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Mohamad S AlSalhi,1,2 Sandhanasamy Devanesan,1,2 Muhammad Atif,1,2 Wedad S AlQahtani,3 Marcello Nicoletti,4 Paola Del Serrone5 1Research Chair in Laser Diagnosis of Cancers, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2Physics and Astronomy Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Forensic Sciences, College of Criminal Justice, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome 00185, Italy; 5Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Research Center for Zootechnic and Aquaculture, Monterotondo, Rome, 00015, ItalyCorrespondence: Sandhanasamy Devanesan; Muhammad AtifResearch Chair in Laser Diagnosis of Cancers, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaEmail sdnesan1981@gmail.comPurpose: To study the cytotoxic evaluation, antimicrobial and confocal analysis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) obtained from a novel plant product fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) seed extract (FSE).Methods: ZnO NPs were analyzed using UV–Vis spectroscopy, XRD, FTIR, TEM and EDX techniques. The MTT cell cytotoxicity assay measured the proliferation and survival of MCF-7 cells treated at different concentrations of FSE-derived ZnO NPs. The antimicrobial activity towards pathogenic bacteria and yeast strains was investigated.Results: The UV–Vis spectra showed two peaks at 438 nm and 446 nm, confirming nanoparticle formation. The SEM morphology results showed porous ranging from 23– 51 nm. The antitumor activity value (IC50) was at 50 μg/mL and 100 μg/mL. Besides, morphological changes of MCF-7, cells treated at different concentrations of FSE of ZnO NPs were observed in cell cultures transfected with a transient pCMV6-XL4-GFP-expressing vector containing C-terminal domain GFP-tagged proteins, which resulted in an apoptotic effect. Antimicrobial IZ ranged up No Inhibition to 18.00 ± 0.4. The IZ revealed at the highest concentration was E. faecium VRE and yeast Cryptococcus sp. (18.00 ± 0.4. mm), followed by S. aureus (17.00 ± 0.2 mm) and P. aeruginosa and the yeast C. parapsilosis (16 ± 0.4 mm). The IZ was equal to that caused by the nystatin to Cryptococcus sp., which was significantly highest than ampicillin treatments of S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, C. albicans, and C. parapsilosis. The MIC value of the FSE-derived ZnO NPs tested against E.faecium and C.albicans was 6.00 μg/mL (E. faecium and C. albicans). It was 32.00 μg/mL (S. aureus, S. typhimurium and Cryptococcus sp.), 64.00 μg/mL (P. aeruginosa), and 128 μg/mL (C. parapsilosis).Conclusion: As far as it is to our knowledge, this study established, for the first time, the biological activities of biosynthesized ZnO NPs from FSE and their synergistic therapeutic potential.Keywords: fennel seed extract-derived zinc oxide nanoparticles, green nanotechnology, anti-tumor activity, antimicrobial activity and therapeutic agents

Lucia Porsia, Manlio Nicoletti Maggiore Hospital, Bologna 40133, ItalyCorrespondence: Lucia Porsia Tel +39 3470638829Email lucia.porsia@ausl.bologna.itPurpose: This case report demonstrates the potential role of the OMNI surgical system in the surgical management of congenital glaucoma.Patients and Methods: The case was a 4-month-old full-term, otherwise healthy female infant with cutaneous hemangiomas of both upper lids, corneal edema in the right eye (RE) and IOP > 30 mmHg. Sturge–Weber syndrome (SWS) was diagnosed. The RE was surgically treated with ab-interno circumferential viscodilation and trabeculotomy.Results: Through 10 months of follow-up, intraocular pressure was adequately controlled without the need for adjunctive medical therapy.Conclusion: Given its advantages over other angle surgery techniques, this procedure’s role in treating glaucomas of childhood warrants further evaluation.Keywords: Sturge–Weber, congenital glaucoma, OMNI surgical system, viscodilation, canal surgery, pediatric glaucoma

Mohamad S AlSalhi,1,2 Sandhanasamy Devanesan,1,2 Akram A Alfuraydi,3 Radhakrishnan Vishnubalaji,4 Murugan A Munusamy,3 Kadarkarai Murugan,5 Marcello Nicoletti,6 Giovanni Benelli7 1Research Chair in Laser Diagnosis of Cancers, 2Department of Physics and Astronomy, 3Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, 4Stem Cell Unit, Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 5Division of Entomology, Department of Zoology, School of Life Sciences, Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India; 6Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, 7Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy Background: The present study focused on a simple and eco-friendly method for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with multipurpose anticancer and antimicrobial activities. Materials and methods: We studied a green synthesis route to produce AgNPs by using an aqueous extract of Pimpinella anisum seeds (3 mM). Their antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity on human neonatal skin stromal cells (hSSCs) and colon cancer cells (HT115) were assessed. Results: A biophysical characterization of the synthesized AgNPs was realized: the morphology of AgNPs was determined by transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and ultraviolet-vis absorption spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy showed spherical shapes of AgNPs of P. anisum seed extracts with a 3.2 nm minimum diameter and average diameter ranging from 3.2 to 16 nm. X-ray powder diffraction highlighted the crystalline nature of the nanoparticles, ultraviolet-vis absorption spectroscopy was used to monitor their synthesis, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed the main reducing groups from the seed extract. Energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to confirm the presence of elemental silver. We evaluated the antimicrobial potential of green-synthesized AgNPs against five infectious bacteria: Staphylococcus pyogenes (29213), Acinetobacter baumannii (4436), Klebsiella pneumoniae (G455), Salmonella typhi, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition, we focused on the toxicological effects of AgNPs against hSSC cells and HT115 cells by using in vitro proliferation tests and cell viability assays. Among the different tested concentrations of nanoparticles, doses 10 µg led to increased cytotoxicity. Conclusion: Overall, our results highlighted the capacity of P. anisum-synthesized AgNPs as novel and cheap bioreducing agents for eco-friendly nanosynthetical routes. The data confirm the multipurpose potential of plant-borne reducing and stabilizing agents in nanotechnology. Keywords: antibacterial, biosafety, green nanotechnology, metal nanoparticles, Pimpinella anisum seeds, cancer

The role in virulence of the Shigella flexneri ospB-phoN2 operon has been evaluated. Here we confirm that OspB is an effector and show that apyrase, the product of phoN2, may be a virulence factor, since it is required for efficient intercellular spreading. Apyrase may be important in a deoxynucleoside triphosphate-hydrolyzing activity-independent manner, suggesting that it may act as an interaction partner in the process of IcsA localization.

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2004;75:221-225 Background: Anatomical abnormalities in the corpus callosum have been reported in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies in patients with bipolar but not unipolar disorder. MRI [...]

Mathematical morphology (MM) is a popular formalism largely used for image processing. Of particular relevance in MM-based operations is the structuring element (SE). In an image processing environment SE defines which pixel values, in the input image, to include in the calculation of the output value. Most MM-based image processing environments employ limited size SEs which prevents their use in tasks requiring larger SEs. This paper proposes a computer-based method for optimizing the decomposition of SEs, in binary image related tasks, that employs binary MM, which automatically transforms an original SE into a corresponding sequence of 3 ? 3 SEs. The decomposition operation reduces the complexity of the morphological operations and has been implemented as a genetic algorithm (GA) based process, that searches for the best sequence of smaller structuring elements, using one dilation and four union operations, for the decomposition of each large-sized structuring element. By using a GA with a fixed-length chromosome as well as a fixed number of dilation and union operations, the method has a simple and fixed structure, which makes it a convenient choice for hardware implementations. Its performance, based on six images already used in the literature by other well-established method, has shown to be competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A re-examination of Scrophularia canina L. confirmed the presence of iridoid glucosides considered as chemotaxonomic markers for the Scrophulariaceae family, like aucubin, harpagide and 8-O-acetylharpagide, besides the further presence of 8-epiloganic acid, which is, indeed, considered the biogenetic precursor of iridoids normally found in Scrophulariaceae, and was recognised here for the first time in the studied species. Also verbascoside and (E)-phytol were evidenced for the first time in S. canina. The former compound is an almost ubiquitous glycosidic phenyl-ethanoid, which attains systematic importance when in co-occurrence with iridoids, and its taxonomical implications were discussed. The latter compound, even though it is omnipresent, is interestingly endowed with several biological activities, which may give an additional reason for the traditional uses of this plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analysed the ethanolic extract from Ajuga genevensis L. (Lamiaceae) growing in Dolomites, part of Italian Alps. Three new compounds for this species were identified: rosmarinic acid (1), oleanolic acid (2) and maslinic acid (3), representative of two different classes of chemical compounds (phenylpropanoids and pentacyclic triterpenes). A. genevensis resulted to be a valuable source of these compounds endowed with interesting biological activities (i.e. antioxidant, neuroprotective, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative). The recognition of compounds (1), (2) and (3) may also confirm the ethnomedicinal uses of this plant. From a chemotaxonomical point of view, it is worth noting that iridoids were not evidenced in this accession. Iridoids are considered chemotaxonomic marker in Lamiales, and, in contrast with a previous study on this species, the presence of aucubin was not confirmed. In addition, the presence of large amounts of rosmarinic acid (1) was unexpected for a species that does not belong to subfamily Nepetoideae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the first phytochemical analysis of Linaria alpina (L.) Mill., collected in Dolomites (Italy), a species characteristic of mountain environment. Besides aucubin (4), which is rare in the subgenus Antirrhineae of Plantaginaceae, mainly acidic compounds were found, i.e. oleanolic acid (1), ursolic acid (2) maslinic acid (3) and shikimic acid (5). The pentacyclic triterpenes of L. alpina resulted in relatively high content, whereas flavonoids resulted in low content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variable Ordering (VO) plays an important role when inducing Bayesian Networks (BNs) and Bayesian Classifiers (BCs). Previous works in the literature suggest that it is worth pursuing the use of genetic/evolutionary algorithms for identifying a suitable VO, when learning a BN structure from data. This paper proposes a collaborative Evolutionary-Bayes algorithm named VOEA (Variable Ordering Evolutionary Algorithm) aimed at inducing BCs from data. The two VOEA versions presented in the paper refine a previously proposed algorithm named VOGA by employing only a single evolutionary operator (either crossover or mutation) as well as by using information about the class variable when defining the most suitable variable ordering for learning a BC. Experiments performed in a number of datasets revealed that the VOEA approach is promising and tends to generate suitable and representative BCs, particularly in its version VOEA_M, which only implements the mutation operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Time plays an important role in the vast majority of problems and, as such, it is a vital issue to be considered when developing computer systems for solving problems. In the literature, one of the most influential formalisms for representing time is known as Allen's Temporal Algebra based on a set of 13 relations (basic and reversed) that may hold between two time intervals. In spite of having a few drawbacks and limitations, Allen's formalism is still a convenient representation due to its simplicity and implementability and also, due to the fact that it has been the basis of several extensions. This paper explores the automatic learning of Allen's temporal relations by the inductive logic programming system FOIL, taking into account two possible representations for a time interval: (i) as a primitive concept and (ii) as a concept defined by the primitive concept of time point. The goals of the experiments described in the paper are (1) to explore the viability of both representations for use in automatic learning; (2) compare the facility and interpretability of the results; (3) evaluate the impact of the given examples for inducing a proper representation of the relations and (4) experiment with both representations under the assumption of a closed world (CWA), which would ease continuous learning using FOIL. Experimental results are presented and discussed as evidence that the CWA can be a convenient strategy when learning Allen's temporal relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently we have witnessed research efforts into developing real-time hybrid systems implementing interactions between computational models and live tissues, in an attempt to learn more about the functioning of biological neural networks. A fundamental role in the development of such systems is played by Multi-Electrode Array (MEA). In vitro cultures of neurons on MEAs, however, have some drawbacks such as: needing a rigorous adherence to sterile techniques, careful choice and replenishment of media and maintenance of pH, temperature, and osmolarity. An alternative way to study and investigate live tissues which partially circumvent some of the problems with in vitro cultures is by simulating them. This paper describes the proposal of Sim-MEA, a system for modeling and simulating neuron's communications in a MEA-based in vitro culture. Sim-MEA implements a modified Izhikevich model that takes into account both: distances between neurons and distances between microelectrodes and neurons. The system also provides ways of simulating microelectrodes and their recorded signals as well as recovering experimental MEA culture data, from their images. The soundness of the Sim-MEA simulation procedure was empirically evaluated using data from an experimental in vitro cultured hippocampal neurons of Wistar rat embryos. Results from simulations, compared to those of the in vitro experiment, are presented and discussed. The paper also describes a few experiments (varying several parameter values) to illustrate and detail the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The project and implementation of autonomous computational systems that incrementally learn and use what has been learnt to, continually, refine its learning abilities throughout time is still a goal far from being achieved. Such dynamic systems would conform to the main ideas of the automatic learning model conventionally characterized as never-ending learning (NEL). The never-ending approach to learning exhibits similarities to the semi-supervised (SS) model which has been successfully implemented by bootstrap learning methods. Bootstrap learning has been one of the most successful among the SS-methods proposed to date and, as such, the natural candidate for implementing NEL systems. Bootstrap methods learn from an available labeled set of data, use the induced knowledge to label some unlabeled new data and, recurrently, learn again from both sets of data in a cyclic manner. However the use of SS methods, particularly bootstrapping methods, to implement NEL systems can give rise to a problem known as concept-drift. Errors that may occur when the system automatically labels new unlabeled data can, over time, cause the system to run off track. The development of new strategies to lessen the impact of concept-drift is an important issue that should be addressed if the goal is to increase the plausibility of developing such systems, employing bootstrap methods. Coupling techniques can play an important role in reducing concept-drift effects over machine learning systems, particularly those designed to perform tasks related to machine reading. This paper proposes and formalizes relevant coupling strategies for dealing with the concept-drift problem in a NEL environment implemented as the system RTWP (Read The Web in Portuguese); initial results have shown they are promising strategies for minimizing the problem taking into account a few system settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mast cells are important not only in allergic reactions, but also in inflammation and are involved in a variety of responses including the immediate release of potent inflammatory mediators after activation by cross-linking of FCERI molecules. Prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) is a major cyclooxygenase metabolite of arachidonic acid produced by mast cells and it is released following allergen challenge in allergic diseases. IL-33 is an iflammatory cytokine which is critically involved in the regulation of in vitro and in vivo cyclooxygenase production, providing a potential therapeutic target for inflammatory disorders. In this study, using human derived umbelical cord blood mast cells, we show that IL-33 (50 ng/ml), and calcium ionophore A 23187 (0.5 (xg/ml), compound 48/80 (10-5 M) or anti-IgE (10 μg/ml), enhaced the production of PGD2 and this effect was inhibited by indomethacin. However, IL-33 was unable to induce tryptase release in these cells. These effects confirm the inflammatory property of IL-33 by stimulating PGD2 but not tryptase in human mast cells. The inhibitory effect of this new cytokine may have a potential therapeutic response in allergic and inflammatory diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]