Deep Learning-Based Artificial Intelligence to Investigate Targeted Nanoparticles’ Uptake in TNBC Cells

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer in women. It has the poorest prognosis along with limited therapeutic options. Smart nano-based carriers are emerging as promising approaches in treating TNBC due to their favourable characteristics such as specifically delivering different cargos to cancer cells. However, nanoparticles’ tumour cell uptake, and subsequent drug release, are essential factors considered during the drug development process. Contemporary qualitative analyses based on imaging are cumbersome and prone to human biases. Deep learning-based algorithms have been well-established in various healthcare settings with promising scope in drug discovery and development. In this study, the performance of five different convolutional neural network models was evaluated. In this research, we investigated two sequential models from scratch and three pre-trained models, VGG16, ResNet50, and Inception V3. These models were trained using confocal images of nanoparticle-treated cells loaded with a fluorescent anticancer agent. Comparative and cross-validation analyses were further conducted across all models to obtain more meaningful results. Our models showed high accuracy in predicting either high or low drug uptake and release into TNBC cells, indicating great translational potential into practice to aid in determining cellular uptake at the early stages of drug development in any area of research.     

Pharmaceutical wastewater treatment using membrane bioreactor‐ozonation system

The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential use of ozonation with pharmaceutical compounds on membrane bioreactor (MBR). The result has shown that high concentrations of pharmaceutical contaminants have caused destruction of cell wall, thereby reducing mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS). It also resulted in high amounts of biopolymers in the presence of non‐biodegradable pharmaceutical compound in MBR. As a result, biological removal decreased and membrane fouling happened. Ozonation treatment reached a chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal of 99.9% and caused better effluent quality. The MBR‐ozonation process could achieve an acetaminophen and fluoxetine removal of around 98.4 and 57.83%, respectively.     

Cerebellar Expression of the Neurotrophin Receptor p75 in Naked-Ataxia Mutant Mouse

Spontaneous mutation in the lysosomal acid phosphatase 2 (Acp2) mouse (nax—naked-ataxia mutant mouse) correlates with severe cerebellar defects including ataxia, reduced size and abnormal lobulation as well as Purkinje cell (Pc) degeneration. Loss of Pcs in the nax cerebellum is compartmentalized and harmonized to the classic pattern of gene expression of the cerebellum in the wild type mouse. Usually, degeneration starts in the anterior and posterior zones and continues to the central and nodular zones of cerebellum. Studies have suggested that the p75 neurotrophin receptor (NTR) plays a role in Pc degeneration; thus, in this study, we investigated the p75NTR pattern and protein expression in the cerebellum of the nax mutant mouse. Despite massive Pc degeneration that was observed in the nax mouse cerebellum, p75NTR pattern expression was similar to the HSP25 pattern in nax mice and comparable with wild type sibling cerebellum. In addition, immunoblot analysis of p75NTR protein expression did not show any significant difference between nax and wild type sibling (p > 0.5). In comparison with wild type counterparts, p75NTR pattern expression is aligned with the fundamental cytoarchitecture organization of the cerebellum and is unchanged in the nax mouse cerebellum despite the severe neurodevelopmental disorder accompanied with Pc degeneration.     

The removal of nanoparticles from sub-micron trenches using megasonics

The removal of nanoparticles form patterned wafers is one of the main challenges facing the semiconductor industry. In this paper, the removal of 100 and 200 nm polystyrene latex (PSL) particles from silicon trenches was investigated. Red fluorescent PSL particles were utilized in the cleaning experiments and were counted using fluorescent microscopy. All the experiments were conducted in a single wafer megasonic tank using deionized water (DI). Trenches were fabricated with widths varying from 200 nm to 2 μm and with an aspect ratio of one. Results show that removal of particles from larger trenches is faster compared to smaller trenches and that megasonics power is more important in the removal process than cleaning time.     

Security analysis of a key based color image watermarking vs. a non-key based technique in telemedicine applications

Recently, digital watermarking has become an important technique to preserve patients’ privacy in telemedicine applications. Since, medical information are highly sensitive, security of watermarked medical images becomes a critical issue in telemedicine applications. In this paper, two targeted attacks have been proposed against a key based color image watermarking scheme and also a non-key based one, in order to evaluate their security in telemedicine applications. The target schemes are SVD-based and QR-based color image watermarking algorithms, which their embedding procedures are quit the same. The proposed attacks exploit the prior knowledge of the watermarking algorithms to make changes in the exact embedding spaces. Thus, these changes would cause disruption in extraction procedure. Our experimental results show that the key based watermarking scheme is more secure than the non-key based one. This is because the proposed targeted attack needs to distort the key based watermarked images more than non-key based ones to remove the embedded watermarks. Our proposed targeted attacks also have more efficient performance in removing watermarks than other general attacks such as JPEG compression, Gaussian noise and etc. Finally, these attacks have been proposed to show the vulnerabilities of watermarking schemes in order to help the designers to implement more secure schemes.     

A fuzzy decision support system for credit scoring

Neural Computing and Applications - Credit score is a creditworthiness index, which enables the lender (bank and credit card companies) to evaluate its own risk exposure toward a particular...     

Co-visibility and pedagogy: innovation and challenge at the High Museum of Art

Museum space is arranged not only to present but also to help understand displays. Patterns of visitor movement and the co-visibility of displays act as pedagogical media. This paper traces the recent history of the interior of the High Museum of Art, in Atlanta, and identifies radical transformations in the interaction between architectural setting, exhibition design and curatorial intention. The original 1983 second-floor layout, designed by Meier, created ‘rooms within rooms’, privileged cross views and provided a web of vistas cutting through spatial layers of displays and meandering paths of movement, even as the structural grid notated an abstract overall order. Thus, it supported comparisons and a multiplicity of points of view rather than a rigid classificatory scheme. Also, it challenged focused frontal viewing and hence traditional curatorial approaches.

The 1997 second-floor layout, by Scogin and Elam, masterfully deployed a formal exhibition language that resonated with Meier's architecture in order to implement a different curatorial programme, based on well-defined sequences of movement and controlled visual frames. The aim was not to impose an historical or stylistic classification, but rather to confront visitors with orchestrated assemblies of displays linking art to themes such as life, faith, the human figure or the city. In 2003, Lord Aeck and Sargent designed a new layout which reproduced the original ‘rooms within rooms’ implemented by Meier, whilst reducing the intricacy of internal subdivision and promoting less complex vistas. The evolution of interiors in Meier's original building stands in contrast to the simpler layout of Piano's 2005 extension for the High where architecture assumes the rôle of a more neutral and elegant background to the art works. These contrasts, their programmatic generators and their experiential consequences are documented and analysed as a case study in the pedagogical functions of museum space.