Suitable MLP Network Activation Functions For Breast Cancer And Thyroid Disease Detection.

This paper presents a comparison study of various MLP activation functions for detection and classification problems

Seroprevalence and risk factors for influenza a viruses in pigs in Peninsular Malaysia

Following a series of H5N1 cases in chickens and birds in a few states in Malaysia, there was much interest in the influenza A viruses subtypes that circulate among the local pig populations. Pigs may act as a mixing vessel for avian and mammal influenza viruses, resulting in new reassorted viruses. This study investigated the presence of antibodies against influenza H1N1 and H3N2 viruses in pigs from Peninsular Malaysia using Herdcheck Swine Influenza H1N1 and H3N2 Antibody Test Kits. At the same time, the presence of influenza virus was examined from the nasal swabs of seropositive pigs by virus isolation and real time RT-PCR. The list of pig farms was obtained from the headquarters of the Department of Veterinary Services, Malaysia, and pig herds were selected randomly from six of 11 states in Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 727 serum and nasal swab samples were collected from 4- to 6-month-old pigs between May and August 2005. By ELISA, the seroprevalences of swine influenza H1N1 and H3N2 among pigs were 12.2% and 12.1% respectively. Seropositivity for either of the virus subtypes was detected in less than half of the 41 sampled farms (41.4%). Combination of both subtypes was detected in 4% of all pigs and in 22% of sampled farms. However, no virus or viral nucleic acid was detected from nasal samples. This study identified that the seropositivity of pigs to H1N1 and H3N2 based on ELISA was significantly associated with factors such as size of farm, importation or purchase of pigs, proximity of farm to other pig farms and the presence of mammalian pets within the farm

Preliminary results of electrical characterization of GO towards MCF7 and MCF10a at different concentrations

GO is the 2D carbon sheet with additional functional groups, is more stable in various solvents, easy to be produced and manipulated especially in biological system. At the moment, GO is only utilized as the drug delivery agent during treatment. In this study, the resistivity of GO towards breast cancer cell (MCF7) and normal breast cell (MCF10a) using interdigitated electrodes (IDE) were investigated. The interaction of different concentrations of GO as the sensing material on the tested cells which act as analyte can change electrical response. The tested cell were treated with six different concentrations of GO and was dropped to the IDE with different period of time in order to examine electrical behavior. For MCF10a, at high concentration the resistances of MCF10 remain in the same order of magnitude with increasing time of detection while for MCF7 at high concentration, the resistances were greatly influenced by the time of detection where the value significantly changed after 5 minutes and 10 minutes. The number of viable cell does not give effect to the resistance

The influence of design parameters on the performance of FBAR in 10–14 GHz

This research presents the analysis of the influence of design parameters on the performance of film bilk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) working from 10 GHz to 14 GHz. The analysis is done by implementing one-dimensional (1-D) modellings, which are 1-D Mason model and Butterworth Van Dyke (BVD) model. The physical parameters such as piezoelectric materials and its thickness, and size of area affecting the characteristics of the FBAR are analyzed in detail. Zinc oxide (ZnO) and aluminum nitride (AlN) are chosen as the piezoelectric materials. The resonance area is varied at 25μm×25μm to 35μm×35μm. From the analysis, it is found that as the frequency increases, the thickness of the piezoelectric material decreases. Meanwhile, the static capacitance increases as the frequency increases. It is also found that as the area increases, the electrical impedance and static capacitance also increases

Electrical characterization of GO at different pH towards MCF7 and MCF10a: preliminary result

The intracellular pH of cancerous cell is commonly acidic while the intracellular pH of normal cell is neutral. The objective of this study is to study the electrical characterization in terms of resistance between the pH of sensing material with the intracellular pH of the cells. Three different pH of Graphene Oxide (GO) were used as a solvent to analyze their interaction towards breast cancer cells (MCF7) and breast normal cells (MCF10a). GO which produced by Hummer's method was used due to their solubility and biocompatibility characteristics which easily diffuse through the cell. In this experiment, the characteristics of GO were analyzed and confirmed by using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). In order to measure the resistance of MCF7 and MCF10a cells after treated with GO for 24 hours, gold electrodes with 10 μ-gaps of interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) were used. The results were obtained for three periods of time which were immediate, 5 minutes and 10 minutes after the treated cells being exposed at room temperature. The results show that the resistance of MCF10a cells increased after treated with higher pH of GO which is pH 7 and the resistances of the MCF7 cells decreased as the pH of GO increased to pH 7. Finally, the viable cells were calculated by using haemocytometer in order to prove that the increased of the resistances were due to the increased number of viable cells

A whole genome analyses of genetic variants in two Kelantan Malay individuals

The sequencing of two members of the Royal Kelantan Malay family genomes will provide insights on the Kelantan Malay whole genome sequences. The two Kelantan Malay genomes were analyzed for the SNP markers associated with thalassemia and Helicobacter pylori infection. Helicobacter pylori infection was reported to be low prevalence in the north-east as compared to the west coast of the Peninsular Malaysia and beta-thalassemia was known to be one of the most common inherited and genetic disorder in Malaysia.By combining SNP information from literatures, GWAS study and NCBI ClinVar, 18 unique SNPs were selected for further analysis. From these 18 SNPs, 10 SNPs came from previous study of Helicobacter pylori infection among Malay patients, 6 SNPs were from NCBI ClinVar and 2 SNPs from GWAS studies. The analysis reveals that both Royal Kelantan Malay genomes shared all the 10 SNPs identified by Maran (Single Nucleotide Polymorphims (SNPs) genotypic profiling of Malay patients with and without Helicobacter pylori infection in Kelantan, 2011) and one SNP from GWAS study. In addition, the analysis also reveals that both Royal Kelantan Malay genomes shared 3 SNP markers; HBG1 (rs1061234), HBB (rs1609812) and BCL11A (rs766432) where all three markers were associated with beta-thalassemia.Our findings suggest that the Royal Kelantan Malays carry the SNPs which are associated with protection to Helicobacter pylori infection. In addition they also carry SNPs which are associated with beta-thalassemia. These findings are in line with the findings by other researchers who conducted studies on thalassemia and Helicobacter pylori infection in the non-royal Malay population.Wan Khairunnisa Wan Juhari, Nur Aida Md Tamrin, Mohd Hanif Ridzuan Mat Daud, Hatin Wan Isa, Nurfazreen Mohd Nasir, Sathiya Maran, Nur Shafawati Abdul Rajab, Khairul Bariah Ahmad Amin Noordin, Nik Norliza Nik Hassan, Rick Tearle, Rozaimi Razali, Amir Feisal Merican and Bin Alwi Zilfali

CT Image Segmentation Using FEM with Optimized Boundary Condition

The authors propose a CT image segmentation method using structural analysis that is useful for objects with structural dynamic characteristics. Motivation of our research is from the area of genetic activity. In order to reveal the roles of genes, it is necessary to create mutant mice and measure differences among them by scanning their skeletons with an X-ray CT scanner. The CT image needs to be manually segmented into pieces of the bones. It is a very time consuming to manually segment many mutant mouse models in order to reveal the roles of genes. It is desirable to make this segmentation procedure automatic. Although numerous papers in the past have proposed segmentation techniques, no general segmentation method for skeletons of living creatures has been established. Against this background, the authors propose a segmentation method based on the concept of destruction analogy. To realize this concept, structural analysis is performed using the finite element method (FEM), as structurally weak areas can be expected to break under conditions of stress. The contribution of the method is its novelty, as no studies have so far used structural analysis for image segmentation. The method's implementation involves three steps. First, finite elements are created directly from the pixels of a CT image, and then candidates are also selected in areas where segmentation is thought to be appropriate. The second step involves destruction analogy to find a single candidate with high strain chosen as the segmentation target. The boundary conditions for FEM are also set automatically. Then, destruction analogy is implemented by replacing pixels with high strain as background ones, and this process is iterated until object is decomposed into two parts. Here, CT image segmentation is demonstrated using various types of CT imagery

The Glaciozyma antarctica genome reveals an array of systems that provide sustained responses towards temperature variations in a persistently cold habitat

Extremely low temperatures present various challenges to life that include ice formation and effects on metabolic capacity. Psyhcrophilic microorganisms typically have an array of mechanisms to enable survival in cold temperatures. In this study, we sequenced and analysed the genome of a psychrophilic yeast isolated in the Antarctic region, Glaciozyma antarctica. The genome annotation identified 7857 protein coding sequences. From the genome sequence analysis we were able to identify genes that encoded for proteins known to be associated with cold survival, in addition to annotating genes that are unique to G. antarctica. For genes that are known to be involved in cold adaptation such as anti-freeze proteins (AFPs), our gene expression analysis revealed that they were differentially transcribed over time and in response to different temperatures. This indicated the presence of an array of adaptation systems that can respond to a changing but persistent cold environment. We were also able to validate the activity of all the AFPs annotated where the recombinant AFPs demonstrated anti-freeze capacity. This work is an important foundation for further collective exploration into psychrophilic microbiology where among other potential, the genes unique to this species may represent a pool of novel mechanisms for cold survival