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Stock market prediction is the process of determining the value of a company's shares and other financial assets in the future. This paper proposes a new model where Altruistic Dragonfly Algorithm (ADA) is combined with Least Squares Support Vector Machine (LS-SVM) for stock market prediction. ADA is a meta-heuristic algorithm which optimizes the parameters of LS-SVM to avoid local minima and overfitting, resulting in better prediction performance. Experiments have been performed on 12 datasets and the obtained results are compared with other popular meta-heuristic algorithms. The results show that the proposed model provides a better predictive ability and demonstrate the effectiveness of ADA in optimizing the parameters of LS-SVM., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Chatterjee et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) relies on invasive and risky aspirate procedures, and confirmation of cure after treatment is unreliable. Detection of Leishmania donovani antigens in urine has the potential to provide both a non-invasive diagnostic and a test of cure. We searched for L. donovani antigens in urine of VL patients from India and Sudan to contribute to the development of urine antigen capture immunoassays. VL urine samples were incubated with immobilised anti-L. donovani polyclonal antibodies and captured material was eluted. Sudanese eluted material and concentrated VL urine were analysed by western blot. Immunocaptured and immunoreactive material from Indian and Sudanese urine was submitted to mass spectrometry for protein identification. We identified six L. donovani proteins from VL urine. Named proteins were 40S ribosomal protein S9, kinases, and others were hypothetical. Thirty-three epitope regions were predicted with high specificity in the 6 proteins. Of these, 20 were highly specific to Leishmania spp. and are highly suitable for raising antibodies for the subsequent development of an antigen capture assay. We present all the identified proteins and analysed epitope regions in full so that they may contribute to the development of non-invasive immunoassays for this deadly disease., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan agent of Chagas disease in the Americas, is comprised of six genetic lineages (TcI-TcVI) and a possible seventh (TcBat, related to TcI). Identification of T. cruzi lineages infecting reservoir mammalian species is fundamental to resolving transmission cycles. However, this is hindered by the limited sensitivity and technical complexity of parasite isolation and genotyping. An alternative approach is serology using T. cruzi lineage-specific epitopes, such as those of the trypomastigote small surface antigen (TSSA). For surveillance of T. cruzi lineage infections in mammal species from diverse Brazilian regions, we apply a novel rapid diagnostic test (RDT, Chagas Sero K-SeT), which incorporates the TSSA peptide epitope specific to TcII/V/VI (TSSApep-II/V/VI) and Protein G detection of antibodies. Chagas Sero K-SeT RDT results with sera from experimentally infected mice, from tamarin primates (Leontopithecus spp.) and from canines (Canis familiaris) were concordant with corresponding TSSApep-II/V/VI ELISAs. The Chagas Sero K-Set detected TcII/V/VI infections in Leontopithecus spp. from the Atlantic forest (n = 46), in C. familiaris (n = 16) and Thrichomys laurentius (n = 2) from Caatinga biome and Chiroptera (n = 1) from Acre, Amazonia. The Chagas Sero K-SeT RDT is directly applicable to TcII/V/VI-specific serological surveillance of T. cruzi infection in several different mammalian Orders. It can replace ELISAs and provides efficient, point-of-sampling, low-cost detection of TcII/V/VI infections, with at least equivalent sensitivity, although some mammals may be difficult to trap, and, not unexpectedly, Chagas Sero K-SeT could not recognise feline IgG. Knowledge of sylvatic hosts of T. cruzi can be expanded, new reservoir species discovered, and the ecology of transmission cycles clarified, particularly with adaptation to further mammalian Orders., Competing Interests: We affirm that there is no competing interest; there is nothing that interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with, the full and objective presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of this manuscript. The commercial collaborator provided expertise in design of the rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) and produced them to the senior authors’ requirements; the RDTs are available for research purposes and are not patented. The commercial affiliation (Coris BioConcept) does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Cebpa encodes a transcription factor (TF) that plays an instructive role in the development of multiple myeloid lineages. The expression of Cebpa itself is finely modulated, as Cebpa is expressed at high and intermediate levels in neutrophils and macrophages respectively and downregulated in non-myeloid lineages. The cis-regulatory logic underlying the lineage-specific modulation of Cebpa's expression level is yet to be fully characterized. Previously, we had identified 6 new cis-regulatory modules (CRMs) in a 78kb region surrounding Cebpa. We had also inferred the TFs that regulate each CRM by fitting a sequence-based thermodynamic model to a comprehensive reporter activity dataset. Here, we report the cis-regulatory logic of Cebpa CRMs at the resolution of individual binding sites. We tested the binding sites and functional roles of inferred TFs by designing and constructing mutated CRMs and comparing theoretical predictions of their activity against empirical measurements in a myeloid cell line. The enhancers were confirmed to be activated by combinations of PU.1, C/EBP family TFs, Egr1, and Gfi1 as predicted by the model. We show that silencers repress the activity of the proximal promoter in a dominant manner in G1ME cells, which are derived from the red-blood cell lineage. Dominant repression in G1ME cells can be traced to binding sites for GATA and Myb, a motif shared by all of the silencers. Finally, we demonstrate that GATA and Myb act redundantly to silence the proximal promoter. These results indicate that dominant repression is a novel mechanism for resolving hematopoietic lineages. Furthermore, Cebpa has a fail-safe cis-regulatory architecture, featuring several functionally similar CRMs, each of which contains redundant binding sites for multiple TFs. Lastly, by experimentally demonstrating the predictive ability of our sequence-based thermodynamic model, this work highlights the utility of this computational approach for understanding mammalian gene regulation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

PR-domain 9 (Prdm9) is the first hybrid sterility gene identified in mammals. The incompatibility between Prdm9 from Mus musculus domesticus (Mmd; the B6 strain) and the Hstx2 region of chromosome (Chr) X from M. m. musculus (Mmm; the PWD strain) participates in the complete meiotic arrest of mouse intersubspecific (PWD×B6)F1 hybrid males. Other studies suggest that also semisterile intersubspecific hybrids are relevant for mouse speciation, but the genes responsible remain unknown. To investigate the causes of this semisterility, we analyzed the role of Prdm9 and Chr X in hybrids resulting from the crosses of PWK, another Mmm-derived inbred strain. We demonstrate that Prdm9 and Chr X control the partial meiotic arrest and reduced sperm count in (PWK×B6)F1 males. Asynapsis of heterosubspecific chromosomes and semisterility were partially suppressed by removal of the B6 allele of Prdm9. Polymorphisms between PWK and PWD on Chr X but not in the Prdm9 region were responsible for the modification of the outcome of Prdm9-Chr X F1 hybrid incompatibility. Furthermore, (PWK×B6)F1 hybrid males displayed delayed fertility dependent on the Prdm9 incompatibility. While the Drosophila hybrid sterility gene Overdrive causes both delayed fertility and increased transmission of its own chromosome to the offspring, the segregation of Chr X and the Prdm9 region from the mouse (PWK×B6)F1 males was normal. Our results indicate extended functional consequences of Prdm9-Chr X intersubspecific incompatibility on the fertility of hybrids and should influence the design of fertility analyses in hybrid zones and of laboratory crosses between Mmm and Mmd strains.

Background: Anticoagulants reduce the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) after total joint replacement. However, concern remains that pharmacologic VTE prophylaxis can lead to bleeding, which may impact on postoperative complications such as infections and reoperations., Methods and Findings: From the Global Orthopedic Registry (GLORY), we reviewed 3,755 patients in US who elected for primary total hip or knee arthroplasty, received either warfarin or low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) as VTE prophylactics, and had up-to-90-day follow-up after discharge. We compared incidence rates of VTE, infections and other complications between LMWH and warfarin groups, and used multivariate analyses with propensity score weighting to generate the odds ratio (OR). Patients receiving LMWH tended to be older and higher in the American Society of Anesthesiologists grade scores. In contrast, warfarin was used more frequently for hip arthroplasty with longer duration among patients with more pre-existing comorbidity (all P<0.02). A weight variable was created with propensity score to account for differences in covariate distributions. Propensity score-weighted analyses showed no differences in VTE complications. However, compared to warfarin, LMWH was associated with significantly higher rates of bleeding (6.2% vs. 2.1%; OR = 3.82, 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.64 to 5.52), blood transfusion (29.4% vs. 22.0%; OR = 1.75, 95% CI, 1.51 to 2.04), reoperations (2.4% vs. 1.3%; OR = 1.77, 95% CI, 1.07 to 2.93) and infections (1.6% vs. 0.6%; OR = 2.79, 95% CI, 1.42 to 5.45). Similar results were obtained from compliant uses of warfarin (26%) and LMWH (62%) according to clinical guidelines. While surgical site infections were mostly superficial, current study was underpowered to compare incidence rates of deep infections (<1.0%)., Conclusions: Surgical site infections and reoperations in 3 months following primary total joint arthroplasty may be associated with anticoagulant use that exhibited higher bleeding risk. Long-term complications and deep wound infections remain to be studied.