Search results for "Computer programming"
showing 10 items of 741 documents
Disease–Genes Must Guide Data Source Integration in the Gene Prioritization Process
2019
One of the main issues in detecting the genes involved in the etiology of genetic human diseases is the integration of different types of available functional relationships between genes. Numerous approaches exploited the complementary evidence coded in heterogeneous sources of data to prioritize disease-genes, such as functional profiles or expression quantitative trait loci, but none of them to our knowledge posed the scarcity of known disease-genes as a feature of their integration methodology. Nevertheless, in contexts where data are unbalanced, that is, where one class is largely under-represented, imbalance-unaware approaches may suffer a strong decrease in performance. We claim that …
Human Leukocyte Antigens Class II Alleles Affecting the Response to 5–7 Year Antiretroviral Therapy in A Latvian Cohort
2019
Abstract Antiretroviral therapy (ART) aims at suppressing viral replication and strengthening immune system in patients with HIV-1. Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) are among factors responsible for effectiveness of ART. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of HLA Class II alleles on the response to long-time ART, assessed by a change in CD4+ T-cell count in relation to viral load. The sample included 69 patients (17 females and 52 males) aged 20 to 50 with HIV-1 infection, who were undergoing ART in the Latvian Centre of Infectious Diseases. The median period of observation was 5.7 years. CD4+ T-cell count and viral load were analysed at the baseline and end of the period of obs…
Cardenolides: Insights from chemical structure and pharmacological utility
2019
Cardiac glycosides (CGs) are a class of naturally occurring steroid-like compounds, and members of this class have been in clinical use for more than 1500 years. They have been used in folk medicine as arrow poisons, abortifacients, heart tonics, emetics, and diuretics as well as in other applications. The major use of CGs today is based on their ability to inhibit the membrane-bound Na
Induction of skeletal abnormalities and autophagy in Paracentrotus lividus sea urchin embryos exposed to gadolinium.
2017
Abstract Gadolinium (Gd) concentration is constantly increasing in the aquatic environment, becoming an emergent environmental pollutant. We investigated the effects of Gd on Paracentrotus lividus sea urchin embryos, focusing on skeletogenesis and autophagy. We observed a delay of biomineral deposition at 24 hours post fertilization (hpf), and a strong impairment of skeleton growth at 48 hpf, frequently displayed by an asymmetrical pattern. Skeleton growth was found partially resumed in recovery experiments. The mesodermal cells designated to biomineralization were found correctly migrated at 24 hpf, but not at 48 hpf. Western blot analysis showed an increase of the LC3-II autophagic marker…
Advanced fluorescence technologies help to resolve long-standing questions about microbial vitality
2012
International audience; Advances in fundamental physical and optical principles applied to novel fluorescence methods are currently resulting in rapid progress in cell biology and physiology. Instrumentation devised in pioneering laboratories is becoming commercially available, and study findings are now becoming accessible. The first results have concerned mainly higher eukaryotic cells but many more developments can be expected, especially in microbiology. Until now, some important problems of cell physiology have been difficult to investigate due to interactions between probes and cells, excretion of probes from cells and the inability to make in situ observations deep within the cell, w…
Main Steps in Image Processing and Quantification: The Analysis Workflow
2019
In the last decades, the variety of programs, algorithms, and strategies that researchers have at their disposal to process and analyze image files has grown extensively. However, these are only pointless tools if not applied with the careful planning required to achieve a succesful image analysis. In order to do so, the analyst must establish a meaningful and effective sequence of orderly operations that is able to (1) overcome all the problems derived from the image manipulation and (2) successfully resolve the question that was originally posed. In this chapter, the authors suggest a set of strategies and present a reflection on the main milestones that compose the image processing workf…
Special education without teaching assistants? : The development process for students with autism
2020
Many children may need the help of another person to attend school. It is common for children with disabilities to receive help from a teaching assistant at school. Assistants are provided in many countries as a legal right and are often publicly funded. It is also widely assumed that having teaching assistants in the class is an effective and cost-efficient way to support students with disabilities. In this study, the research task was to monitor and document the development process carried out by the teacher, with the aim of making visible the development of a more dynamic classroom interaction. The focus in this development process was the teacher’s idea of minimizing the conta…
A reflection on the translation of sex-related language in audio-visual texts: the Spanish version of J.K. Rowling’sThe Casual Vacancy
2018
Studies on the way sex-related language has been approached in audio-visual translation are still rather limited. This article documents the range of solutions given in Spanish to the sex-related l...
Reducing disruptive behaviours and improving classroom behavioural climate with class-wide positive behaviour support in middle schools
2017
Disruptive behaviour in classrooms is a significant challenge for learning in schools and a risk factor for students’ academic achievement and a significant source of teachers’ work-related stress. Earlier research shows that clear behavioural expectations, monitoring students’ adherence to them and behaviour-specific praise are effective practices to reduce disruptive behaviour. Although behaviour problems are common in middle schools, most of the interventions have been developed and studied in elementary schools. This randomised study evaluated the effects of a class-wide intervention on classroom behavioural climate and disruptive behaviour, on teacher-experienced stress and on the time…
Relative Reachability Analysis as a Tool for Urban Mobility Planning
2019
There is a plethora of user-oriented route planning applications and systems that enable the computation of the fastest journey between two locations using different transportation modes, e.g., car, public transport, walking, bicycle. While useful for individuals, they are of limited interest to a class of users that may be interested in a more global and comparative view of transportation systems in general. In this context, we adopt the view of an urban planner. Urban planners may be interested in queries such as "if a new transit stop was to be introduced in a given location, would that bring the travel time to a given point-of-interest (POI) or area-of-interest (AOI) by bus closer to th…