient prescriptions for optimal therapy

Photoinduced Carbene Generation from Diazirine Modified Task Specific Phosphonium Salts To Prepare Robust Hydrophobic Coatings

3-Aryl-3-(trifluormethyl)­diazirine functionalized highly fluorinated phosphonium salts (HFPS) were synthesized, characterized, and utilized as photoinduced carbene precursors for covalent attachment of the HFPS onto cotton/paper to impart hydrophobicity to these surfaces. Irradiation of cotton and paper, as proof of concept substrates, treated with the diazirine-HFPS leads to robust hydrophobic cotton and paper surfaces with antiwetting properties, whereas the corresponding control samples absorb water readily. The contact angles of water were determined to be 139° and 137° for cotton and paper, respectively. In contrast, water placed on the untreated or the control samples (those treated with the diazirine-HFPS but not irradiated) is simply absorbed into the surface. Additionaly, the chemically grafted hydrophobic coating showed high durability toward wash cycles and sonication in organic solvents. Because of the mode of activation to covalently tether the hydrophobic coating, it is amenable to photopatterning, which was demonstrated macroscopically

NHLBI-CMREF workshop report on pulmonary vascular disease classification: JACC state-of-the-art review.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the Cardiovascular Medical Research and Education Fund held a workshop on the application of pulmonary vascular disease omics data to the understanding, prevention, and treatment of pulmonary vascular disease. Experts in pulmonary vascular disease, omics, and data analytics met to identify knowledge gaps and formulate ideas for future research priorities in pulmonary vascular disease in line with National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Strategic Vision goals. The group identified opportunities to develop analytic approaches to multiomic datasets, to identify molecular pathways in pulmonary vascular disease pathobiology, and to link novel phenotypes to meaningful clinical outcomes. The committee suggested support for interdisciplinary research teams to develop and validate analytic methods, a national effort to coordinate biosamples and data, a consortium of preclinical investigators to expedite target evaluation and drug development, longitudinal assessment of molecular biomarkers in clinical trials, and a task force to develop a master clinical trials protocol for pulmonary vascular disease