1,956 research outputs found

    Análise colaborativa de grandes conjuntos de séries temporais

    Get PDF
    The recent expansion of metrification on a daily basis has led to the production of massive quantities of data, and in many cases, these collected metrics are only useful for knowledge building when seen as a full sequence of data ordered by time, which constitutes a time series. To find and interpret meaningful behavioral patterns in time series, a multitude of analysis software tools have been developed. Many of the existing solutions use annotations to enable the curation of a knowledge base that is shared between a group of researchers over a network. However, these tools also lack appropriate mechanisms to handle a high number of concurrent requests and to properly store massive data sets and ontologies, as well as suitable representations for annotated data that are visually interpretable by humans and explorable by automated systems. The goal of the work presented in this dissertation is to iterate on existing time series analysis software and build a platform for the collaborative analysis of massive time series data sets, leveraging state-of-the-art technologies for querying, storing and displaying time series and annotations. A theoretical and domain-agnostic model was proposed to enable the implementation of a distributed, extensible, secure and high-performant architecture that handles various annotation proposals in simultaneous and avoids any data loss from overlapping contributions or unsanctioned changes. Analysts can share annotation projects with peers, restricting a set of collaborators to a smaller scope of analysis and to a limited catalog of annotation semantics. Annotations can express meaning not only over a segment of time, but also over a subset of the series that coexist in the same segment. A novel visual encoding for annotations is proposed, where annotations are rendered as arcs traced only over the affected series’ curves in order to reduce visual clutter. Moreover, the implementation of a full-stack prototype with a reactive web interface was described, directly following the proposed architectural and visualization model while applied to the HVAC domain. The performance of the prototype under different architectural approaches was benchmarked, and the interface was tested in its usability. Overall, the work described in this dissertation contributes with a more versatile, intuitive and scalable time series annotation platform that streamlines the knowledge-discovery workflow.A recente expansão de metrificação diária levou à produção de quantidades massivas de dados, e em muitos casos, estas métricas são úteis para a construção de conhecimento apenas quando vistas como uma sequência de dados ordenada por tempo, o que constitui uma série temporal. Para se encontrar padrões comportamentais significativos em séries temporais, uma grande variedade de software de análise foi desenvolvida. Muitas das soluções existentes utilizam anotações para permitir a curadoria de uma base de conhecimento que é compartilhada entre investigadores em rede. No entanto, estas ferramentas carecem de mecanismos apropriados para lidar com um elevado número de pedidos concorrentes e para armazenar conjuntos massivos de dados e ontologias, assim como também representações apropriadas para dados anotados que são visualmente interpretáveis por seres humanos e exploráveis por sistemas automatizados. O objetivo do trabalho apresentado nesta dissertação é iterar sobre o software de análise de séries temporais existente e construir uma plataforma para a análise colaborativa de grandes conjuntos de séries temporais, utilizando tecnologias estado-de-arte para pesquisar, armazenar e exibir séries temporais e anotações. Um modelo teórico e agnóstico quanto ao domínio foi proposto para permitir a implementação de uma arquitetura distribuída, extensível, segura e de alto desempenho que lida com várias propostas de anotação em simultâneo e evita quaisquer perdas de dados provenientes de contribuições sobrepostas ou alterações não-sancionadas. Os analistas podem compartilhar projetos de anotação com colegas, restringindo um conjunto de colaboradores a uma janela de análise mais pequena e a um catálogo limitado de semântica de anotação. As anotações podem exprimir significado não apenas sobre um intervalo de tempo, mas também sobre um subconjunto das séries que coexistem no mesmo intervalo. Uma nova codificação visual para anotações é proposta, onde as anotações são desenhadas como arcos traçados apenas sobre as curvas de séries afetadas de modo a reduzir o ruído visual. Para além disso, a implementação de um protótipo full-stack com uma interface reativa web foi descrita, seguindo diretamente o modelo de arquitetura e visualização proposto enquanto aplicado ao domínio AVAC. O desempenho do protótipo com diferentes decisões arquiteturais foi avaliado, e a interface foi testada quanto à sua usabilidade. Em geral, o trabalho descrito nesta dissertação contribui com uma abordagem mais versátil, intuitiva e escalável para uma plataforma de anotação sobre séries temporais que simplifica o fluxo de trabalho para a descoberta de conhecimento.Mestrado em Engenharia Informátic

    A Cost-Effective Way To Expressively Increase the Blood-Stage Antimalarial Activity of Primaquine

    Get PDF
    Funding Information: The authors thank Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal), for funding Research Units LAQV‐REQUIMTE (UIDB/50006/2020), CIQUP (UIDB/00081/2020), and GHTM (UID/Multi/04413/2013), and for project grant PTDC/BTM‐SAL/29786/2017. ATS thanks FCT and Sociedade Portuguesa de Química (SPQ, Portugal) for her doctoral grant SFRH/BD/150649/2020 Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbHInspired by previous disclosure of room-temperature ionic liquids derived from primaquine and cinnamic acids, which displayed slightly enhanced blood-stage activity compared to the parent drug, we have now combined this emblematic antimalarial with natural fatty acids. This affords surface-active ionic liquids whose liver-stage antiplasmodial activity is either retained or slightly enhanced, while revealing blood-stage antiplasmodial activity at least one order of magnitude higher than that of the parent compound. These findings open new perspectives towards the cost-effective recycling of classical drugs that are either shelved or in decline, and which is not limited to antimalarial agents.publishersversionpublishe

    Drug-Derived Surface-Active Ionic Liquids: A Cost-Effective Way To Expressively Increase the Blood-Stage Antimalarial Activity of Primaquine (ChemMedChem, (2022), 17, 5, 10.1002/cmdc.202100650)

    Get PDF
    Scheme 1 and Figure 1 in this article were incorrect. The correct ones, and their respective captions, follow: 1 Scheme (Figure presented.) Synthesis route to PQ-derived organic salts 3a–g. (i) 1a (1 molar equivalent, eq), 2a–g (1 eq), methanol (MeOH), room temperature (RT), 30 min. 1 Figure (Figure presented.) Surface tension plots and cmc determination, at 25 °C, of aqueous CTAB/SAIL mixtures: A) surface tension vs. the logarithm of total CTAB+SAIL concentration, expressed in molality; the cmc values are obtained from the intersection points of the linear fit in each system; B) cmc vs. molar fraction of 3c in mixtures with CTAB, showing the marked effect of 3c in reducing cmc.publishersversionpublishe

    Score CTo-aBCDE : um novo score preditor de sucesso nas CTOs

    Get PDF
    © 2020 Sociedade Portuguesa de Cardiologia. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Introduction: Patient selection for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in chronic total occlusions (CTOs) is crucial to procedural success. Our aim was to identify independent predictors of success in CTO PCI in order to create an accurate score. Methods: In a single-center observational registry of CTO PCI, demographic and clinical data and anatomical characteristics of coronary lesions were recorded. Linear and logistic regression analysis were used to identify predictors of success. A score to predict success was created and its accuracy was measured by receiver operating curve analysis. Results: A total of 377 interventions were performed (334 patients, age 68±11 years, 75% male). The success rate was 65% per patient and 60% per procedure. Predictors of success in univariate analysis were absence of active smoking (OR 2.02, 95% CI 1.243-3.29; p=0.005), presence of tapered stump (OR 5.2, 95% CI 2.7-10.2; p8 with high probability (95%). Conclusion: In our sample only anatomical characteristics were predictors of success. The creation of a score to predict success, with good accuracy, may enable selection of cases that can be treated by any operator, those in which a dedicated operator will be desirable, and those with an extremely low probability of success, which should be considered individually for conservative management, surgical revascularization or PCI by a team experienced in CTO.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Vaccination with a CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell epitopes-based recombinant chimeric protein derived from Leishmania infantum proteins confers protective immunity against visceral leishmaniasis.

    Get PDF
    Vaccination seems to be the best approach to control visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Resistance against infection is based on the development of a Th1 immune response characterized by the production of interferons-? (IFN-?), interleukin-12 (IL-12), granulocyte-macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), and tumor necrosis factor-? (TNF-?), among others. A number of antigens have been tested as potential targets against the disease; few of them are able to stimulate human immune cells. In the present study, 1 prediction of MHC class I and II molecules-specific epitopes in the amino acid sequences of 3 Leishmania proteins: 1 hypothetical, prohibitin, and small glutamine-rich tetratricopeptide repeat-containing proteins, was performed using bioinformatics tools, and a T-cell epitopes-based recombinant chimeric protein was constructed, synthetized and purified to be evaluated in invitro and in vivo experiments. The purified protein was tested regarding its immunogenicity in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from healthy subjects and VL patients, as well as to its immunogenicity and protective efficacy in a murine model against Leishmania infantum infection. Results showed a Th1 response based on high IFN-? and low IL-10 levels derived from in chimera-stimulated PBMCs in both healthy subjects and VL patients. In addition, chimera and/or saponin-immunized mice presented significantly lower parasite burden in distinct evaluated organs, when compared to the controls, besides higher levels of IFN-?, IL-2, IL-12, and GM-CSF, and an IgG2a isotype-based humoral response. In addition, the CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell subtypes contributed to IFN-? production in the protected animals. The results showed the immunogenicity in human cells and the protective efficacy against L. infantum in a murine model, and well indicate that this recombinant chimera can be considered as a promising strategy to be used against human disease

    Recent updates and perspectives on approaches for the development of vaccines against visceral leishmaniasis

    Full text link
    All rights reserved. Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is one of the most important tropical diseases worldwide. Although chemotherapy has been widely used to treat this disease, problems related to the development of parasite resistance and side effects associated with the compounds used have been noted. Hence, alternative approaches for VL control are desirable. Some methods, such as vector control and culling of infected dogs, are insufficiently effective, with the latter not ethically recommended. The development of vaccines to prevent VL is a feasible and desirable measure for disease control, for example, some vaccines designed to protect dogs against VL have recently been brought to market. These vaccines are based on the combination of parasite fractions or recombinant proteins with adjuvants that are able to induce cellular immune responses, however, their partial efficacy and the absence of a vaccine to protect against human leishmaniasis underline the need for characterization of new vaccine candidates. This review presents recent advances in control measures for VL based on vaccine development, describing extensively studied antigens, as well as new antigenic proteins recently identified using immuno-proteomic techniquesThis work was supported by grants from Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Nano-Biofarmacêutica, Rede Nanobiotec/Brasil-Universidade Federal de Uberlândia/CAPES, PRONEX-FAPEMIG (APQ-01019-09), FAPEMIG (CBB-APQ-00819-12 and CBB-APQ-01778-2014), and CNPq (APQ-482976/2012-8, APQ-488237/2013-0, and APQ-467640/2014-9). EAFC and LRG are recipients of the grant from CNPq. MACF is the recipient of grants from FAPEMIG/CAPE

    MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL : A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in P ortugal

    Get PDF
    Mammals are threatened worldwide, with 26% of all species being includedin the IUCN threatened categories. This overall pattern is primarily associatedwith habitat loss or degradation, and human persecution for terrestrial mam-mals, and pollution, open net fishing, climate change, and prey depletion formarine mammals. Mammals play a key role in maintaining ecosystems func-tionality and resilience, and therefore information on their distribution is cru-cial to delineate and support conservation actions. MAMMALS INPORTUGAL is a publicly available data set compiling unpublishedgeoreferenced occurrence records of 92 terrestrial, volant, and marine mam-mals in mainland Portugal and archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira thatincludes 105,026 data entries between 1873 and 2021 (72% of the data occur-ring in 2000 and 2021). The methods used to collect the data were: live obser-vations/captures (43%), sign surveys (35%), camera trapping (16%),bioacoustics surveys (4%) and radiotracking, and inquiries that represent lessthan 1% of the records. The data set includes 13 types of records: (1) burrowsjsoil moundsjtunnel, (2) capture, (3) colony, (4) dead animaljhairjskullsjjaws, (5) genetic confirmation, (6) inquiries, (7) observation of live animal (8),observation in shelters, (9) photo trappingjvideo, (10) predators dietjpelletsjpine cones/nuts, (11) scatjtrackjditch, (12) telemetry and (13) vocalizationjecholocation. The spatial uncertainty of most records ranges between 0 and100 m (76%). Rodentia (n=31,573) has the highest number of records followedby Chiroptera (n=18,857), Carnivora (n=18,594), Lagomorpha (n=17,496),Cetartiodactyla (n=11,568) and Eulipotyphla (n=7008). The data setincludes records of species classified by the IUCN as threatened(e.g.,Oryctolagus cuniculus[n=12,159],Monachus monachus[n=1,512],andLynx pardinus[n=197]). We believe that this data set may stimulate thepublication of other European countries data sets that would certainly contrib-ute to ecology and conservation-related research, and therefore assisting onthe development of more accurate and tailored conservation managementstrategies for each species. There are no copyright restrictions; please cite thisdata paper when the data are used in publications.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

    Get PDF
    Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
    corecore