Machine Learning Algorithm to Predict Acidemia Using Electronic Fetal Monitoring Recording Parameters

Background: Electronic fetal monitoring (EFM) is the universal method for the surveillance of fetal well-being in intrapartum. Our objective was to predict acidemia from fetal heart signal features using machine learning algorithms. Methods: A case–control 1:2 study was carried out compromising 378 infants, born in the Miguel Servet University Hospital, Spain. Neonatal acidemia was defined as pH < 7.10. Using EFM recording logistic regression, random forest and neural networks models were built to predict acidemia. Validation of models was performed by means of discrimination, calibration, and clinical utility. Results: Best performance was attained using a random forest model built with 100 trees. The discrimination ability was good, with an area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.865. The calibration showed a slight overestimation of acidemia occurrence for probabilities above 0.4. The clinical utility showed that for 33% cutoff point, missing 5% of acidotic cases, 46% of unnecessary cesarean sections could be prevented. Logistic regression and neural networks showed similar discrimination ability but with worse calibration and clinical utility. Conclusions: The combination of the variables extracted from EFM recording provided a predictive model of acidemia that showed good accuracy and provides a practical tool to prevent unnecessary cesarean sections.     

Improved model for the analysis of back corona in pulse energised electrostatic precipitators

Formation of back corona and its effect on the voltage–current characteristics, etc., have been analysed by several authors. It has also been examined how the harmful effect of back corona can be reduced, for example by the application of pulse energisation. However, to find an optimal solution, modelling of the back corona effect is necessary. Different back corona models were created to estimate the time of its development, the change in current–voltage characteristics, the decrease in particle charge and finally, the collection efficiency of the ESP with back corona. In this paper the authors present an improved numerical ESP model that is capable of determining the parameters of back corona in such cases, when pulse energisation is applied for the power supply of the electrostatic precipitator. Based on the modular structure of the model, different modules calculate the distribution of gas velocity, electric field intensity, particle charging and particle movement. All these parameters are important to determine the properties of back corona while it feeds back on these parameters; therefore iteration is necessary to obtain reliable result. The harmful effects of back corona can be characterised with the help of the evaluation of calculated results.     

Synthesis of 4-substituted 5,6-diphenylmorpholine-2,3-diones with two or three chiral centers

Chiral α-aminoalcohols obtained by stereoselective reduction of α-iminoketones have been condensed with oxalyl chloride to afford 4-substituted 5,6-diphenylmorpholine-2,3-diones having two or three chiral centers.     

Proliferation dynamics of germinative zone cells in the intact and excitotoxically lesioned postnatal rat brain

Background  

The forebrain subventricular zone (SVZ)-olfactory bulb pathway and hippocampal subgranular zone (SGZ) generate neurons into adulthood in the mammalian brain. Neurogenesis increases after injury to the adult brain, but few studies examine the effect of injury on neural and glial precursors in the postnatal brain. To characterize the spatio-temporal dynamics of cell proliferation in the germinative zones, this study utilized a model of postnatal damage induced by NMDA injection in the right sensorimotor cortex at postnatal day 9.     

Drug-binding to biological macromolecules. A kinetic study of the system chlorodiazepoxide (librium) and bovine serum albumin

The Kinetics of the binding of librium to bovine serum albumin were investigated at an ionic strength of 0.15 M, in the pH-range between 5.5 and 10.5, using the temperature-jump method. Two relaxation times were observed. The first, rapid one is assigned to the equilibrium between reactants and complex, whereas the second, slower relaxation time measures a conformational change of this complex. Both relaxation times are independent of pH up to about 8.0 when they increase sharply to a new plateau at a pH of about 9.3. A possible parallelism between this behavior and the N ? B transition of albumin is discussed. The overall equilibrium constant K, as well as the equilibrium constant between the two conformers, K₂, were estimated from our kinetic results. Whereas the change of K with changing pH was within the experimental error, the equilibrium between the two conformers of the complex is somewhat shifted by an increase of the pH. At all values of pH, however, they are present in comparable concentrations. The value of K was also measured spectrophotometrically. The results of the two methods showed reasonable agreement. The relaxation times were affected very little by a change in temperature between 12 and 25°C from which it is concluded that the isomerization has a high negative value of ΔS?.     

Ready Access to 6-Alkyl, 6-Phenyl, 5,6-Dialkyl, and 5-Alkyl-6-phenyl Substituted 1,2,3,4-Tetrahydroisoquinolines

 Readily available bicyclic enone precursors were used in a novel strategy for the synthesis of 6-mono- and 5,6-disubstituted tetrahydroisoquinolines (alkyl and phenyl in position 6, hydrogen and methyl in position 5). After 1,2-addition of the respective organometallic reagents to the enones, the crude intermediate alcohols were subjected to a dehydratization/aromatization procedure using the in situ generated triphenylmethyl cation. Overall yields obtained by this procedure were between 27 and 86%. Whereas the synthesis of N-benzyl protected 6-t-butyl-tetrahydroisoquinoline was successful, partial dealkylation occurred in the 5-methyl-6-t-butyl analogue. Some of the new N-benzyl tetrahydroisoquinolines were transformed into the corresponding unprotected heterocycles.     

Neuroprotection from NMDA excitotoxic lesion by Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase gene delivery to the postnatal rat brain by a modular protein vector

Background  

Superoxide mediated oxidative stress is a key neuropathologic mechanism in acute central nervous system injuries. We have analyzed the neuroprotective efficacy of the transient overexpression of antioxidant enzyme Cu/Zn Superoxide dismutase (SOD) after excitotoxic injury to the immature rat brain by using a recently constructed modular protein vector for non-viral gene delivery termed NLSCt. For this purpose, animals were injected with the NLSCt vector carrying the Cu/Zn SOD or the control GFP transgenes 2 hours after intracortical N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) administration, and daily functional evaluation was performed. Moreover, 3 days after, lesion volume, neuronal degeneration and nitrotyrosine immunoreactivity were evaluated.     

Biocompatible functionalization of polymersome surfaces: a new approach to surface immobilization and cell targeting using polymersomes

Vesicles assembled from amphiphilic block copolymers represent promising nanomaterials for applications that include drug delivery and surface functionalization. One essential requirement to guide such polymersomes to a desired site in vivo is conjugation of active, targeting ligands to the surface of preformed self-assemblies. Such conjugation chemistry must fulfill criteria of efficiency and selectivity, stability of the resulting bond, and biocompatibility. We have here developed a new system that achieves these criteria by simple conjugation of 4-formylbenzoate (4FB) functionalized polymersomes with 6-hydrazinonicotinate acetone hydrazone (HyNic) functionalized antibodies in aqueous buffer. The number of available amino groups on the surface of polymersomes composed of poly(dimethylsiloxane)-block-poly(2-methyloxazoline) diblock copolymers was investigated by reacting hydrophilic succinimidyl-activated fluorescent dye with polymersomes and evaluating the resulting emission intensity. To prove attachment of biomolecules to polymersomes, HyNic functionalized enhanced yellow fluorescent protein (eYFP) was attached to 4FB functionalized polymersomes, resulting in an average number of 5 eYFP molecules per polymersome. Two different polymersome-antibody conjugates were produced using either antibiotin IgG or trastuzumab. They showed specific targeting toward biotin-patterned surfaces and breast cancer cells. Overall, the polymersome-ligand platform appears promising for therapeutic and diagnostic use.