Nondeterministic, nonmonotonic logic databases

We consider an extension of Datalog with mechanisms for temporal, nonmonotonic, and nondeterministic reasoning, which we refer to as Datalog++. We show, by means of examples, its flexibility in expressing queries concerning aggregates and data cube. Also, we show how iterated fixpoint and stable model semantics can be combined to the purpose of clarifying the semantics of Datalog++ programs and supporting their efficient execution. Finally, we provide a more concrete implementation strategy on which basis the design of optimization techniques tailored for Datalog++ is addressed     

Generalized Needleman–Wunsch algorithm for the recognition of T-cell epitopes

In this paper, we propose a new encoding technique that combines the different physicochemical properties of amino acids together with Needleman–Wunsch algorithm. The algorithm was tested in the recognition of T-cell epitopes. A series of SVM classifiers, where each SVM is trained using a different physicochemical property, combined with the “max rule” enables us to obtain an improvement over the state-of-the-art approaches.     

Evidence for Biological Age Acceleration and Telomere Shortening in COVID-19 Survivors

The SARS-CoV-2 infection determines the COVID-19 syndrome characterized, in the worst cases, by severe respiratory distress, pulmonary and cardiac fibrosis, inflammatory cytokine release, and immunosuppression. This condition has led to the death of about 2.15% of the total infected world population so far. Among survivors, the presence of the so-called persistent post-COVID-19 syndrome (PPCS) is a common finding. In COVID-19 survivors, PPCS presents one or more symptoms: fatigue, dyspnea, memory loss, sleep disorders, and difficulty concentrating. In this study, a cohort of 117 COVID-19 survivors (post-COVID-19) and 144 non-infected volunteers (COVID-19-free) was analyzed using pyrosequencing of defined CpG islands previously identified as suitable for biological age determination. The results show a consistent biological age increase in the post-COVID-19 population, determining a DeltaAge acceleration of 10.45 ± 7.29 years (+5.25 years above the range of normality) compared with 3.68 ± 8.17 years for the COVID-19-free population (p < 0.0001). A significant telomere shortening parallels this finding in the post-COVID-19 cohort compared with COVID-19-free subjects (p < 0.0001). Additionally, ACE2 expression was decreased in post-COVID-19 patients, compared with the COVID-19-free population, while DPP-4 did not change. In light of these observations, we hypothesize that some epigenetic alterations are associated with the post-COVID-19 condition, particularly in younger patients (< 60 years).     

Positive Temperature Coefficient of Electrical Resistivity below 150 K in Barium Strontium Titanate

The resistivity of Ba_{(1– y )(1– x )}Sr _y (1– x )La _x TiO₃ceramics with x = 0.0025 and y = 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 0.9 was measured between 50 and 400 K. A resistivity anomaly corresponding to the positive temperature coefficient of electrical resistivity (PTCR) effect was observed for all compositions. The onset temperature decreased from 320 K ( y = 0.25) to 70 K ( y = 0.9). The extent of the PTCR effect was significantly enhanced for the strontium-rich composition and reached ∼8 orders of magnitude for y = 0.9. These results strongly suggested the possibility to fabricate PTCR devices based on (Sr,Ba)TiO₃ ceramics for application at cryogenic temperatures.     

Fusion of color spaces for ear authentication

In this work, we propose a local approach for 2D ear authentication based on an ensemble of matchers trained on different color spaces. This is the first work that proposes to exploit the powerful properties of color analysis for improving the performance of an ear matcher.The method described is based on the selection of color spaces from which a set of Gabor features are extracted. The selection is performed using the sequential forward floating selection where the fitness function is related to the optimization of the ear recognition performance. Finally, the matching step is performed by means of the combination by the sum rule of several 1-nearest neighbor classifiers constructed on different color components.The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated using the Notre-Dame EAR data set. Particularly interesting are the results obtained by the new approach in terms of rank-1 (∼84%), rank-5 (∼93%) and area under the ROC curve (∼98.5%), which are better than those obtained by other state-of-the-art 2D ear matchers.     

Evolved feature weighting for random subspace classifier.

The problem addressed in this letter concerns the multiclassifier generation by a random subspace method (RSM). In the RSM, the classifiers are constructed in random subspaces of the data feature space. In this letter, we propose an evolved feature weighting approach: in each subspace, the features are multiplied by a weight factor for minimizing the error rate in the training set. An efficient method based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) is here proposed for finding a set of weights for each feature in each subspace. The performance improvement with respect to the state-of-the-art approaches is validated through experiments with several benchmark data sets.     

Wild-type p53-mediated down-modulation of interleukin 15 and interleukin 15 receptors in human rhabdomyosarcoma cells

We recently reported that rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines express and secrete interleukin 15 (IL-15), a tightly regulated cytokine with IL-2-like activity. To test whether the p53-impaired function that is frequently found in this tumour type could play a role in the IL-15 production, wild-type p53 gene was transduced in the human rhabdomyosarcoma cell line RD (which harbours a mutated p53 gene), and its effect on proliferation and expression of IL-15 was studied. Arrest of proliferation was induced by wild-type p53; increased proportions of G1-arrested cells and of apoptotic cells were observed. A marked down-modulation of IL-15 expression, at both the mRNA and protein level, was found in p53-transduced cells. Because a direct effect of IL-15 on normal muscle cells has been reported, the presence of IL-15 membrane receptors was studied by cytofluorometric analysis. Rhabdomyosarcoma cells showed IL-15 membrane receptors, which are down-modulated by wild-type p53 transfected gene. In conclusion, wild-type p53 transduction in human rhabdomyosarcoma cells induces the down-modulation of both IL-15 production and IL-15 receptor expression.     

Microscopic polyangiitis: a case report]

Vertebral osteomyelitis arising from an enteric fistula in patients with inflammatory bowel disease is rare. We report on a patient with Crohn's disease who developed an enteric fistula, resulting in a presacral abscess and vertebral osteomyelitis involving the L4 and L5 vertebral bodies and related disc spaces. This was managed by a defunctioning colostomy with drainage of the pre-sacral abscess. The vertebral lesion was successfully managed non-operatively.     

A multi-matcher for ear authentication

In this work we propose a local approach of 2D ear authentication. A multi-matcher system is proposed where each matcher is trained using features extracted from a single sub-window of the whole 2D image. The features are extracted by the convolution of each sub-window with a bank of Gabor Filters, then their dimensionality is reduced by Laplacian EigenMaps. The best matchers, corresponding to the most discriminative sub-windows, are selected by running the Sequential Forward Floating Selection (SFFS). Our experiments, carried out on a database of 114 people, show that combining only few (ten) sub-windows in the fusion step it is possible to achieve a very low Equal Error Rate.