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A hybrid hidden markov model for pipeline leakage detection
Get PDFIn this paper, a deep neural network hidden Markov model (DNN-HMM) is proposed to detect pipeline leakage location. A long pipeline is divided into several sections and the leakage occurs in different section that is defined as different state of hidden Markov model (HMM). The hybrid HMM, i.e., DNN-HMM, consists of a deep neural network (DNN) with multiple layers to exploit the non-linear data. The DNN is initialized by using a deep belief network (DBN). The DBN is a pre-trained model built by stacking top-down restricted Boltzmann machines (RBM) that compute the emission probabilities for theHMMinstead of Gaussian mixture model (GMM). Two comparative studies based on different numbers of states using Gaussian mixture model-hidden Markov model (GMM-HMM) and DNN-HMM are performed. The accuracy of the testing performance between detected state sequence and actual state sequence is measured by micro F1 score. The micro F1 score approaches 0.94 for GMM-HMM method and it is close to 0.95 for DNN-HMM method when the pipeline is divided into three sections. In the experiment that divides the pipeline as five sections, the micro F1 score for GMM-HMM is 0.69, while it approaches 0.96 with DNN-HMM method. The results demonstrate that the DNN-HMM can learn a better model of non-linear data and achieve better performance compared to GMM-HMM method
The Impact of Demographic and Academic Factors on the Anxiety Behaviors of Student-Athletes
Get PDFThe purpose of this investigation was to determine the predictable relationship between selected demographic factors, academic factors and the state and trait anxiety scores among student-athletes. Specifically, this empirical investigation was concerned with the predictability of the state and trait anxiety scores among student-athletes employing the following predictor variables: gender; age; ethnicity; grade point average, STAAR English I test scores, and STAAR Algebra I test scores. A correlation (regression) research design was utilized in the current investigation. One hundred seventy-eight (178) student-athletes attending a sport science Charter School were selected to participate in this investigation. Two instruments entitled the Demographic Profile Sheet and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory were used by the research to collect the data. A statistically significant linear relationship was not found between the demographic factors gender, age, ethnicity, and the state anxiety scores among student- athletes. The variables gender, age and ethnicity were not independent predictors of the sate anxiety scores among student-athletes. A linear predictable relationship was found between the demographic factors gender, age, ethnicity and the trait anxiety scores among student-athletes. Age of the student-athletes was independently related to the trait anxiety scores among student-athletes. Academic related factors of grade point average, STAAR English I test scores, and STAAR Algebra I test scores were not significantly related to the state anxiety scores among student athletes. The academic factors of grade point average, STAAR English I test scores and STAAR Algebra I test scores were not independent predictors of state anxiety scores among student-athletes. No statistically significant linear relationships were found between the academic factors of grade point average, STAAR English I test scores, STAAR Algebra I test scores, and the trait anxiety scores among student-athletes. The academic factors of grade point average, STAAR English I test scores and STAAR Algebra I test scores did not contribute independently to the trait anxiety scores among student-athletes
The Role of Bacteria Beta Glucuronidase Activity in Irinotecan-Induced Diarrhea
Get PDFChemotherapy-induced diarrhea is a common side effect but is an understudied area in cancer management. This problem is especially significant with irinotecan hydrochloride (CPT-11), a prodrug of SN-38 (7-ethyl-10-hydroxy camptothecin) used in treating metastatic colon cancer as well as other types of cancers (e.g., lung, pancreatic). It is reported that more than 80% of patients treated with irinotecan experienced diarrhea, with up to 40% experiencing severe (grade 3 and 4) diarrhea. Different anti-diarrhea medications (e.g., loperamide, octreotide, tincture of opium) have been recommended, but diarrhea is still a major concern in many patients treated with irinotecan as they do not respond well to these treatments. The disposition of irinotecan has been well studied. After being administered through intravenous infusion, irinotecan is mainly activated to SN-38 by carboxylesterase (CE) and then detoxified to SN-38 glucuronide (SN-38G) by UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) in the liver. Irinotecan and its metabolites are secreted into the intestine through biliary excretion, where SN-38G can be hydrolyzed back to SN-38 through the action of β-glucuronidase (β-GUS) produced by the intestinal bacteria. Accumulation of SN-38 in the intestinal tract then causes intestinal mucosal injury, resulting in delayed-onset diarrhea. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine the role of intestinal bacterial β-glucuronidase (β-GUS) in irinotecan-induced diarrhea.
Glucuronide hydrolysis by bacterial β-glucuronidase (β-GUS) is a well-known reaction. Typically, substrates will be incubated with fecal enzymes prepared from feces to determine bacterial β-glucuronidase (β-GUS) activity. Different methods have been reported for fecal enzyme preparation and different conditions have been used in incubating substrates with fecal enzymes. However, the method for enzyme preparation and the reaction conditions were not standardized and different conditions may affect the GUS activity. Therefore, we first used a standard GUS substrate pNPG and a natural glucuronide wogonoside as the substrate to determine how enzyme preparation procedure and reaction conditions will affect GUS activity. Mouse, rat, and human feces were tested. Fecal S9 fractions were prepared with sonication and without sonication (suspension). Different reaction conditions including, buffer pH, Mg2+ concentration, and feces collection time were tested. The relative reaction activity of pNPG, reaction rates, and reaction kinetics for wogonoside were calculated. The results showed that sonication increased total protein yield during enzyme preparation. Fresh feces showed the highest hydrolysis activities when compared to feces collected after 24hrs and after 7 days. The pH of the reaction system increased the activity in 0.69-1.32, 2.9-12.9, and 0.28-1.56 folds for mice, rats, and human at three different concentrations of wogonoside, respectively. The Vmax for wogonoside hydrolysis was 2.37±0.06, 4.48±0.11, and 5.17±0.16 μmol/min/mg and Km was 6.51±0.71, 3.04±0.34, and 0.34±0.047 μM for mouse, rat, and human, respectively. The inter-individual difference was significant (4-6 folds) using inbred rats as the model animal. Therefore, for an optimized hydrolysis reaction, sonication should be included in the preparation of the enzyme, fresh feces should be used to avoid activity loss and the buffer pH should be appropriate according to the species of the animal being used.
To determine if SN-38G hydrolysis by bacterial GUS activity can be altered, we prepared fecal enzymes using feces collected from rats at different conditions including F344 rats at different ages (4 and 10 weeks old), different breed of rats (Pirc and F344), rats before and after irinotecan administration. The results showed that GUS activity is increased after the administration of irinotecan. Younger showed higher GUS activity when compared to the older ones and the increased in GUS activity noticed in the young rats increased by two folds after administration of Irinotecan. We, therefore, suspect that age may have a synergistic effect on diarrhea induced by CPT-11. Pirc rats, a type of rat that is known for inflammation of their colon mucosa showed higher GUS activity when compared with the wildtype (F344). This might be the reason why Pirc rat have a high incidence of diarrhea when CPT-11 is administered to them.
Having determined that hydrolysis of SN-38G by bacterial GUS can be altered, we decided to see if this manipulation can result in reduced incidence of irinotecan-induced diarrhea. We established an irinotecan-induced diarrhea model using F344 rats. We used an herbal formula Xiao-Chai-Hu-Tang (XCHT) to treat the rats 3 days prior to CPT-11 injection and their fecal samples were collected for 9 days afterward. The results showed that with XCHT treatment (1.8g/kg p.o.), bacterial GUS against SN-38G hydrolysis was significantly decreased (Vmax 0.4umol/min/mg) when compared to that of the rats without XCHT treatment (Vmax 1.3umol/min/mg). In vitro study also showed that XCHT can also inhibit GUS activity. Toxicity results showed that with XCHT treatment, irinotecan-induced diarrhea was attenuated. Rats given XCHT treatment showed only grade 1 diarrhea for up to 9 days after CPT-11 injection and rats without XCHT treatment showed severe diarrhea (grade 3 and 4) by day 5 after CPT-11 injection. Therefore, it can be said that XCHT alleviates diarrhea by reducing the amount of GI microflora available to deconjugate SN-38G to SN-38
A novel precision approach to overcome the “addiction pandemic” by incorporating genetic addiction risk severity (Gars) and dopamine homeostasis restoration
No full textThis article describes a unique therapeutic precision intervention, a formulation of enkephalinase inhibitors, enkephalin, and dopamine-releasing neuronutrients, to induce dopamine homeostasis for detoxification and treatment of individuals genetically predisposed to developing reward deficiency syndrome (RDS). The formulations are based on the results of the addiction risk severity (GARS) test. Based on both neurogenetic and epigenetic evidence, the test evaluates the presence of reward genes and risk alleles. Existing evidence demonstrates that the novel genetic risk testing system can successfully stratify the potential for developing opioid use disorder (OUD) related risks or before initiating opioid analgesic therapy and RDS risk for people in recovery. In the case of opioid use disorders, long-term maintenance agonist treatments like methadone and buprenorphine may create RDS, or RDS may have been in existence, but not recognized. The test will also assess the potential for benefit from medication-assisted treatment with dopamine augmentation. RDS methodology holds a strong promise for reducing the burden of addictive disorders for individuals, their families, and society as a whole by guiding the restoration of dopamine homeostasisthrough anti-reward allostatic neuroadaptations. WC 175
Potential health benefits of zinc supplementation for the management of COVID-19 pandemic
No full textThe severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is the etiological agent for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The COVID-19 pandemic has created unimaginable and unprecedented global health crisis. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, millions of dollars have been spent, hospitalization overstretched with increasing morbidity and mortality. All these have resulted in unprecedented global economic catastrophe. Several drugs and vaccines are currently being evaluated, tested, and administered in the frantic efforts to stem the dire consequences of COVID-19 with varying degrees of successes. Zinc possesses potential health benefits against COVID-19 pandemic by improving immune response, minimizing infection and inflammation, preventing lung injury, inhibiting viral replication through the interference of the viral genome transcription, protein translation, attachment, and host infectivity. However, this review focuses on the various mechanisms of action of zinc and its supplementation as adjuvant for vaccines an effective therapeutic regimen in the management of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. Practical applications: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), has brought unprecedented untold hardship to both developing and developed countries. The global race for vaccine development against COVID-19 continues with success in sight with attendant increasing hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality. Available drugs with anti-inflammatory actions have become alternative to stem the tide of COVID-19 with attendant global financial crises. However, Zinc is known to modulate several physiological functions including intracellular signaling, enzyme function, gustation, and olfaction, as well as reproductive, skeletal, neuronal, and cardiovascular systems. Hence, achieving a significant therapeutic approach against COVID-19 could imply the use of zinc as a supplement together with available drugs and vaccines waiting for emergency authorization to win the battle of COVID-19. Together, it becomes innovative and creative to supplement zinc with currently available drugs and vaccines
Partial Anti-Synchronization in a Class of Chaotic and Hyper-Chaotic Systems
No full textThis paper investigates the partial anti-synchronization in a class of chaotic and hyper-chaotic systems. Firstly, the existence of the partial anti-synchronization for the chaotic system is proved. By a systematic method including two algorithms, all solutions of the partial anti-synchronization for a given chaotic system are then derived, and physical controllers are designed. Finally, some illustrative examples with numerical simulations are used to verify the validity and effectiveness of the theoretical results
Implicit Bias: Racism Without Racist
Get PDFImplicit bias is something that everyone has but many cannot identify within themselves. Judge Draper draws on caselaw, research, and anecdotes from her own career to demonstrate the ways that implicit bias can impede equitable and just court experiences for all. She argues for the importance of more diverse juries, implicit bias instruction early in the proceedings, and the use of Batson as remedies to counteract bias
Oral absorption and drug interaction kinetics of moxifloxacin in an animal model of weightlessness
Get PDFTo investigate the effect of simulated weightlessness on the pharmacokinetics of orally administered moxifloxacin and the antacid Maalox or the antidiarrheal Pepto-Bismol using a tail-suspended (TS) rat model of microgravity. Fasted control and TS, jugular-vein-cannulated, male Sprague-Dawley rats received either a single 5 mg/kg intravenous dose or a single 10 mg/kg oral dose of moxifloxacin alone or with a 0.625 mL/kg oral dose of Maalox or a 1.43 mL/kg oral dose of Pepto-Bismol. Plasma concentrations of moxifloxacin were measured by HPLC. Pharmacokinetic data were analyzed using WinNonlin. Simulated weightlessness had no effect on moxifloxacin disposition after intravenous administration but significantly decreased the extent of moxifloxacin oral absorption. The coadministration of moxifloxacin with Maalox to either control or TS rats caused significant reductions in the rate and extent of moxifloxacin absorption. In contrast, the coadministration of moxifloxacin with Pepto-Bismol to TS rats had no significant effect on either the rate or the extent of moxifloxacin absorption. These interactions showed dose staggering when oral administrations of Pepto-Bismol and moxifloxacin were separated by 60 min in control rats but not in TS rats. Dose staggering was more apparent after the coadministration of Maalox and moxifloxacin in TS rats
The Fight for Freedom of Two Oppressed Groups: Indian Nationalism and African American Liberation
Get PDFThis study examines the activities of two revolutionaries, one Lala Har Dayal (1884-1939) who established in the U.S. the Ghadar Party as an Indian revolutionary party against the British rule in India and the other was Huey P. Newton (1942-1989) who was a founder of the Black Panther Party which violently agitated against the longstanding chokehold of the “White” rule over the African American people. Juxtaposing the two different time periods and two different continents, which are incompatible phenomena give further understanding of what caused both such movements, regarded as aggressive resistance by their peoples to their oppressive rulers, to be effectively incapable of bringing even a modicum of freedom for their peoples from chokeholds of their respective oppressive rulers. Hardayal, came to San Francisco in 1911 to work in Berkley as a lecturer in Indian Philosophy and Sanskrit. At this time, he became a cofounder of Ghadar Party which became an Indian nationalist party. The party instructed on bomb-making and the use of explosives to the Indian nationalists in in India through publications in a newspaper, edited by Hardayal. In April 1914, upon pressure from the British government, the American Government arrested him for radical publications. But Hardayal was freed on a bail and he escaped to Europe. Later on, Har Dayal returned to Oxford and received his Ph.D. degree in 1930. Huye P. Newton (1942-1989) was born on 1942 in Monroe, Louisiana. As a child, he moved to Oakland, California, with his family. In the mid1960s, he met Bobby Seal. Both of them created the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in 1966. They created the Ten-Point Program, which demanded better housing, employment, and education. They also wanted to stop police brutality against the public. They were combative in their actions. In 1967 Newton was arrested for supposedly killing a Police officer in Oakland. In the 1970s Black Panther Party began to disintegrate because of the disputes among the members. In 1974, Newton faced more criminal charges, and he fled to Cuba. He returned to the States in 1977 and went back to UC Santa Cruz and received his Ph.D. in Social Philosophy in 1980. In August 1989, he was shot on the street of Oakland and died. The two revolutionaries were highly educated individuals and widely traveled across the world to nurture their own views about finding a means to find relief for their own people against oppressions from the ruling power. They both advocated adoption of aggressive paths to achieve freedom for their people from the hold of the oppressive ruler. Recapturing together the ultimate fates of failures met by the two aggressive revolutionary movements, led by Har Dayal and Huey P. Newton, uncover an important fact that both the rulers have European cultural origin. This European cultural origin helped these two white groups assume a culturally superior position. Both movements for freedom, lasting only briefly without bringing any significant success to its ultimate mission, developed from a longstanding popular passive movement. The aims of Ghadar Party and Black Panther Party, although differing from each other in many ways, had one very significant common link that they were fighting against the oppressors with European cultural origin The general public from both groups rejected the violent movements and adopt a passive movement against their oppressors as a way to overcome their own conceived cultural inferiority status
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