Search results for: pose and spontaneous facial expression

Authors: Sehmus Aslan, Sibel Karacaoglu, Cengiz Sevgin, Ummuhan Bas Aslan

Abstract:

Objective: Anger expression style is an important moderator of the effects on the person and person’s environment. Anger and anger expression have become important constructs in identifying individuals at high risk for psychological difficulties. To our knowledge, there is no information about anger and anger expression of adolescents with visual impairment. The aim of this study was to compare anger and anger expression among adolescents with and without visual impairment. Methods: Thirty-eight adolescents with visual impairment (18 female, 20 male) and 44 adolescents without visual impairment (22 female, 24 male), in totally 84 adolescents aged between 12 to 15 years, participated in the study. Anger and anger expression of the participants assessed with The State-Trait Anger Scale (STAS). STAS, a self-report questionnaire, is designed to measure the experience and expression of anger. STAS has four subtitles including continuous anger, anger in, anger out and anger control. Reliability and validity of the STAS have been well established among adolescents. Mann-Whitney U Test was used for statistical analysis. Results: No significant differences were found in the scores of continuous anger and anger out between adolescents with and without visual impairment (p < 0.05). On the other hand, there were differences in scores of anger control and anger in between adolescents with and without visual impairment (p>0.05). The score of anger control in adolescents with visual impairment were higher compared with adolescents without visual impairment. Meanwhile, the adolescents with visual impairment had lower score for anger in compared with adolescents without visual impairment. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that there is no difference in anger level among adolescents with and without visual impairment meanwhile there is difference in anger expression.

Keywords: adolescent, anger, impaired, visual

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: Lee A. Browne, K. Rumbold

Abstract:

The first fluorinating enzyme, 5'-fluoro-5'-deoxyadenosine synthase (fluorinase) was isolated from the soil bacterium Streptomyces cattleya. Such an enzyme, with the ability to catalyze a C-F bond, presents great potential as a biocatalyst. Naturally fluorinated compounds are extremely rare in nature. As a result, the number of fluorinases identified remains relatively few. The field of fluorination is almost completely synthetic. However, with the increasing demand for fluorinated organic compounds of commercial value in the agrochemical, pharmaceutical and materials industries, it has become necessary to utilize biologically based methods such as biocatalysts. A key step in this crucial process is the large-scale production of the fluorinase enzyme in considerable quantities for industrial applications. Thus, this study aimed to optimize expression of the fluorinase enzyme in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic expression systems in order to obtain high protein yields. The fluorinase gene was cloned into the pET 41b(+) and pPinkα-HC vectors and used to transform the expression hosts, E.coli BL21(DE3) and Pichia pastoris (PichiaPink™ strains) respectively. Expression trials were conducted to select optimal conditions for expression in both expression systems. Fluorinase catalyses a reaction between S-adenosyl-L-Methionine (SAM) and fluoride ion to produce 5'-fluorodeoxyadenosine (5'FDA) and L-Methionine. The activity of the enzyme was determined using HPLC by measuring the product of the reaction 5'FDA. A gradient mobile phase of 95:5 v/v 50mM potassium phosphate buffer to a final mobile phase containing 80:20 v/v 50mM potassium phosphate buffer and acetonitrile were used. This resulted in the complete separation of SAM and 5’-FDA which eluted at 1.3 minutes and 3.4 minutes respectively. This proved that the fluorinase enzyme was active. Optimising expression of the fluorinase enzyme was successful in both E.coli and PichiaPink™ where high expression levels in both expression systems were achieved. Protein production will be scaled up in PichiaPink™ using fermentation to achieve large-scale protein production. High level expression of protein is essential in biocatalysis for the availability of enzymes for industrial applications.

Keywords: biocatalyst, expression, fluorinase, PichiaPink™

Procedia PDF Downloads 523

Authors: Samina Jam Nazeer Ahmad, Samia Yasin, Ijaz Ahmad, Muhammad Tahir, Jam Nazeer Ahmad

Abstract:

Phytoplasmas are phloem-inhibited plant pathogenic bacteria that are transferred by insect vectors. Among biotic factors, Phytoplasma infection induces abnormality influencing the physiology as well as morphology of plants. In 16Sr-IX group phytoplasma-infected brassica compestris, flower abnormalities have been associated with changes in the expression of floral development genes. To determine whether methylation was involved in down-regulation of flower development, the process of DNA methylation and Demethylation was investigated as a possible mechanism for regulation of floral gene expression in phytoplasma infected Brassica transmitted by Orosious orientalis vector by using RT-PCR, MSRE-PCR, Southern blotting, Bisulfite Sequencing, etc. Transcriptional expression of methylated genes was found to be globally down-regulated in plants infected with phytoplasma, but not severely in those infested by insect vectors and variation in expression was found in genes involved in methylation. These results also showed that genes particularly orthologous to Arabidopsis APETALA3 involved in petal formation and flower development was down-regulated severely in phytoplasma-infected brassica and with the fact that phytoplasma and insect induce variation in developmental gene expression. The DNA methylation status of flower developmental gene in phytoplasma infected plants with 5-azacytidine restored gene expression strongly suggesting that DNA methylation was involved in down-regulation of floral development genes in phytoplasma infected brassica.

Keywords: genes expression, phytoplasma, DNA methylation, flower development

Procedia PDF Downloads 338

Authors: Ishani Majumdar, Jaishree Paul

Abstract:

Introduction: Ulcerative Colitis (UC) is an inflammatory disease of the colon resulting from an autoimmune response towards individual’s own microbiota. Excessive inflammation is characterized by hyper-activation of NFkB, a transcription factor regulating expression of various pro-inflammatory genes. The ubiquitin editing complex consisting of TNFAIP3, ITCH, RNF11 and TAX1BP1 maintains homeostatic levels of active NFkB through feedback inhibition and assembles in response to various stimuli that activate NFkB. TNFAIP3 deubiquitinates key signaling molecules involved in NFkB activation pathway. ITCH, RNF11 and TAX1BP1 provide substrate specificity, acting as adaptors for TNFAIP3 function. Aim: This study aimed to find expression of members of the ubiquitin editing complex at the transcript level in inflamed colon tissues of UC patients. Materials and Methods: Colonic biopsy samples were collected from 30 UC patients recruited at Department of Gastroenterology, AIIMS (New Delhi). Control group (n= 10) consisted of individuals undergoing examination for functional disorders. Real Time PCR was used to determine relative expression with GAPDH as housekeeping gene. Results: Expression of members of the ubiquitin editing complex was significantly altered during active disease. Expression of TNFAIP3 was upregulated while concomitant decrease in expression of ITCH, RNF11, TAX1BP1 was seen in UC patients. Discussion: This study reveals that increase in expression of TNFAIP3 was unable to control inflammation during active UC. Further, insufficient upregulation of ITCH, RNF11, TAX1BP1 may limit the formation of the ubiquitin complex and contribute to pathogenesis of UC.

Keywords: altered expression, inflammation, ubiquitin editing complex, ulcerative colitis

Procedia PDF Downloads 231

Authors: Sheena Christabel Pravin, M. Palanivelan

Abstract:

Speech disfluencies are common in spontaneous speech. The primary purpose of this study was to distinguish linguistic disfluencies from stuttering disfluencies in bilingual Tamil–English (TE) speaking children. The secondary purpose was to determine whether their disfluencies are mediated by native language dominance and/or on an early onset of developmental stuttering at childhood. A detailed study was carried out to identify the prosodic and acoustic features that uniquely represent the disfluent regions of speech. This paper focuses on statistical modeling of repetitions, prolongations, pauses and interjections in the speech corpus encompassing bilingual spontaneous utterances from school going children – English and Tamil. Two classifiers including Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and the Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), which is a class of feed-forward artificial neural network, were compared in the classification of disfluencies. The results of the classifiers document the patterns of disfluency in spontaneous speech samples of school-aged children to distinguish between Children Who Stutter (CWS) and Children with Language Impairment CLI). The ability of the models in classifying the disfluencies was measured in terms of F-measure, Recall, and Precision.

Keywords: bi-lingual, children who stutter, children with language impairment, hidden markov models, multi-layer perceptron, linguistic disfluencies, stuttering disfluencies

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Cuili Yang, Chengcao Sun, Ruilin Xue, Yongyong Xi, Liang Wang, Dejia Li

Abstract:

Backgrounds: Previous studies showed that Sirt1 plays an important role in C2C12 myoblast cell proliferation, but the mechanism(s) involved in this process remains unclear. This work was undertaken to determine if Myostatin participates in the regulation of C2C12 proliferation by Sirt1. Methods: We administrated the Sirt1 activator resveratrol, inhibitor Nicotinamide (NAM) and Myostatin inhibitor SB431542 on C2C12 myoblast cells. Cell viability was evaluated by CCK8 assay. The expression of Sirt1 and MyoD were detected by qRT-PCR. Utilizing western blot to determinate the expression of myostatin, P107 and p-P107. Results: Our results showed that resveratrol promoted the proliferation of C2C12 myoblast cells, while NAM suppressed the proliferation of C2C12 myoblast cells; SB431542 promoted the proliferation of C2C12 myoblast cells and attenuated the inhibition effect of NAM on C2C12 myoblast cells proliferation; Resveratrol can significantly increase the expression of Sirt1 and MyoD, decrease the expression of Myostatin, while NAM can significantly down-regulate the expression of Sirt1, MyoD and the phosphorylation of P107(p-P107), but up-regulate the expression of Myostatin and the protein P107; SB431542 can significantly mitigate the effect of NAM on the expression of MyoD, P107, and p-P107. Conclusions: Taken together, these results indicate that Sirt1 promotes the proliferation of C2C12 myoblast cells via Myostatin signaling pathway.

Keywords: Sirt1, C2C12 cells, proliferation, myostatin signaling pathway

Procedia PDF Downloads 425

Authors: Stefania Arguelles Reyes, Octavio José Salcedo Parra, Alberto Acosta López

Abstract:

This paper presents a web application for the improvement of images through recognition. The web application is based on the analysis of picture-based recognition methods that allow an improvement on the physical appearance of people posting in social networks. The basis relies on the study of tools that can correct or improve some features of the face, with the help of a wide collection of user images taken as reference to build a facial profile. Automatic facial profiling can be achieved with a deeper study of the Object Detection Library. It was possible to improve the initial images with the help of MATLAB and its filtering functions. The user can have a direct interaction with the program and manually adjust his preferences.

Keywords: Matlab, make up, recognition methods, web application

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Salman Akrokayan

Abstract:

Synthetic cDNA (ScDNA) of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) was constructed using a DNA synthesizer with the aim to increase its expression level. 5' end of the ScDNA of G-CSF coding region was modified by decreasing the GC content without altering the predicted amino acids sequence. The identity of the resulting protein from ScDNA was confirmed by the highly specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In conclusion, a synthetic G-CSF cDNA in combination with the recombinant DNA protocol offers a rapid and reliable strategy for synthesizing the target protein. However, the commercial utilization of this methodology requires rigorous validation and quality control.

Keywords: synthetic cDNA, recombinant G-CSF, cloning, gene expression

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Sheng-Hui Lan, Shan-Ying Wu, Shu-Ching Lin, Wei-Chen Wang, Hsiao-Sheng Liu

Abstract:

Autophagy is an essential mechanism to maintain cellular homeostasis through its degradation function, and the autophagy deficiency is related various diseases including tumorigenesis in several cancers. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small none coding RNAs, which regulate gene expression through degradation of mRNA or inhibition of translation. However, the relationship between autophagy deficiency and dysregulated miRNAs is still unclear. We revealed a mechanism that autophagy up-regulates miR-449a expression at the transcriptional level through activation of forkhead transcription factor family member FoxO1 and then suppresses tumorigenesis in CRC. Our data showed that the autophagic activity and miR-449a expression were lower in colorectal cancer (CRC) and has a positive correlation. We further reveal that autophagy degrades p300 expression and then suppresses acetylation of FoxO1. Under autophagic induction conditions, FoxO1 is transported from the cytoplasm to the nucleus and binds to the miR-449a promoter and then promotes miR-449a expression. In addition, either miR-449a overexpression or amiodarone-induced autophagy inhibits cell cycle progression, proliferation, colony formation migration, invasion, and tumor formation of SW480 cells. Our findings indicate that autophagy inducers may have the potential to be used for prevention and treatment of CRC through upregulation of miR-449a expression.

Keywords: autophagy, MiR-449a, FoxO1, colorectal cancer

Procedia PDF Downloads 287

Authors: Fatima Akhmedova, Simon Liao

Abstract:

One of the most critical decision points in the design of a face recognition system is the choice of an appropriate face representation. Effective feature descriptors are expected to convey sufficient, invariant and non-redundant facial information. In this work, we propose a set of Hahn moments as a new approach for feature description. Hahn moments have been widely used in image analysis due to their invariance, non-redundancy and the ability to extract features either globally and locally. To assess the applicability of Hahn moments to Face Recognition we conduct two experiments on the Olivetti Research Laboratory (ORL) database and University of Notre-Dame (UND) X1 biometric collection. Fusion of the global features along with the features from local facial regions are used as an input for the conventional k-NN classifier. The method reaches an accuracy of 93% of correctly recognized subjects for the ORL database and 94% for the UND database.

Keywords: face recognition, Hahn moments, recognition-by-parts, time-lapse

Procedia PDF Downloads 340

Authors: Alexander A. Tokmakov

Abstract:

Cell-free protein synthesis is widely used to synthesize recombinant proteins. It allows genome-scale expression of various polypeptides under strictly controlled uniform conditions. However, only a minor fraction of all proteins can be successfully expressed in the systems of protein synthesis that are currently used. The factors determining expression success are poorly understood. At present, the vast volume of data is accumulated in cell-free expression databases. It makes possible comprehensive bioinformatics analysis and identification of multiple features associated with successful cell-free expression. Here, we describe an approach aimed at identification of multiple physicochemical and structural properties of amino acid sequences associated with protein solubility and aggregation and highlight major correlations obtained using this approach. The developed method includes: categorical assessment of the protein expression data, calculation and prediction of multiple properties of expressed amino acid sequences, correlation of the individual properties with the expression scores, and evaluation of statistical significance of the observed correlations. Using this approach, we revealed a number of statistically significant correlations between calculated and predicted features of protein sequences and their amenability to cell-free expression. It was found that some of the features, such as protein pI, hydrophobicity, presence of signal sequences, etc., are mostly related to protein solubility, whereas the others, such as protein length, number of disulfide bonds, content of secondary structure, etc., affect mainly the expression propensity. We also demonstrated that amenability of polypeptide sequences to cell-free expression correlates with the presence of multiple sites of post-translational modifications. The correlations revealed in this study provide a plethora of important insights into protein folding and rationalization of protein production. The developed bioinformatics approach can be of practical use for predicting expression success and optimizing cell-free protein synthesis.

Keywords: bioinformatics analysis, cell-free protein synthesis, expression success, optimization, recombinant proteins

Procedia PDF Downloads 384

Authors: Namhyun An, Byungho Lee, Hwauk Lee, Youngmin Lee, Deuk Young Kim, Sejoon Lee

Abstract:

In this study, the Cr-doped ZnO thin films have been deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering method with different Cr-contents (1.0at.%, 2.5at.% and 12.5at.%) and their ferromagnetic properties have been characterized. All films revealed clear ferromagnetism above room temperature. However, the spontaneous magnetization of the films was observed to depend on the Cr contents in the films. Namely, the magnitude of effective magnetic moment (per each Cr ion) was exponentially decreased with increasing the Cr contents. We attributed the decreased spontaneous magnetization to the degraded crystal magnetic anisotropy. In other words, we found out that the high concentration of magnetic ions causes the lattice distortion in the magnetic ion-doped thin film, and it consequently degrades ferromagnetic channeling in the solid-state material system.

Keywords: Cr-doped ZnO, ferromagnetic properties, magnetization, sputtering, thin film

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Ali Bayram, Burak Uz, Ilhan Dolasik, Remzi Yiğiter

Abstract:

The GABARAP (GABAA-receptor-associated protein) family consists of GABARAP, GABARAPL1 (GABARAP-like 1) and GABARAPL2 (GABARAP-like 2). GABARAPL1, like GABARAP, was described to interact with both GABAA receptor and tubulin, and to be involved in intracellular GABAA receptor trafficking and promoting tubulin polymerization. In addition, GABARAPL1 is thought to be involved in various physiological (autophagosome closure, regulation of circadian rhythms) and/or pathological mechanisms (cancer, neurodegeneration). Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neuro degenerative disorder characterized with impaired cognitive functions. Disruption of the GABAergic neuro transmission as well as cholinergic and glutamatergic interactions, may also be involved in the pathogenesis of AD. GABARAPL1 presents a regulated tissue expression and is the most expressed gene among the GABARAP family members in the central nervous system. We, herein, conducted a study to investigate the GABARAPL1 mRNA expression levels in patients with AD. 50 patients with AD and 49 control patients were enrolled to the present study. Messenger RNA expression levels of GABARAPL1 were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction. GABARAPL1 mRNA expression in AD / control patients was 0,495 (95% confidence interval: 0,404-0,607), p= 0,00000002646. Reduced activity of GABARAPL1 gene might play a role, at least partly, in the pathophysiology of AD.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, GABARAPL1, mRNA expression, RT-PCR

Procedia PDF Downloads 428

Authors: M. Sunitha, B. Nithyavani, Mathew Yohannan, S. Thiruvieni Balajji, M. A. Rathi, C. Arul Raj, P. Ragavendran, V. K. Gopalkrishnan

Abstract:

Establishment of an early and reliable biomarker for ovarian carcinogenesis whose expression can be monitored through noninvasive techniques will enable early diagnosis of cancer. Carbonic anhydrases (CA) isozymes IX and XII have been suggested to play a role in oncogenic processes. In von Hippel-Lindau (VHL)-defective tumors, the cell surface transmembrane carbonic anhydrase (CA) CA XI and CA XII genes are overexpressed because of the absence of pVHL. These enzymes are involved in causing a hypoxia condition, thereby providing an environment for metastasis. Aberrant expression of the facilitative glucose transporter GLUT I is found in a wide spectrum of epithelial malignancies. Studying the mRNA expression of CA IX, CA XII and Glut I isozymes in ovarian cancer cell lines (OAW-42 and PA-1) revealed the expression of these hypoxia genes. Immunohistochemical staining of carbonic anhydrases was also performed in 40 ovarian cancer tissues. CA IX and CA XII were expressed at 540 bp and 520 bp in OAW42, PA1 in ovarian cancer cell lines. GLUT-1 was expressed at 325bp in OAW 42, PA1 genes in ovarian cancer cell lines. Immunohistochemistry revealed high to moderate levels of expression of these enzymes. The immuostaining was seen predominantly on the cell surface membrane. The study concluded that these genes CA IX, CA XII and Glut I are expressed under hypoxic condition in tumor cells. From the present results expression of CA IX, XII and Glut I may represent potential targets in ovarian cancer therapy.

Keywords: ovarian cancer, carbonic anhydrase IX, XII, Glut I, tumor markers

Procedia PDF Downloads 340

Authors: Fitria D. Ayuningtyas, Anggraini Barlian

Abstract:

Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) is one of TSD (Temperature-dependent Sex Determination, TSD) animals which sex is determined by the egg’s incubation temperature. GSD (Genotypic Sex Determination) homologous genes such as Wilms’ Tumor (Wt1) and Forkhead Box L2 (FoxL2) play a role in TSD animal sex determination process. Wt1 plays a role in both male pathway, as a transcription factor for Sf1 gene and in female pathway, as a transcription factor for Dax1. FoxL2 plays a role specifically in female sex determination, and known as transcriptional factor for Aromatase gene. Until now, research on the pattern of Wt1 and FoxL2 genes expression in C.mydas has not been conducted yet. The aim of this research is to know the pattern of Wt1 and FoxL2 genes expression in Mesonephros-Gonad (MG) complexes of Chelonia mydas embryos incubated in masculinizing temperature (MT) and feminizing temperature (FT). Eggs of C.mydas incubated in 3 different stage of TSP (Thermosensitive Period) at masculinizing temperature (26±10C, MT) and feminizing temperature (31±10C FT). Mesonefros-gonad complexes were isolated at Pre-TSP stage (FT at days 14th, MT at days 24th), TSP stage (FT at days 24th, MT at days 36th) and differentiated stage (FT at days 40th, MT at days 58th). RNA from mesonephros-gonad (MG) complexes were converted into cDNA by RT-PCR process, and the pattern of Wt1 and FoxL2 genes expression is analyzed by quantitative Real Time PCR (qPCR) method, β-actin gene is used as an internal control. The pattern of Wt1 gene expression in Pre-TSP stage was almost the same between MG complexes incubated at MT or FT, while TSP and differentiation stage, the pattern of Wt1 gene expression in MG complexes incubated at MT or FT was increased. Wt1 gene expression of MG complexes that incubated at FT was higher than at MT. There was a difference pattern between Wt1 gene expression in this research compared to the previous research in protein level. It could be assumed that the difference caused by post-transcriptional regulation mechanisms before mRNA of Wt1 gene translated into protein structure. The pattern of FoxL2 gene expression in Pre-TSP stage was almost the same between MG complexes that incubated at MT and FT, and increased in both TSP and differentiated stage. The FoxL2 gene expression in MG complexes that incubated in FT is higher than MT on TSP and differentiated stage. Based on the results of this research, it can be assumed that Wt1 and FoxL2 gene were expressed in MG complexes that incubated both at MT and FT since Pre-TSP stage. The pattern of Wt1 gene expression was increased in every stage of gonadal development, and so do the pattern of FoxL2 gene expression. Wt1 and FoxL2 gene expressions were higher in MG complexes incubated at FT than MT.

Keywords: chelonia mydas, FoxL2, gene expression, TSD, Wt1

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: Aristi Alopoudi, Sofia Beloka, Vassiliki Pliogou

Abstract:

Autism is a complex neuro-developmental disorder with a variety of difficulties in many aspects such as social interaction, communication skills and verbal communication (speech). The aim of this study was to examine the impact of therapeutic horseback riding in improving the verbal and communication skills of children diagnosed with autism during 16 sessions. The researcher examined whether the expression of speech, the use of vocabulary, semantics, pragmatics, echolalia and communication skills were influenced by the therapeutic horseback riding when we increase the frequency of the sessions. The researcher observed two subjects of primary-school aged, in a two case observation design, with autism during 16 therapeutic horseback riding sessions (one riding session per week). Compared to baseline, at the end of the 16th therapeutic session, therapeutic horseback riding increased both verbal skills such as vocabulary, semantics, pragmatics, formation of sentences and communication skills such as eye contact, greeting, participation in dialogue and spontaneous speech. It was noticeable that echolalia remained stable. Increased frequency of therapeutic horseback riding was beneficial for significant improvement in verbal and communication skills. More specifically, from the first to the last riding session there was a great increase of vocabulary, semantics, and formation of sentences. Pragmatics reached a lower level than semantics but the same as the right usage of the first person (for example, I make a hug) and echolalia used for that. A great increase of spontaneous speech was noticed. The eye contact was presented in a lower level, and there was a slow but important raise at the greeting as well as the participation in dialogue. Last but not least; this is a first study conducted in therapeutic horseback riding studying the verbal communication and communication skills in autistic children. According to the references, therapeutic horseback riding is a therapy with a variety of benefits, thus; this research made clear that in the benefits of this therapy there should be included the improvement of verbal speech and communication.

Keywords: Autism, communication skills, speech, therapeutic horseback riding

Procedia PDF Downloads 239

Authors: Debjyoti Bhakat, Indranil Mondal, Asish K. Mukhopadayay, Nabendu S. Chatterjee

Abstract:

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is one of the leading causes of diarrhea in infants and travelers in developing countries. Colonization factors play an important role in pathogenesis and are one of the main targets for Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) vaccine development. However, ETEC vaccines had poorly performed in the past, as the prevalence of colonization factors is region-dependent. There are more than 25 classical colonization factors presently known to be expressed by ETEC, although all are not expressed together. Further, there are other multiple non-classical virulence factors that are also identified. Here the presence and expression of common classical and non-classical virulence factors were studied. Further studies were done on the expression of prevalent colonization factors in different strains. For the prevalence determination, multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed, which was confirmed by simplex PCR. Quantitative RT-PCR was done to study the RNA expression of these virulence factors. Strains negative for colonization factors expression were confirmed by SDS-PAGE. Among the clinical isolates, the most prevalent toxin was est+elt, followed by est and elt, while the pattern was reversed in the control strains. There were 29% and 40% strains negative for any classical colonization factors (CF) or non-classical virulence factors (NCVF) among the clinical and control strains, respectively. Among CF positive ETEC strains, CS6 and CS21 were the prevalent ones in the clinical strains, whereas in control strains, CS6 was the predominant one. For NCVF genes, eatA was the most prevalent among the clinical isolates and etpA for control. CS6 was the most expressed CF, and eatA was the predominantly expressed NCVF for both clinical and controlled ETEC isolates. CS6 expression was more in strains having CS6 alone. Different strains express CS6 at different levels. Not all strains expressed their respective virulence factors. Understanding the prevalent colonization factor, CS6, and its nature of expression will contribute to designing an effective vaccine against ETEC in this region of the globe. The expression pattern of CS6 also will help in examining the relatedness between the ETEC subtypes.

Keywords: classical virulence factors, CS6, diarrhea, enterotoxigenic escherichia coli, expression, non-classical virulence factors

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: En Hyung Kim

Abstract:

Partial unilateral lentiginosis (PUL) is an unusual pigmentary disorder characterized by numerous lentigines grouped within an area of normal skin. Although treatment is not necessary, many patients with facial PUL seek medical help for cosmetic reasons. There is no established standard treatment for PUL. Conventional lasers may cause postinflammatory hyperpigmentation because keratinocytes are injured during the process. Also scarring, long downtime and pain are important issues. Case: A 19-year-old patient with facial PUL was treated with 1064-nm Q-Switched Neodymium-Doped Yttrium Aluminum Garnet (QS Nd:YAG) laser. The patient was treated at one-week intervals starting with a spot size of 6 mm, a fluence of 2.5 J/cm2 and a pulse rate of 10 Hz with 1-2 passes of slow sliding technique with approximately 5-15 % overlap. The fluence was elevated to 3 J/cm2 after the 4th session according to treatment response and patient tolerance. After 10 treatment sessions the lesions were remarkably improved. Discussion: Although the exact mechanism by which low fluence 1,064-nm QS Nd:YAG laser improves pigmentary lesions is unclear, the term ‘subcellular selective photothermolysis’ and ‘melanocyte apoptosis and replacement’ have been proposed. If appropriate measures are taken to monitor patient response during and after the procedure, low fluence 1064-nm QS Nd:YAG laser may achieve good cosmetic result in the treatment of PUL with a very safe and effective profile.

Keywords: laser toning, low fluence, 1064-nm Q-switched neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet laser, partial unilateral lentiginosis

Procedia PDF Downloads 206

Authors: Ki Moo Lim, Iman R. Tayibnapis

Abstract:

According to WHO estimation, 38 out of 56 million (68%) global deaths in 2012, were due to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). To avert NCD, one of the solutions is early detection of diseases. In order to do that, we developed 'U-Healthcare Mirror', which is able to measure vital sign such as heart rate (HR) and respiration rate without any physical contact and consciousness. To measure HR in the mirror, we utilized digital camera. The camera records red, green, and blue (RGB) discoloration from user's facial image sequences. We extracted blood volume pulse (BVP) from the RGB discoloration because the discoloration of the facial skin is accordance with BVP. We used blind source separation (BSS) to extract BVP from the RGB discoloration and adaptive filters for removing noises. We utilized singular value decomposition (SVD) method to implement the BSS and the adaptive filters. HR was estimated from the obtained BVP. We did experiment for HR measurement by using our method and previous method that used independent component analysis (ICA) method. We compared both of them with HR measurement from commercial oximeter. The experiment was conducted under various distance between 30~110 cm and light intensity between 5~2000 lux. For each condition, we did measurement 7 times. The estimated HR showed 2.25 bpm of mean error and 0.73 of pearson correlation coefficient. The accuracy has improved compared to previous work. The optimal distance between the mirror and user for HR measurement was 50 cm with medium light intensity, around 550 lux.

Keywords: blood volume pulse, heart rate, photoplethysmography, independent component analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 310

Authors: Kripesh Adhikari, Hamid Bouchachia, Hammadi Nait-Charif

Abstract:

Falls are one of the major causes of injury and death among elderly people aged 65 and above. A support system to identify such kind of abnormal activities have become extremely important with the increase in ageing population. Pose estimation is a challenging task and to add more to this, it is even more challenging when pose estimations are performed on challenging poses that may occur during fall. Location of the body provides a clue where the person is at the time of fall. This paper presents a vision-based tracking strategy where available joints are grouped into three different feature points depending upon the section they are located in the body. The three feature points derived from different joints combinations represents the upper region or head region, mid-region or torso and lower region or leg region. Tracking is always challenging when a motion is involved. Hence the idea is to locate the regions in the body in every frame and consider it as the tracking strategy. Grouping these joints can be beneficial to achieve a stable region for tracking. The location of the body parts provides a crucial information to distinguish normal activities from falls.

Keywords: fall detection, machine learning, deep learning, pose estimation, tracking

Procedia PDF Downloads 160

Authors: M. N. Abu Seman, L. M. Kei, M. A. Yusoff

Abstract:

Forward Osmosis (FO) polyamide thin-film composite membranes have been prepared by inter facial polymerization using commercial UF polyethersulfone as membrane support. Different inter facial polymerization times (10s, 30s and 60s) in the organic solution containing trimesoyl chloride (TMC) at constant m-phenylenediamine (MPD) concentration (2% w/v) were studied. The synthesized polyamide membranes then tested for treatment of natural organic matter (NOM) and compared to commercial Cellulose TriAcetate (CTA) membrane. It was found that membrane prepared with higher reaction time (30 s and 60 s) exhibited better membrane performance (flux and humic acid removal) over commercial CTA membrane.

Keywords: cellulose triacetate, forward osmosis, humic acid, polyamide

Procedia PDF Downloads 458

Authors: Ayat E. Ali, Christeen R. Aziz, Merna A. Helmy, Mohammed M. Malek, Sherif H. El-Gohary

Abstract:

Goal: Purpose of the project was to make a plastic surgery prediction by using pre-operative images for the plastic surgeries’ patients and to show this prediction on a screen to compare between the current case and the appearance after the surgery. Methods: To this aim, we implemented a software which used data from the internet for facial skin diseases, skin burns, pre-and post-images for plastic surgeries then the post- surgical prediction is done by using K-nearest neighbor (KNN). So we designed and fabricated a smart mirror divided into two parts a screen and a reflective mirror so patient's pre- and post-appearance will be showed at the same time. Results: We worked on some skin diseases like vitiligo, skin burns and wrinkles. We classified the three degrees of burns using KNN classifier with accuracy 60%. We also succeeded in segmenting the area of vitiligo. Our future work will include working on more skin diseases, classify them and give a prediction for the look after the surgery. Also we will go deeper into facial deformities and plastic surgeries like nose reshaping and face slim down. Conclusion: Our project will give a prediction relates strongly to the real look after surgery and decrease different diagnoses among doctors. Significance: The mirror may have broad societal appeal as it will make the distance between patient's satisfaction and the medical standards smaller.

Keywords: k-nearest neighbor (knn), face detection, vitiligo, bone deformity

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: Jagdish S. Patel, Piyush Chudasama

Abstract:

Context: Over-expression of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) plays critical role in absorption of many drug candidates which results into lower bioavailability of the drug. P-glycoprotein also over expresses in many pathological conditions like diabetes, affecting the drug therapy. Modulation of P-gp expression using inhibitors can help in designing novel formulation enhancing the bioavailability of the drug in question. Objectives: The main focus of the study was to develop advanced glycation end products (AGEs) induced P-gp over expression in Caco-2 cells. Curcumin, piperine and epigallocatechin gallate were used to evaluate their P-gp inhibitory action using combinatorial approach. Materials and methods: Methylglyoxal (MG) induced P-gp over expression was checked in Caco-2 cells using real time PCR. P-gp inhibitory effects of the phytochemicals were measured after induction with MG alone and in combination of any two compounds. Cytotoxicity of each of the phytochemical was evaluated using MTT assay. Results: Induction with MG (100mM) significantly induced the over expression of P-glycoprotein in Caco-2 cells after 24 hr. Curcumin, piperine and epigallocatechin gallate alone significantly reduced the level of P-gp within 6 hr of treatment period monitored by real time PCR. The combination of any two phytochemical also down regulated the expression of P-gp in cells. Combinations of Curcumin and epigallocatechin gallate have shown significant down regulation when compared with other two combinations. Conclusions: Combinatorial approach for down regulating the expression of P-gp, in pathological conditions like diabetes, has demonstrated promising approach for therapeutic purpose.

Keywords: p-glycoprotein, curcumin, piperine, epigallocatechin gallate, p-gp inhibition

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: Manwendra Kumar Tripathi, Subhas Ganguly

Abstract:

A few glass forming ability expressions in terms of characteristic temperatures have been proposed in the literature. Attempts have been made to correlate the expression with the critical diameter of the bulk metallic glass composition. However, with the advent of new alloys, many exceptions have been noted and reported. In the present approach, a genetic programming based code which generates an expression in terms of input variables, i.e., three characteristic temperatures viz. glass transition temperature (Tg), onset crystallization temperature (Tx) and offset temperature of melting (Tl) with maximum correlation with a critical diameter (Dmax). The expression evolved shows improved correlation with the critical diameter. In addition, the expression can be explained on the basis of time-temperature transformation curve.

Keywords: glass forming ability, genetic programming, bulk metallic glass, critical diameter

Procedia PDF Downloads 311

Authors: Hongping Lu, Kelbinur Tursun, Yaru Li, Yu Zhang, Shunai Liu, Ming Han

Abstract:

Objective: To investigate whether NS5ATP9 is involved in IL-6 mediated autophagy and the relationship between IL-6 and NS5ATP9 in liver cancer cells. Methods: 1. Detect the mRNA and protein levels of Beclin 1 after HepG2 cells were treated with or without recombinant human IL-6 protein. 2. Measure and compare of the changes of autophagy-related genes with their respective control, after IL-6 was silenced or neutralized with monoclonal antibody against human IL-6. 3. HepG2 cells were incubated with 50 ng/ml of IL-6 in the presence or absence of PDTC. The expression of NS5ATP9 was analyzed by Western blot after 48 h. 4. After NS5ATP9-silenced HepG2 cells had been treated with 50 ng/ml recombinant IL-6 protein, we detected the Beclin 1 and LC3B (LC3Ⅱ/Ⅰ) expression. 5. HepG2 cells were transfected with pNS5ATP9, si-NS5ATP9, and their respective control. Total RNA was isolated from cells and analyzed for IL-6. 6. Silence or neutralization of IL-6 in HepG2 cells which has been transfected with NS5ATP9. Beclin 1 and LC3 protein levels were analyzed by Western blot. Result: 1. After HepG2 were treated with recombinant human IL-6 protein, the expression of endogenous Beclin 1 was up-regulated at mRNA and protein level, and the conversion of endogenous LC3-I to LC3-II was also increased. These results indicated that IL-6 could induce autophagy. 2. When HepG2 cells were treated with IL-6 siRNA or monoclonal antibody against human IL-6, the expression of autophagy-related genes were decreased. 3. Exogenous human IL-6 recombinant protein up-regulated NS5ATP9 via NF-κB activation. 4. The expression of Beclin 1 and LC3B was down-regulated after IL-6 treated NS5ATP9-silenced HepG2 cells. 5. NS5ATP9 could reverse regulates IL-6 expression in HepG2 cells. 6. Silence or neutralization of IL-6 attenuates NS5ATP9-induced autophagy slightly. Conclusion: Our results implied that in HCC patients, maybe the higher level of IL-6 in the serum promoted the expression of NS5ATP9 and induced autophagy in cancer cells. And the over-expression of NS5ATP9 which induced by IL-6, in turn, increased IL-6 expression, further, promotes the IL-6/NS5ATP9-mediated autophagy and affects the progression of tumor. Therefore, NS5ATP9 silence might be a potential target for HCC therapy.

Keywords: autophagy, Hepatocellular carcinoma, IL-6, microenvironment, NS5ATP9

Procedia PDF Downloads 226

Authors: Soo Dong Cho, In-Ohk Ouh, Byeong Sul Kang, Seyeon Park, In-Soo Cho, Jae Young Song

Abstract:

An VP2 gene from the current prevalent CPV (Canine Parvovirus) strain (new CPV-2a) in the Republic of Korea was expressed in a baculovirus expression system. Genomic DNA was extracted from the isolate strain CPV-2a. The recombinant baculovirus, containing the coding sequences of VP2 with the histidine tag at the N-terminus, were generated by using the Bac-to-Bac system. For production of the recombinant VP2 proteins, SF9 cells were transfection into 6 wells. Propagation of recombinant baculoviruses and expression of the VP2 protein were performed in the Sf9 cell line maintained. The proteins were detected to Western blot anlaysis. CPV-2a VP2 was detected by Western blotting the monoclonal antibodies recognized 6x His and the band had a molecular weight of 65 KDa. We demonstrated that recombinant CPV-2a VP2 expression in baculovirus. The recombinant CPV-2a VP2 may able to development of specific diagnostic test and vaccination of against CPV2. This study provides a foundation for application of CPV2 on the development of new CPV2 subunit vaccine.

Keywords: baculovirus, canine parvovirus 2a, Dog, Korea

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: D. R. Ambika, K. R. Radhika, D. Seshachalam

Abstract:

Unconstrained authentication is an important component for personal automated systems and human-computer interfaces. Existing solutions mostly use face as the primary object of analysis. The performance of face-based systems is largely determined by the extent of deformation caused in the facial region and amount of useful information available in occluded face images. Periocular region is a useful portion of face with discriminative ability coupled with resistance to deformation. A reliable portion of periocular area is available for occluded images. The present work demonstrates that joint representation of periocular texture and periocular structure provides an effective expression and poses invariant representation. The proposed methodology provides an effective and compact description of periocular texture and shape. The method is tested over four benchmark datasets exhibiting varied acquisition conditions.

Keywords: periocular authentication, Zernike moments, LBP variance, shape and texture fusion

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Shivani Tiwari, Prathibha Karanth, B. Rajashekhar

Abstract:

Impairments of syntactic morphology are often considered central in children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). In English and related languages, deficits of tense-related grammatical morphology could serve as a clinical marker of SLI. Yet, cross-linguistic studies on SLI in the recent past suggest that the nature and severity of morphosyntactic deficits in children with SLI varies with the language being investigated. Therefore, in the present study we investigated the morphosyntactic deficits in a group of children with SLI who speak Kannada, a morphologically complex Dravidian language spoken in Indian subcontinent. A group of 15 children with SLI participated in this study. Two more groups of typical developing children (15 each) matched for language and age to children with SLI, were included as control participants. All participants were assessed for morphosyntactic comprehension and expression using standardized language test and a spontaneous speech task. Results of the study showed that children with SLI differed significantly from age-matched but not language-matched control group, on tasks of both comprehension and expression of morphosyntax. This finding is, however, in contrast with the reports of English-speaking children with SLI who are reported to be poorer than younger MLU-matched children on tasks of morphosyntax. The observed difference in impairments of morphosyntax in Kannada-speaking children with SLI from English-speaking children with SLI is explained based on the morphological richness theory. The theory predicts that children with SLI perform relatively better in morphologically rich language due to occurrence of their frequent and consistent features that mark the morphological markers. The authors, therefore, conclude that language-specific features do influence manifestation of the disorder in children with SLI.

Keywords: specific language impairment, morphosyntax, Kannada, manifestation

Procedia PDF Downloads 213

Authors: R. I. You, C. L. Ho, M. S. Dai, H. M. Hung, S. F. Yen, C. S. Chen, T. Y. Chao

Abstract:

Neutrophils are the most abundant innate immune cells to against invading microorganisms. Numerous data shown neutrophils have plasticity in response to physiological and pathological conditions. Tumor-associated neutrophils (TAN) exist in distinct types of tumor and play an important role in cancer biology. Different transcriptomic profiles of neutrophils in tumor and non-tumor samples have been identified. Several miRNAs have been recognized as regulators of gene expression in neutrophil, which may have key roles in neutrophil activation. However, the miRNAs expression patterns in TAN are not well known. To address this question, magnetic bead isolated neutrophils from tumor-bearing mice were used in this study. We analyzed production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence assay. The expression of miRNAs targeting NADPH oxidase, ROS generation and autophagy was explored using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Our data suggest that tumor environment influence neutrophil develop to differential states of activation via miRNAs regulation.

Keywords: tumor-associated neutrophil, miRNAs, neutrophil, ROS

Procedia PDF Downloads 435

Authors: Yuhua Wang, Mu Li, Jinggen Liu

Abstract:

Aim: To investigate the different effects of heroin and milk in activating the corticostriatal system that plays a critical role in reward reinforcement learning. Methods: Male SD rats were trained daily for 15 d to self-administer heroin or milk tablets in a classic runway drug self-administration model. Immunohistochemical assay was used to quantify Arc protein expression in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the dorsomedial striatum (DMS) and the ventrolateral striatum (VLS) in response to chronic self-administration of heroin or milk tablets. NMDA receptor antagonist MK801 (0.1 mg/kg) or dopamine D1 receptor antagonist SCH23390 (0.03 mg/kg) were intravenously injected at the same time as heroin was infused intravenously. Results: Runway training with heroin resulted in robust enhancement of Arc expression in the mPFC, the NAc and the DMS on d 1, 7, and 15, and in the VLS on d 1 and d 7. However, runway training with milk led to increased Arc expression in the mPFC, the NAc and the DMS only on d 7 and/or d 15 but not on d 1. Moreover, runway training with milk failed to induce increased Arc protein in the VLS. Both heroin-seeking behavior and Arc protein expression were blocked by MK801 or SCH23390 administration. Conclusion: The VLS is likely to be critically involved in drug-seeking behavior. The NMDA and D1 receptor-dependent Arc expression is important in drug-seeking behavior.

Keywords: arc, mesocorticolimbic system, drug rewarding behavior, NMDA receptor

Procedia PDF Downloads 358