Multiresolution wavelet analysis of event-related EEG potentials using ensemble of classifier data fusion techniques for early diagnosis of Alzheimer\u27s disease

The recent advances and knowledge in medicine and nutrition have greatly improved our average life expectancy. An unfortunate consequence of this longer life span, however, is a dramatic increase in the number of individuals suffering from dementia, and more specifically, from Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). Furthermore, AD remains under-diagnosed and under-treated until its more severe stages due to lack of standard diagnostic tools available to community clinics. A search for biomarkers that will allow early diagnosis of the disease is therefore necessary to develop effective medical treatments. Such a biomarker should be non-invasive, simple to obtain, safe, inexpensive, accurate, and most importantly, must be made available to local health clinics for maximum effectiveness. Event related potentials (ERPs) of the electroencephalogram have the potential to become such a diagnostic biomarker for AD. This work investigates the use of ERP signals for the early detection of AD. The analysis of the ERP signals is accomplished through multiresolution wavelet decomposition, producing time-frequency features in successive spectral bands. In previous studies, these feature sets were concatenated and used as inputs to a neural network classifier. This contribution investigates training an ensemble of classifiers on each feature set separately, and combining the ensemble decisions in a data fusion setting. Comparisons of intra-signal and inter-signal ensemble combinations are presented in along with the benefits of using an ensemble of classifiers in data fusion

A set of ontologies to drive tools for the control of vector-borne diseases

We are developing a set of ontologies that deal with vector-borne diseases and the arthropod vectors that transmit them. For practical reasons (application priorities), we initiated this project with an ontology of insecticide resistance followed by a series of ontologies that describe malaria as well as physiological processes of mosquitoes that are relevant to, and involved in, disease transmission. These will be expanded to encompass other vector-borne diseases as well as non-mosquito vectors. The aim of the whole undertaking, which is worked out in the frame of the international IDO (Infectious Disease Ontology) project, is to provide the community with a set of ontological tools that can be used both in the development of specific databases and, most importantly, in the construction of decision support systems to control these diseases

MIRO and IRbase: IT Tools for the Epidemiological Monitoring of Insecticide Resistance in Mosquito Disease Vectors

It is a historical fact that a successful campaign against vector populations is one of the prerequisites for effectively fighting and eventually eradicating arthropod-borne diseases, be that in an epidemic or, even more so, in endemic cases. Based mostly on the use of insecticides and environmental management, vector control is now increasingly hampered by the occurrence of insecticide resistance that manifests itself, and spreads rapidly, briefly after the introduction of a (novel) chemical substance. We make use here of a specially built ontology, MIRO, to drive a new database, IRbase, dedicated to storing data on the occurrence of insecticide resistance in mosquito populations worldwide. The ontological approach to the design of databases offers the great advantage that these can be searched in an efficient way. Moreover, it also provides for an increased interoperability of present and future epidemiological tools. IRbase is now being populated by both older data from the literature and data recently collected from field

Ο ΛΟΓΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΣΤΗΝ ΨΗΦΙΑΚΗ ΕΠΟΧΗ. Μια νέα πρόκληση για την Ορθόδοξη Επικοινωνιακή Θεολογία. Ψηφιακή επανάσταση και Ορθόδοξη θεώρηση.

Η ραγδαία ανάπτυξη του διαδικτύου και η διείσδυσή του σε κάθε πτυχή της ζωής επηρεάζει και το χώρο της θρησκείας. Στο διαδίκτυο η θρησκευτικότητα εμφανίζεται με πολλούς τρόπους. Επίσης το διαδίκτυο παρέχει στην Εκκλησία μεγάλες δυνατότητες για την διάδοση των μηνυμάτων της. Με αυτόν τον τρόπο, το διαδίκτυο γίνεται ένα χρήσιμο μέσο μαζικής ποιμαντικής. Στην έρευνα αυτή, εκτός από την εμφάνιση των «παραδοσιακών» Εκκλησιών ή θρησκευτικών σχημάτων στο διαδίκτυο (religion online), διαπιστώθηκε και η παρουσία καινοφανών φαινομένων όπως λ.χ. των «εικονικών» διαδικτυακών ναών ή της δυνατότητας εξομολόγησης ψηφιακά (online religion). Αυτού του τύπου τα φαινόμενα οδηγούν σε πλήθος νέων κρισίμων ερωτημάτων: Είναι δυνατόν να τελούνται τα Μυστήρια διαδικτυακά; Αλλοιώνει τη θρησκευτικότητα η ανωνυμία του διαδικτύου ; Επίσης γίνεται μια συνοπτική ιστορική αναφορά στην εξέλιξη του διαδικτύου και αποκαλύπτεται πως από τα πρώτα βήματά του διαδικτύου ο όγκος των θρησκευτικών συζητήσεων υπήρξε ιδιαίτερα εκτεταμένος και αυξήθηκε εκθετικά με την πάροδο του χρόνου. Παρουσιάζονται τα χαρακτηριστικά στοιχεία του διαδικτύου (αμεσότητα της επικοινωνίας και η μείωση του κόστους επικοινωνίας). Αναλύονται τα σπουδαιότερα λειτουργικά χαρακτηριστικά του διαδικτύου και οι συνέπειες της κοινωνικής δικτύωσης. Η νέα μορφή θρησκευτικότητας σε σχέση με το διαδίκτυο δείχνει μια νέα προσέγγιση προς το υπερβατικό. Ο κυβερνοχώρος παρότι δεν είναι ένα θρησκευτικό κατασκεύασμα, αναπροσαρμόζει την παλαιά έννοια του Παραδείσου. Αναλύοντας της κουλτούρα της διαδικτυακής εποχής παρατηρούμε μεταξύ άλλων πως σήμερα χάρις στο διαδίκτυο την πληροφορία τη μοιράζονται όλοι κι όχι πια μόνο ένας εκλεκτός χώρος: το ιερατείο. Επίσης βλέπουμε πως οι άνθρωποι στοχεύουν σε μία εικονική αθανασία. Ο σύγχρονος καταναλωτισμός εισέρχεται και στο χώρο της θρησκείας και η θρησκευτικότητα της νέας εποχής ωθεί τον άνθρωπο σε απομάκρυνση από την παράδοση. Τελικά το διαδίκτυο είναι χρήσιμο εργαλείο στα χέρια της Εκκλησίας, αλλά η θρησκευτική περιπλάνηση στο διαδίκτυο χρειάζεται προσοχή. Ο μεγάλος όγκος θρησκευτικής δραστηριότητας στο διαδίκτυο δείχνει το αμείωτο ενδιαφέρον που ασκεί η θρησκεία στον άνθρωπο.The rapid growth of the internet and its penetration into every aspect of life also affects the area of religion. On the Internet, religiosity occurs in many ways. The Internet also provides the Church with great potential for the dissemination of its messages. In this way, the Internet becomes a useful mean of mass pastoralism. In this research, in addition to the emergence of "traditional" churches (religion online), the presence of novel phenomena such as virtual internet churches or online confession. (online religion). This type of phenomenon leads to a multitude of new critical questions: Is it possible for Mysteries to be done online? Does the anonymity of the Internet alter religiosity? There is also a brief historical reference to the evolution of the Internet and it is revealed that from the first steps of the Internet the volume of religious discussions has been particularly extensive and exponentially increased over time. The features of the Internet are presented (direct communication and reduced communication costs). Also, the most important functional features of the internet are analyzed as well as the implications of social networking. The new form of religiosity over the internet shows a new approach to the transcendent. Although cyberspace is not a religious construct, it adapts the old concept of Paradise. Analyzing the culture of the Internet era, we observe that today, thanks to the Internet, the information is shared by everyone, not just a chosen site: the priesthood. We also see how people are aiming at a virtual immortality. Modern consumerism also enters the field of religion and the religiosity of the new era pushes man out of tradition. Finally, the internet is a useful tool in the hands of the Church, but surfing in internet for religious issues should be careful. The vast amount of religious activity on the internet shows the interest religion has in human being

Method of Controlling Corona Effects and Breakdown Voltage of Small Air Gaps Stressed by Impulse Voltages

This paper investigates the influence of a resistor on the dielectric behavior of an air gap. The resistor is connected in series with the air gap and the latter is stressed by impulse voltage. Air gap arrangements of different geometry with either the rod or the plate grounded are stressed with impulse voltages of both positive and negative polarity. The resistor is connected in series with the air gap in the return circuit connecting the gap with the impulse generator. The method followed involves the investigation of the graphs of the charging time concerning the air gaps capacitances, in connection to the value of the resistor, the geometry of the gap, the effect of grounding and the polarity effect. It is determined that the charging time of the air gap increases, as the value of the resistor increases. It is also determined that the peak voltage value of the fully charged air gap decreases as the value of the resistor increases. The results of the mathematical and simulation analysis are compared with the results of the oscillograms taken from experimental work. In addition and consequently to the above results it is concluded from the experimental work that the in series connection of the resistor in the circuit has significant influence on corona pulses (partial discharges) occurring in the gap and on the breakdown voltage of the gap. A new method of controlling the corona effects and consequently the breakdown voltage of small air gaps stressed by impulse voltage of short duration in connection to the ground effect and the polarity effect has arisen. Furthermore through mathematical analysis of the charging graphs obtained from simulation and experimental oscillograms there was a calculation of the values of the capacitance of the air gaps in relation to their geometry and the results were compared to the values calculated with mathematical analysis.Comment: 8 pages, 14 figure

Enantioselectivity of human AMP, dTMP and UMP-CMP kinases

l-Nucleoside analogues such as lamivudine are active for treating viral infections. Like d-nucleosides, the biological activity of the l-enantiomers requires their stepwise phosphorylation by cellular or viral kinases to give the triphosphate. The enantioselectivity of NMP kinases has not been thoroughly studied, unlike that of deoxyribonucleoside kinases. We have therefore investigated the capacity of l-enantiomers of some natural (d)NMP to act as substrates for the recombinant forms of human uridylate-cytidylate kinase, thymidylate kinase and adenylate kinases 1 and 2. Both cytosolic and mitochondrial adenylate kinases were strictly enantioselective, as they phosphorylated only d-(d)AMP. l-dTMP was a substrate for thymidylate kinase, but with an efficiency 150-fold less than d-dTMP. Both l-dUMP and l-(d)CMP were phosphorylated by UMP-CMP kinase although much less efficiently than their natural counterparts. The stereopreference was conserved with the 2′-azido derivatives of dUMP and dUMP while, unexpectedly, the 2′-azido-d-dCMP was a 4-fold better substrate for UMP-CMP kinase than was CMP. Docking simulations showed that the small differences in the binding of d-(d)NMP to their respective kinases could account for the differences in interactions of the l-isomers with the enzymes. This in vitro information was then used to develop the in vivo activation pathway for l-dT

VectorBase: improvements to a bioinformatics resource for invertebrate vector genomics.

VectorBase (http://www.vectorbase.org) is a NIAID-supported bioinformatics resource for invertebrate vectors of human pathogens. It hosts data for nine genomes: mosquitoes (three Anopheles gambiae genomes, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus), tick (Ixodes scapularis), body louse (Pediculus humanus), kissing bug (Rhodnius prolixus) and tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans). Hosted data range from genomic features and expression data to population genetics and ontologies. We describe improvements and integration of new data that expand our taxonomic coverage. Releases are bi-monthly and include the delivery of preliminary data for emerging genomes. Frequent updates of the genome browser provide VectorBase users with increasing options for visualizing their own high-throughput data. One major development is a new population biology resource for storing genomic variations, insecticide resistance data and their associated metadata. It takes advantage of improved ontologies and controlled vocabularies. Combined, these new features ensure timely release of multiple types of data in the public domain while helping overcome the bottlenecks of bioinformatics and annotation by engaging with our user community

VectorBase: a data resource for invertebrate vector genomics

VectorBase (http://www.vectorbase.org) is an NIAID-funded Bioinformatic Resource Center focused on invertebrate vectors of human pathogens. VectorBase annotates and curates vector genomes providing a web accessible integrated resource for the research community. Currently, VectorBase contains genome information for three mosquito species: Aedes aegypti, Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus, a body louse Pediculus humanus and a tick species Ixodes scapularis. Since our last report VectorBase has initiated a community annotation system, a microarray and gene expression repository and controlled vocabularies for anatomy and insecticide resistance. We have continued to develop both the software infrastructure and tools for interrogating the stored data

Establishment of computational biology in Greece and Cyprus: Past, present, and future.

We review the establishment of computational biology in Greece and Cyprus from its inception to date and issue recommendations for future development. We compare output to other countries of similar geography, economy, and size—based on publication counts recorded in the literature—and predict future growth based on those counts as well as national priority areas. Our analysis may be pertinent to wider national or regional communities with challenges and opportunities emerging from the rapid expansion of the field and related industries. Our recommendations suggest a 2-fold growth margin for the 2 countries, as a realistic expectation for further expansion of the field and the development of a credible roadmap of national priorities, both in terms of research and infrastructure funding