Face Recognition: Demystification of Multifarious Aspect in Evaluation Metrics

Face recognition has become an interesting research area in the recent era, and blends knowledge from various disciplines such as neuroscience, psychology, statistics, data mining, computer vision, pattern recognition, image processing, and machine learning. A new opportunity is obtained using the application of statistical methods for evaluating the performance of the system. Evaluation methods are the yardstick to examine the efficiency and performance of any face recognition system. Methods for performance evaluation seek to distinguish, compare, and interpret the various factors such as characteristics of subjects, location, illumination, and images. In this chapter, we show how to adapt popular performance measures commonly used in face recognition research, including—precision, recall, F-measure, fallout, accuracy, efficiency, sensitivity, specificity, error rate, receiver operating characteristics (ROC). This work serves as an introduction to performance measures, and as a practical guide for using them in research

Probiotics in human mental health and diseases - A minireview

In humans, cognitive functions are controlled by the central nervous system, which is controlled by the brain. Any damage to the neuronal system causes serious impairment to the host as it may lead to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, autism and epilepsy. The physical and mental health of an individual is associated with food habits and brain health. The hypothalamus is the region of the brain that initiates a response to different types of stress. However, recent findings have revealed that food play a major role in regulating stress and mental health. In this regard, probiotics are beneficial microbes that are claimed to offer health benefits when consumed in adequate quantities. Probiotics alter the gut microbial composition in a positive way. Several in vitro, in vivo and pre-clinical studies have been conducted to determine the effects of probiotics or probiotic based food supplementation on the cognitive function of model system and human volunteers. Most of the studies suggest that the consumption of probiotic formulations improves cognitive function, stress management, and decision-making. This paper reviews recent findings regarding the influence of probiotic supplementation on cognitive function, especially in human subjects. The role of probiotics in maintaining healthy gut microbiota and detailed outcomes of clinical trials are here reported for easy understanding of the concept. However, more studies involving clinical trials are still required in the field of probiotics and cognitive function

Models for crop parameters due to normal load of tractor and number of passes

Multiple passage of power machinery system particularly heavy machines with high wheel loads creates sub-soil compaction which results into increasing in soil bulk density & penetration resistance and reduction in water infiltration, crop germination, growth as well as yield. This study was conducted to determine the different crop growth and crop yield models could be developed to predict growth as well as yield of crop considering normal load and number of passes of tractor. A 36-plot experiment consisting of 12 treatments with three replications were set up using a randomized block design in a uniform field of Division of Agricultural Engineering, IARI, New Delhi during the period of 2007-08. Prediction models were developed between compaction parameters (normal loads and number of passes) and crop parameters like (a) plant height, (b) number of plants per meter, and (c) yield. In, other models a relation between crop yield and sub-soil bulk density and penetration resistance were established and their sensitivity analysis was done for developed models. The best fit model for plant height and number of plants per meter row was quadratic. However, the best fit model between yield vs soil bulk density and yield vs penetration resistance was exponential and quadratic, respectively. The developed model is not more sensitive for number of plants per meter row and yield vs soil bulk density. However, model was more sensitive to plant height model and yield vs soil penetration resistance is more sensitive

Reconfiguring Resilience for Existential Risk: Submission of Evidence to the Cabinet Office on the new UK National Resilience Strategy

This submission provides input on the UK Government's National Resilience Strategy Call for Evidence, which sought “public engagement to inform the development of a new Strategy that will outline an ambitious new vision for UK National Resilience and set objectives for achieving it.” In response, an interdisciplinary team of experts at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk worked to prepare a concrete response to this call. In this document, we aim to share the contents of our submission for public deliberation. While we laud the UK government's inititiative to develop a new National Resilience Strategy, we argue that more work can and should be done to categorize and identify catastrophic, and existential risks; we emphasize the importance of taking a long-term perspective on mitigating and responding to the challenges these pose; and we encourage the development of a more comprehensive strategy, as these risks are all intertwined in an interconnected and complex environment. In our responses, we focus on the six broad thematic areas of the National Resilience Strategy (Risk and Resilience, Responsibilities and Accountability, Partnerships, Community, Investment, and Resilience in an Interconnected World), and provide key recommendations for improving UK national resilience, both from a general perspective on existential and global catastrophic risks, as well as with regards to policies in key risk domains such as in biorisk, climate risk, or emerging technologies within critical national infrastructure & - defence systems. While we laud the UK government's initial to develop a new National Resilience Strategy, we argue that more work can and should be done to categorize and identify catastrophic, complex, and existential risks; we emphasize a long-term perspective on mitigating and responding to the threats these pose; and we encourage the development of a more comprehensive strategy, as these risks are all intertwined in an interconnected and complex environment. In our responses, we focus on the six broad thematic areas of the National Resilience Strategy (Risk and Resilience, Responsibilities and Accountability, Partnerships, Community, Investment, and Resilience in an Interconnected World), and provide key recommendations for improving UK national resilience, both from a general perspective on existential and global catastrophic risks, as well as with regards to policies in key risk domains such as in biorisk, climate risk, or emerging technologies within critical national infrastructure & - defence systems

Lessons from COVID-19 for GCR governance: a research agenda [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]

The Lessons from Covid-19 Research Agenda offers a structure to study the COVID-19 pandemic and the pandemic response from a Global Catastrophic Risk (GCR) perspective. The agenda sets out the aims of our study, which is to investigate the key decisions and actions (or failures to decide or to act) that significantly altered the course of the pandemic, with the aim of improving disaster preparedness and response in the future. It also asks how we can transfer these lessons to other areas of (potential) global catastrophic risk management such as extreme climate change, radical loss of biodiversity and the governance of extreme risks posed by new technologies. Our study aims to identify key moments- ‘inflection points’- that significantly shaped the catastrophic trajectory of COVID-19. To that end this Research Agenda has identified four broad clusters where such inflection points are likely to exist: pandemic preparedness, early action, vaccines and non-pharmaceutical interventions. The aim is to drill down into each of these clusters to ascertain whether and how the course of the pandemic might have gone differently, both at the national and the global level, using counterfactual analysis. Four aspects are used to assess candidate inflection points within each cluster: 1. the information available at the time; 2. the decision-making processes used; 3. the capacity and ability to implement different courses of action, and 4. the communication of information and decisions to different publics. The Research Agenda identifies crucial questions in each cluster for all four aspects that should enable the identification of the key lessons from COVID-19 and the pandemic response

Inflammation-Induced Oxidative Stress Mediates Gene Fusion Formation in Prostate Cancer.

Approximately 50% of prostate cancers are associated with gene fusions of the androgen-regulated gene TMPRSS2 to the oncogenic erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor ERG. The three-dimensional proximity of TMPRSS2 and ERG genes, in combination with DNA breaks, facilitates the formation of TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusions. However, the origins of DNA breaks that underlie gene fusion formation in prostate cancers are far from clear. We demonstrate a role for inflammation-induced oxidative stress in the formation of DNA breaks leading to recurrent TMPRSS2-ERG gene fusions. The transcriptional status and epigenetic features of the target genes influence this effect. Importantly, inflammation-induced de novo genomic rearrangements are blocked by homologous recombination (HR) and promoted by non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) pathways. In conjunction with the association of proliferative inflammatory atrophy (PIA) with human prostate cancer, our results support a working model in which recurrent genomic rearrangements induced by inflammatory stimuli lead to the development of prostate cancer

The non-coding transcriptome as a dynamic regulator of cancer metastasis.

Since the discovery of microRNAs, non-coding RNAs (NC-RNAs) have increasingly attracted the attention of cancer investigators. Two classes of NC-RNAs are emerging as putative metastasis-related genes: long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs). LncRNAs orchestrate metastatic progression through several mechanisms, including the interaction with epigenetic effectors, splicing control and generation of microRNA-like molecules. In contrast, snoRNAs have been long considered "housekeeping" genes with no relevant function in cancer. However, recent evidence challenges this assumption, indicating that some snoRNAs are deregulated in cancer cells and may play a specific role in metastasis. Interestingly, snoRNAs and lncRNAs share several mechanisms of action, and might synergize with protein-coding genes to generate a specific cellular phenotype. This evidence suggests that the current paradigm of metastatic progression is incomplete. We propose that NC-RNAs are organized in complex interactive networks which orchestrate cellular phenotypic plasticity. Since plasticity is critical for cancer cell metastasis, we suggest that a molecular interactome composed by both NC-RNAs and proteins orchestrates cancer metastasis. Interestingly, expression of lncRNAs and snoRNAs can be detected in biological fluids, making them potentially useful biomarkers. NC-RNA expression profiles in human neoplasms have been associated with patients' prognosis. SnoRNA and lncRNA silencing in pre-clinical models leads to cancer cell death and/or metastasis prevention, suggesting they can be investigated as novel therapeutic targets. Based on the literature to date, we critically discuss how the NC-RNA interactome can be explored and manipulated to generate more effective diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic strategies for metastatic neoplasms

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570