Feldmanvelazquez6711

Defining important information from biological data is critical for the study of disease diagnosis, drug efficacy and individualized treatment. Hence, the feature selection technique is widely applied. Many feature selection methods measure features based on relevance, redundancy and complementarity. Feature complementarity means that two features' cooperation can provide more information than the simple summation of their individual information. In this paper, we studied the feature selection technique and proposed a new feature selection algorithm based on relevance, redundancy and complementarity (FS-RRC). On selecting the feature subset, FS-RRC not only evaluates the feature relevance with the class label and the redundancy among the features but also evaluates the feature complementarity. If complementary features exist for a selected relevant feature, FS-RRC retains the feature with the largest complementarity to the selected feature subset. To show the performance of FS-RRC, it was compared with eleven efficient feature selection methods, MIFS, mRMR, CMIM, ReliefF, FCBF, PGVNS, MCRMCR, MCRMICR, RCDFS, SAFE and SVM-RFE on two synthetic datasets and fifteen public biological datasets. The experimental results showed the superiority of FS-RRC in accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, stability and time complexity. Hence, integrating feature individual discriminative ability, redundancy and complementarity can define more powerful feature subset for biological data analysis, and feature complementarity can help to study the biomedical phenomena more accurately. Corneal and retinal imaging provide a descriptive view of the nerve and vessel structure present inside the human eye, in a non-invasive manner. This helps in ocular, or other, disease identification and diagnosis. However, analyzing these images is a laborious task and requires expertise in the field. Therefore, there is a dire need for process automation. Although a large body of literature is available for automated analysis of retinal images, research on corneal nerve image analysis has lagged due to several reasons. In this article, we cover the recent research trends in automated analysis of corneal and retinal images, highlighting the requirements for automation of corneal nerve image analysis, and the possible reasons impeding its research progress. We also present a comparative analysis of segmentation algorithms versus their processing power derived from the studies included in the survey. Due to the advancement in retinal image analysis and the implicit similarities in retinal and corneal images, we extract lessons from the former and suggest ways to apply them to the latter. selleckchem This is presented as future research directions for automatic detection of neuropathy using corneal nerve images. We believe that this article will be extremely informative for computer scientists and medical professionals alike, as the former would be informed regarding the different research problems waiting to be addressed in the field, while the latter would be enlightened to what is required from them so as to facilitate computer scientists in their path towards finding effective solutions to the problems. BACKGROUND The lack of mass transfer in microgravity might be the underlying cause of disuse osteoporosis in astronauts after long-term space flights. The osteons are cylindrical structures and are the main structural units of the diaphysis in long bones. METHODS A multi-scale 3D fluid-solid coupled finite element model of osteon with a two-stage pore structure was developed using COMSOL software in order to investigate solute transport behaviors in the lacunar-canalicular system (LCS) induced by physiological strain loading. Certain small molecules that are necessary as solutes in tissue fluid for osteocyte metabolism were simplified to micro-particles. A comparative analysis of solute transport behaviors in the LCS induced by physiological strain loading was conducted with a frequency of 0.2-2.5 Hz in microgravity and the Earth's gravitational fields. RESULTS The average velocity of solute transport in lacunae in microgravity was 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than in Earth's gravitational field. The number of particles that represented solute transport quantity in the middle and deep lacunae increased steadily with a load frequency within the Earth's gravitational field. However, it differed based on the load frequency in microgravity, with the number of particles increasing with frequencies in the range of 0.2-0.5 Hz and 0.8-2 Hz, and decreasing with frequencies in the range of 0.5-0.8 Hz. CONCLUSIONS A moving load with appropriate frequency could promote solute transport to the middle and deep lacunae, effectively preventing apoptosis of deep osteocytes due to a lack of nutrients. The results of this study provided theoretical guidance for preventing bone loss in astronauts during long-term space flights. BACKGROUND Numerous reports have described increased rates of exposure to Toxoplasma gondii levels in individuals with a history of suicide attempts in comparison with well controls, or psychiatrically ill individuals, with no suicide attempt history. Such findings suggest that the behavioral effects this parasite exerts on rodent hosts extends to humans though few studies have searched for underlying mechanisms. METHODS The present study compared 96 patients with an active depressive disorder and a history of at least two suicide attempts to 126 depressed patients with no history of suicide attempts by IgG and IgM levels of Toxoplasma gondii and cytomegalovirus (CMV). The groups were also compared by IL_1b, TNF-alpha, CRP, IL_6, and IL_1ra titers. RESULTS Toxoplasma gondii IgM levels were higher, and seropositivity more likely, in the suicide attempt group. CMV IgG levels were also higher among suicide attempters. Several of these immunoglobulin measures were more robustly associated with the number of suicide attempts than with the dichotomy of suicide attempter and non-attempter. These two antibody levels were also additive in their association with suicide attempter status. IL_1a levels were lower in suicide attempters and correlated negatively with levels of antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii and CMV. LIMITATIONS These include a sample size insufficient to explore differences across mood disorder diagnoses or demographic groupings. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that exposure to common infectious agents such as Toxoplasma gondii and CMV are associated with increased risk of suicide attempts but the mechanism of association does not appear to involve the activation of cytokines. Elucidation of the mechanisms which define the relationship between infections and suicide attempts may lead to new methods for the prediction and prevention of suicide attempts. V.BACKGROUND The introduction of an adult onset Separation Anxiety Disorder in the DSM-V recognises that separation anxiety can occur at any stage across the lifespan. In this paper, we examine whether adult separation anxiety, which is known to occur when people are apart from other people close to them, can also develop when people are separated from animal companions. The social and individual psychological correlates of this reported phenomenon are examined. METHODS Participants (N = 313, aged 18-76, M = 41.89 years), completed demographic information and questionnaires measuring separation anxiety from companion animals and humans, attachment towards companion animals and humans, and social support. RESULTS Significant positive relationships were observed between separation anxiety from humans, people substitution and separation anxiety from animals. Participants with greater separation anxiety from animals also reported less social support and greater attachment anxiety involving humans. People substitution was also positively related to greater animal-related separation anxiety. Associations were generally weaker when cats were identified as the principal companion animal. Participants without children reported significantly less attachment-related avoidance (human); less perceived social support; greater people substitution; and, greater separation anxiety towards companion animals. Separation anxiety from humans, attachment avoidance, and attachment anxiety accounted for 41% of variance in separation anxiety from animals. LIMITATIONS The correlational design does not allow the investigation of causal associations. CONCLUSIONS A strong, positive relationship was observed between human-related separation anxiety and animal-related separation anxiety, which was significantly stronger for people with lower levels of social support. link2 V.BACKGROUND Psychological treatments play a significant role in managing depressive symptoms. However, little is known about the most effective psychological treatments for depressive symptoms for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). AIMS To identify effective psychological treatments to manage depressive symptoms for adult PLWHA in LMICs and to estimate pooled effect sizes using a meta-analysis. link3 METHOD Four databases were searched using key words and MeSH terms - PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane library and PsychINFO. The inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that examine psychological treatments that target depressive symptoms for adult PLWHA in LMICs. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the risk of bias. A meta-analysis was done using RevMan-5. RESULT Nineteen studies were included in the systematic review and 14 of them were selected for meta-analysis. Eight (42%) of the trials used cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Pooled effect size of trials that used continuous outcomes was -0.61 (n = 12, 95%CI -1.24, 0.02, I2 = 95%) at post-treatment assessment. The pooled effect size changed to -1.41 (n = 8, 95%CI -2.54, -0.28, I2 = 98%) at six months post treatment. LIMITATIONS Studies varied in quality from low to high risk of bias and there was high heterogeneity across studies. CONCLUSION Trials used group support psychotherapy, interpersonal therapy, problem-solving therapy, and peer-support counselling were effective in reducing depressive symptoms. However, better powered studies with more consistent methodologies are needed to investigate whether specific therapies delivered by lay counsellors are effective for PLWHA in LMICs. BACKGROUND Psychosis is common in bipolar disorder (BD) and is related to more severe cognitive impairments. Since the molecular mechanism of BD psychosis is elusive, we conducted this study to explore the proteomic differences associated with BD psychosis in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC; BA9). METHODS Postmortem DLPFC gray matter tissues from five pairs of age-matched male BD subjects with and without psychosis history were used. Tissue proteomes were identified and quantified by label-free liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and then compared between groups. Statistical significance was set at q  less then  0.40 and Log2 fold change (Log2FC) ≥ |1|. Protein groups with differential expression between groups at p  less then  0.05 were subjected to pathway analysis. RESULTS Eleven protein groups differed significantly between groups, including the reduction of tenascin C (q = 0.005, Log2FC = -1.78), the elevations of synaptoporin (q = 0.235, Log2FC = 1.17) and brain-specific angiogenesis inhibitor 1-associated protein 3 (q = 0.