EMERGENCE OF ANOMALOUS FLOCKING IN THE FRACTIONAL CUCKER-SMALE MODEL

Ha S-yeal, Jung J, Kuchling P. EMERGENCE OF ANOMALOUS FLOCKING IN THE FRACTIONAL CUCKER-SMALE MODEL. DISCRETE AND CONTINUOUS DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS. 2019;39(9):5465-5489.In this paper, we study the emergent behaviors of the Cucker-Smale (C-S) ensemble under the interplay of memory effect and flocking dynamics. As a mathematical model incorporating aforementioned interplay, we introduce the fractional C-S model which can be obtained by replacing the usual time derivative by the Caputo fractional time derivative. For the proposed fractional C-S model, we provide a sufficient framework which admits the emergence of anomalous flocking with the algebraic decay and an l(2)-stability estimate with respect to initial data. We also provide several numerical examples and compare them with our theoretical results

Toxicological Study on MUNOPHIL, Water Extract of Panax ginseng and Hericium erinaceum in Rats

AbstractObjectiveAs data on the safety profile of Panax ginseng and Hericium erinaceum is lacking, the safety of these two compounds was examined in a series of toxicological studies.Materials and MethodsMUNOPHIL, the water extract mixture of Panax ginseng and Hericium erinaceum was tested in an oral subchronic 28-day toxicity study in rats at doses of 1250, 2500 and 5000 mg/kg/day.ResultsIn repeated dose toxicity studies, no mortality was observed when varying doses of the extracts were administered once daily for a period of 28 days. There were no significant differences in body weight, absolute and relative organ weights between controls and treated rats of both sexes. Hematological analysis showed no differences in most parameters examined. In the biochemistry parameter analysis, no significant change occurred. Pathologically, neither gross abnormalities nor his-topathological changes were observed. Therefore, MUNOPHIL appears to be safe and non-toxic in these studies and a no-observed adverse effect level in rats was established at 5000 mg/kg/day.ConclusionThe data could provide satisfactory preclinical evidence of safety to launch clinical trials on standardized formulation of plant extracts

Application of the Whole Genome-Based Bacterial Identification System, TrueBac ID, Using Clinical Isolates That Were Not Identified With Three Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) Systems

Background: Next-generation sequencing is increasingly used for taxonomic identification of pathogenic bacterial isolates. We evaluated the performance of a newly introduced whole genome-based bacterial identification system, TrueBac ID (ChunLab Inc., Seoul, Korea), using clinical isolates that were not identified by three matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) systems and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Methods: Thirty-six bacterial isolates were selected from a university-affiliated hospital and a commercial clinical laboratory. Species was identified by three MALDI-TOF MS systems: Bruker Biotyper MS (Bruker Daltonics, Billerica, MA, USA), VITEK MS (bioMerieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France), and ASTA MicrolDSys (ASTA Inc., Suwon, Korea). Whole genome sequencing was conducted using the Illumina MiSeq system (Illumina, San Diego, CA, USA), and genome-based identification was performed using the TrueBac ID cloud system (www.truebacid.com ). Results: TrueBac ID assigned 94% (34/36) of the isolates to known (N=25) or novel (N=4) species, genomospecies (N=3), or species group (N=2). The remaining two were identified at the genus level. Conclusions: TrueBac ID successfully identified the majority of isolates that MALDI-TOF MS failed to identify. Genome-based identification can be a useful tool in clinical laboratories, with its superior accuracy and database-driven operations.