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Stigma is associated with illness self-concept in individuals with concealable chronic illnesses
No full textObjectives. Previous research suggests that chronic illnesses can elicit stigma, even
when those illnesses are concealable. Such stigmatization is assumed to lead to a
stigmatized identity. Additionally, chronic illness affects one’s self-concept, as one reconstructs a sense of self with illness incorporated. However, no research has examined the interplay between stigma and self-concept in those with concealable chronic illnesses. Therefore, we investigated the extent to which experienced, anticipated, and internalized stigma are associated with illness self-concept in individuals living with concealable chronic illnesses. Furthermore, we explored if the aforementioned aspects of stigma are associated with enrichment in the self-concept in the same cohort
Proof-of-concept techniques for generating synthetic thermal facial data for training of deep learning models
No full textThermal imaging has played a dynamic role in the diversified field of consumer technology applications. To build artificially intelligent thermal imaging systems, large scale thermal datasets are required for successful convergence of complex deep learning models. In this study, we have highlighted various techniques for generating large scale synthetic facial thermal data using both public and locally gathered datasets. It includes data augmentation, synthetic data generation using StyleGAN network, and 2D to 3D image reconstruction using deep learning architectures. Training and validation accuracy of Wide ResNet CNN for binary gender recognition task is improved by 4.6% and 4.4% using original and newly generated synthetic data with an overall test accuracy of 83.33%.This synthetic thermal data study for the training of deep
learning models to perform gender classification using the
public as well locally gathered dataset acquired from prototype
thermal camera is part of the project that has received funding
from the ECSEL Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement
No 826131. The JU receives support from the European
Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and
National funding from France, Germany, Ireland (Enterprise
Ireland International Research Fund), and Italy
Novel Approaches to Probe the Activity of Deubiquitinating Enzymes
No full textUbiquitination is a highly conserved post-translational modification that regulates a
multitude of critical cellular events. This process is orchestrated by a complex
enzymatic network. Deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) are responsible for removal
of ubiquitin from its conjugates. There are over 100 DUBs expressed in eukaryotes
and several diseases are associated with their dysregulation, including cancer and
neurodegeneration. Activity-based probes (ABPs) have been developed as an
effective strategy to study DUBs.
ABPs targeting these enzymes are typically based on a ubiquitin scaffold and
incorporate an electrophilic group that reacts with an active site cysteine. These
probes have greatly enhanced the mechanistic and structural understanding of
DUBs but offer no external control over the timing of the reaction. In this work, ABPs
consisting of a monoubiquitin recognition element and warheads with reactivity
previously unexplored in the context of ABPs were designed and synthesised. The
reactivity of these novel ABPs with DUBs was examined and new labelling
strategies were developed to improve the study of these enzymes.
New electrophilic probes with fluoride reactive groups were designed and
synthesised. These probes were tested alongside previously reported electrophilic
probes and demonstrated negligible reactivity with DUBs.
Latent ubiquitin-based probes that target DUBs via a site selective, photoinitiated
thiol-ene coupling mechanism were developed. A novel labelling methodology was
developed for these alkene-functionalised probes and reactivity was demonstrated
against recombinant DUBs and endogenous DUBs within cell lysate. Specificity of
this probe labelling was confirmed using inhibitor and proteomic studies. Novel
assays to probe reversible and irreversible inhibitors for this enzyme were also
demonstrated.
In order to enhance the biocompatibility of this methodology, a milder source of UV
light was used to initiate the reaction between DUBs and the alkene-functionalised
probes. Alternative radical initiators were examined for a visible light-mediated
thiol-ene reaction. Successful labelling of recombinant DUBs was achieved in both
strategies, but visible light activation was limited by off-target reactivity in more
complex systems. The visible light-mediated thiol-ene reaction and the thiol-yne
reaction were also explored for non-templated protein conjugation, affording modest
coupling in both cases.
Overall, the novel electrophilic probes presented do not improve upon existing
probes of similar reactivity. However, the work on alkene functionalised probes
enables more finely resolved investigations of DUB activity in complex systems. In
contrast to existing cysteine reactive probes, control over the timing of the
enzyme-probe reaction is possible for the alkene functionalised probes as they are
completely inert under ambient conditions, even upon probe binding. This is
expected to help provide a better understanding of these enzymes and aid in the
study and development of novel inhibitors. The visible light-mediated thiol-ene and
thiol-yne reactions were found to have limited applications for bioconjugations
Natural convection from a triangular array of isothermal horizontal cylinders
No full textNatural convection heat transfer from three isothermally heated horizontal cylinders submerged in water in a triangular arrangement is investigated. Two configurations, named here as one over two and two over one, are characterised for three cylinder spacings ( = 2, 3 and 4 cylinder diameters) and Rayleigh number conditions ( = 2, 4 × 106 and 6 × 106). Combined local heat flux measurements and flow velocity measurements using particle image velocimetry are employed to examine the governing heat transfer mechanisms. For many cases of the one over two configuration, substantial differences from the single cylinder case are noted. The buoyant plumes generated from the two lower cylinders interact with the flow field and heat transfer around the upper cylinder, altering the local fluid velocities and temperature fields. This effect is dependent on both the inter-cylinder spacing and the Rayleigh number condition. For the two over one setup, both upper cylinders for all cases, except and = 6 × 106, behave in the same manner as a single cylinder. This is due to the competing effects of the buoyant plume rising from the lower cylinder and the restriction of flow through the gap between the two upper cylinders
Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and behavioural outcomes in the offspring: Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study
No full textBackground: The aim of this study was to examine the association between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and behavioural outcomes in offspring at five time-points. Methods: We used maternal-reported data from the Millennium Cohort Study. Data on HDP were collected when children were 9-months. Data on behavioural outcomes were collected at age 3, 5, 7, 11 and 14years using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Multivariate logistic regression analysis examined a HDP-behavioural difficulties relationship, using validated SDQ cut-off points. Multilevel models with linear splines examined the association between HDP and repeated measures of SDQ. Results: 18,274 singleton children were included in the study at baseline, Multivariate logistic regression suggested HDP was not significantly associated with SDQ domain cut-off points at ages 3, 7 and 11years. At age 5years, HDP was associated with a 40% increased odds of behavioural difficulties based on total SDQ(≥17) (OR:1.40, 95% CI:1.03,1.91). HDP was associated with a 43% increased odds of Peer Problem difficulties at age 5 (OR:1.43, 95% CI:1.10,1.86), and a 28% increased odds of Peer Problem difficulties(≥4) at age 14 (OR:1.28, 95% CI:1.02,1.61). In the linear spline model, mean SDQ score was higher at each time-point in those exposed to HDP, although did not always reach statistical significance. Limitations: Data on different classifications of HDP were unavailable; therefore, we could not examine the effect of gestational hypertension and preeclampsia separately. Conclusions: While we did not find strong evidence of associations between HDP and behavioural outcomes overall, some associations between HDP and behavioural difficulties did persist at age 5 and 14years
Audio Impairment Recognition using a Correlation-Based Feature Representation
No full textThe 2020 Twelfth International Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX), Athlone, Ireland (held online due to coronavirus outbreak), 26-28 May 2020Audio impairment recognition is based on finding noise in audio files and categorising the impairment type. Recently, significant performance improvement has been obtained thanks to the usage of advanced deep learning models. However, feature robustness is still an unresolved issue and it is one of the main reasons why we need powerful deep learning architectures. In the presence of a variety of musical styles, handcrafted features are less efficient in capturing audio degradation characteristics and they are prone to failure when recognising audio impairments and could mistakenly learn musical concepts rather than impairment types. In this paper, we propose a new representation of hand-crafted features that is based on the correlation of feature pairs. We experimentally compare the proposed correlation-based feature representation with a typical raw feature representation used in machine learning and we show superior performance in terms of compact feature dimensionality and improved computational speed in the test stage whilst achieving comparable accuracy.Science Foundation IrelandInsight Research CentreThe Engineering and Physical Sciences Research CouncilThe Alan Turing Institut
Speech Quality Factors for Traditional and Neural-Based Low Bit Rate Vocoders
No full textInternational Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX), Dublin, Ireland, 26-28 May 2020This study compares the performances of different algorithms for coding speech at low bit rates. In addition to widely deployed traditional vocoders, a selection of recently developed generative-model-based coders at different bit rates are contrasted. Performance analysis of the coded speech is evaluated for different quality aspects: accuracy of pitch periods estimation, the word error rates for automatic speech recognition, and the influence of speaker gender and coding delays. A number of performance metrics of speech samples taken from a publicly available database were compared with subjective scores. Results from subjective quality assessment do not correlate well with existing full reference speech quality metrics. The results provide valuable insights into aspects of the speech signal that will be used to develop a novel metric to accurately predict speech quality from generative-model-based coders.Science Foundation IrelandInsight Research Centr
How Crisp is the Crease? A Subjective Study on Web Browsing Perception of Above-The-Fold
No full textThe IEEE Conference on Network Softwarization (NetSoft 2020), Virtual Conference, 30 June - 3 July 2020Quality of Experience (QoE) for various types of websites has gained significant attention in recent years. In order to design and evaluate websites, a metric that can estimate a user’s experienced quality robustly for diverse content is necessary. SpeedIndex (SI) has been widely adopted to estimate perceived web page loading progress. It measures the speed of rendering pixels for the webpage that is visible in the browser window. This is termed Above-The-Fold (ATF). The influence of animated content on the perception of ATF has been less comprehensively explored. In this paper, we present an experimental design and methodology to measure ATF perceptionfor websites with and without animated elements for various pagecontent categories. We found that pages with animated elements caused people to have more varied perceptions of ATF under different network conditions. Animated content also impacts the page load estimation accuracy of SI for websites. We discuss how the difference in the perception of ATF will impact the QoE management of web applications. We explain the necessity of revisiting the visual assessment of ATF to include the animated contents and improve the robustness of metrics like SI.European Commission - European Regional Development FundScience Foundation IrelandInsight Research Centr
Assessment of the biological activity of fish muscle protein hydrolysates using in vitro model systems
No full textThe generation of biologically active fish protein hydrolysates (FPH) is a useful technique to produce value-added products with potential application in the functional food and nutraceutical industries. Fish muscle is an attractive substrate for the production of protein hydrolysates due to its rich protein content, containing 15-25% of total fish protein. This paper reviews the production of protein hydrolysates from fish muscle, most commonly via enzymatic hydrolysis, and their subsequent bioactivities including anti-obesity, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer activities as measured by in vitro testing methods. Disease prevention with FPH potentially offers a safe and natural alternative to synthetic drugs. Small molecular weight (MW) FPHs generally exhibit favourable bioactivity than large MW fractions via enhanced absorption through the gastrointestinal tract. This review also discusses the relationship between amino acid (AA) composition and AA sequence of FPH and peptides and their exhibited in vitro bioactivity
How do delirium motor subtypes differ in phenomenology and contributory aetiology? a cross-sectional, multisite study of liaison psychiatry and palliative care patients
No full textObjectives To investigate whether delirium motor subtypes differ in terms of phenomenology and contributory aetiology. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting International study incorporating data from Ireland and India across palliative care, old age liaison psychiatry and general adult liaison psychiatry settings. Participants 1757 patients diagnosed with delirium using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth edition (DSM IV). Primary and secondary outcome measures Hyperactive, mixed and hypoactive delirium subtypes were identified using the abbreviated version of the Delirium Motor Subtype Scale. Phenomenology was assessed using the Delirium Rating Scale Revised. Contributory aetiologies were assessed using the Delirium Aetiology Checklist (DEC), with a score >2 indicating that the aetiology was likely or definitely contributory. Results Hypoactive delirium was associated with dementia, cerebrovascular and systemic infection aetiologies (p<0.001) and had a lower overall burden of delirium symptoms than the other motor subtypes. Hyperactive delirium was associated with younger age, drug withdrawal and the DEC category other systemic
aetiologies (p<0.001). Mixed delirium showed the greatest symptom burden and was more often associated with drug intoxication and metabolic disturbance (p<0.001). All three delirium motor subtypes had similar levels of impairment in attention and visuospatial functioning but differed significantly when compared with no subtype (p<0.001). Conclusions This study indicates a pattern of aetiology and symptomatology of delirium motor subtypes across a large international sample that had previously been
lacking. It serves to improve our understanding of this complex condition and has implications in terms of early detection and management of delirium