Data Fusion for MaaS: Opportunities and Challenges

© 2018 IEEE. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) in design is an essential facilitator for the development and implementation of smart cities, where modern cooperative transportation and integrated mobility are highly demanded. Owing to greater availability of different data sources, data fusion problem in intelligent transportation systems (ITS) has been very challenging, where machine learning modelling and approaches are promising to offer an important yet comprehensive solution. In this paper, we provide an overview of the recent advances in data fusion for Mobility as a Service (MaaS), including the basics of data fusion theory and the related machine learning methods. We also highlight the opportunities and challenges on MaaS, and discuss potential future directions of research on the integrated mobility modelling

Interactomic analysis of REST/NRSF and implications of its functional links with the transcription suppressor TRIM28 during neuronal differentiation

RE-1 silencing transcription factor (REST) is a transcriptional repressor that regulates gene expression by binding to repressor element 1. However, despite its critical function in physiology, little is known about its interaction proteins. Here we identified 204 REST-interacting proteins using affinity purification and mass spectrometry. The interactome included proteins associated with mRNA processing/splicing, chromatin organization, and transcription. The interactions of these REST-interacting proteins, which included TRIM28, were confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation and immunocytochemistry, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis revealed that neuronal differentiation-related GO terms were enriched among target genes that were co-regulated by REST and TRIM28, while the level of CTNND2 was increased by the knockdown of REST and TRIM28. Consistently, the level of CTNND2 increased while those of REST and TRIM28 decreased during neuronal differentiation in the primary neurons, suggesting that CTNND2 expression may be coregulated by both. Furthermore, neurite outgrowth was increased by depletion of REST or TRIM28, implying that reduction of both REST and TRIM28 could promote neuronal differentiation via induction of CTNND2 expression. In conclusion, our study of REST reveals novel interacting proteins which could be a valuable resource for investigating unidentified functions of REST and also suggested functional links between REST and TRIM28 during neuronal development.1121Ysciescopu

Association of proinflammatory cytokines and chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment in breast cancer patients: a multi-centered, prospective, cohort study.

BackgroundExisting evidence suggests that proinflammatory cytokines play an intermediary role in postchemotherapy cognitive impairment. This is one of the largest multicentered, cohort studies conducted in Singapore to evaluate the prevalence and proinflammatory biomarkers associated with cognitive impairment in breast cancer patients.Patients and methodsChemotherapy-receiving breast cancer patients (stages I-III) were recruited. Proinflammatory plasma cytokines concentrations [interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor, interferon-γ and tumor necrosis factor-α] were evaluated at 3 time points (before chemotherapy, 6 and 12 weeks after chemotherapy initiation). The FACT-Cog (version 3) was utilized to evaluate patients' self-perceived cognitive disturbances and a computerized neuropsychological assessment (Headminder) was administered to evaluate patients' memory, attention, response speed and processing speed. Changes of cognition throughout chemotherapy treatment were compared against the baseline. Linear mixed-effects models were applied to test the relationships of clinical variables and cytokine concentrations on self-perceived cognitive disturbances and each objective cognitive domain.ResultsNinety-nine patients were included (age 50.5 ± 8.4 years; 81.8% Chinese; mean duration of education = 10.8 ± 3.3 years). Higher plasma IL-1β was associated with poorer response speed performance (estimate: -0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) -1.34 to -0.03; P = 0.023), and a higher concentration of IL-4 was associated with better response speed performance (P = 0.022). Higher concentrations of IL-1β and IL-6 were associated with more severe self-perceived cognitive disturbances (P = 0.018 and 0.001, respectively). Patients with higher concentrations of IL-4 also reported less severe cognitive disturbances (P = 0.022).ConclusionsWhile elevated concentrations of IL-6 and IL-1β were observed in patients with poorer response speed performance and perceived cognitive disturbances, IL-4 may be protective against chemotherapy-associated cognitive impairment. This study is important because cytokines would potentially be mechanistic mediators of chemotherapy-associated cognitive changes

Comparison of the Thermal Stabilities of Diazonium Salts and Their Corresponding Triazenes

A range of diazonium salts and their corresponding triazenes have been prepared in order to directly compare their relative thermal stabilities (via initial decomposition temperature) from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data. A structure–stability relationship has been explored to investigate trends in stability, depending on the aromatic substituent and the structure of the secondary amine component of the diazonium salts and triazenes. All of the triazenes investigated show significantly greater stability (many are stable above 200 °C) compared with the corresponding diazonium salts, which show varying stabilities

Consensus recommendations for clinical assessment tools for the diagnosis of posterior cortical atrophy syndrome from the Atypical AD PIA of ISTAART

INTRODUCTION: Delay in diagnosis of posterior cortical atrophy (PCA) syndrome is common, and the lack of familiarity with assessment tools for identifying visual cortical dysfunction is a contributing factor. We propose recommendations for the approach to the evaluation of PCA clinical features during the office visit, the neuropsychological evaluation, and the research setting. A recommended screening battery for eye clinics is also proposed. METHODS: Recommendations were developed using results from a web-based survey of members of Alzheimer's Association International Society to Advance Alzheimer's Research and Treatment (ISTAART) Atypical Alzheimer's Disease Professional Interest Area (PIA), literature review, and consensus by the PCA assessment working party of the Atypical Alzheimer's Disease PIA. RESULTS: Survey results revealed robust agreement for assessment tool preferences for PCA features, and many respondents indicated that they reserve assessment tools for use only when PCA is suspected. For some PCA features, curated tools were preferred over validated battery tools, particularly for the office visit. Consensus recommendations superseded survey preferences for two core cognitive features within the 2017 PCA diagnostic criteria. DISCUSSION: These consensus recommendations provide an evaluation framework for PCA clinical features and can facilitate timely and accurate recognition and diagnosis of PCA. Broader use of these tools should be sought, and development and validation of novel PCA clinical outcome assessments are needed to improve our understanding of atypical AD and other dementias and support the inclusion of those with PCA in treatment trials

Machine-Part cell formation through visual decipherable clustering of Self Organizing Map

Machine-part cell formation is used in cellular manufacturing in order to process a large variety, quality, lower work in process levels, reducing manufacturing lead-time and customer response time while retaining flexibility for new products. This paper presents a new and novel approach for obtaining machine cells and part families. In the cellular manufacturing the fundamental problem is the formation of part families and machine cells. The present paper deals with the Self Organising Map (SOM) method an unsupervised learning algorithm in Artificial Intelligence, and has been used as a visually decipherable clustering tool of machine-part cell formation. The objective of the paper is to cluster the binary machine-part matrix through visually decipherable cluster of SOM color-coding and labelling via the SOM map nodes in such a way that the part families are processed in that machine cells. The Umatrix, component plane, principal component projection, scatter plot and histogram of SOM have been reported in the present work for the successful visualization of the machine-part cell formation. Computational result with the proposed algorithm on a set of group technology problems available in the literature is also presented. The proposed SOM approach produced solutions with a grouping efficacy that is at least as good as any results earlier reported in the literature and improved the grouping efficacy for 70% of the problems and found immensely useful to both industry practitioners and researchers.Comment: 18 pages,3 table, 4 figure

Evidence for Two Modes of Synergistic Induction of Apoptosis by Mapatumumab and Oxaliplatin in Combination with Hyperthermia in Human Colon Cancer Cells

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the world-- the main cause of death from colorectal cancer is hepatic metastases, which can be treated with isolated hepatic perfusion (IHP). Searching for the most clinically relevant approaches for treating colorectal metastatic disease by isolated hepatic perfusion (IHP), we developed the application of oxaliplatin concomitantly with hyperthermia and humanized death receptor 4 (DR4) antibody mapatumumab (Mapa), and investigated the molecular mechanisms of this multimodality treatment in human colon cancer cell lines CX-1 and HCT116 as well as human colon cancer stem cells Tu-12, Tu-21 and Tu-22. We showed here, in this study, that the synergistic effect of the multimodality treatment-induced apoptosis was caspase dependent and activated death signaling via both the extrinsic apoptotic pathway and the intrinsic pathway. Death signaling was activated by c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling which led to Bcl-xL phosphorylation at serine 62, decreasing the anti-apoptotic activity of Bcl-xL, which contributed to the intrinsic pathway. The downregulation of cellular FLICE inhibitory protein long isoform (c-FLIPL) in the extrinsic pathway was accomplished through ubiquitination at lysine residue (K) 195 and protein synthesis inhibition. Overexpression of c-FLIPL mutant (K195R) and Bcl-xL mutant (S62A) completely abrogated the synergistic effect. The successful outcome of this study supports the application of multimodality strategy to patients with colorectal hepatic metastases who fail to respond to standard chemoradiotherapy that predominantly targets the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. © 2013 Song et al

Modulated Instability in Five-Dimensional U(1) Charged AdS Black Hole with R**2-term

We study the effect of R**2 term to the modulated instability in the U(1) charged black hole in five-dimensional Anti-de Sitter space-time. We consider the first-order corrections of R**2 term to the background and the linear order perturbations in the equations of motion. From the analysis, we clarify the effect of R**2 term in the modulated instability, and conclude that fluctuations are stable in the whole bulk in the range of values the coefficient of R**2 term can take.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figures; (v4) Published version in JHE

The effect of Ku on telomere replication time is mediated by telomere length but is independent of histone tail acetylation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Genotypes and haplotypes of the methyl-CpG-binding domain 2 modify breast cancer risk dependent upon menopausal status

INTRODUCTION: MBD2, the gene encoding methyl-CpG-binding domain (MBD)2, is a major methylation related gene and functions as a transcriptional repressor that can specifically bind to the methylated regions of other genes. MBD2 may also mediate gene activation because of its potential DNA demethylase activity. The present case-control study investigated associations between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the MBD2 gene and breast cancer risk. METHODS: DNA samples from 393 Caucasian patients with breast cancer (cases) and 436 matched control individuals, collected in a recently completed breast cancer case–control study conducted in Connecticut, were included in the study. Because no coding SNPs were found in the MBD2 gene, one SNP in the noncoding exon (rs1259938) and another in the intron 3 (rs609791) were genotyped. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to estimate cancer risk associated with the variant genotypes and the reconstructed haplotypes. RESULTS: The variant genotypes at both SNP loci were significantly associated with reduced risk among premenopausal women (OR = 0.41 for rs1259938; OR = 0.54 for rs609791). Further haplotype analyses showed that the two rare haplotypes (A-C and A-G) were significantly associated with reduced breast cancer risk (OR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.20–0.83 for A-C; OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.26–0.84 for A-G) in premenopausal women. No significant associations were detected in the postmenopausal women and the whole population. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrate a role for the MBD2 gene in breast carcinogenesis in premenopausal women. These findings suggest that genetic variations in methylation related genes may potentially serve as a biomarker in risk estimates for breast cancer