Notes

[Neoplasms from the top respiratory system and also ear].
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains one of the most challenging phenomena of modern medicine. Machine learning (ML) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that focuses on the development of algorithms that learn how to accurately predict outcome variables using large sets of predictor variables that are typically not hand selected and are minimally curated. Models are parameterized using a training dataset and then applied to a test dataset on which predictive performance is evaluated. The application of ML algorithms to the problem of AMR has garnered increasing interest in the past 5 years due to the exponential growth of experimental and clinical data, heavy investment in computational capacity, improvements in algorithm performance and increasing urgency for innovative approaches to reducing the burden of disease. Here, we review the current state of research at the intersection of ML and AMR with an emphasis on three domains of work. The first is the prediction of AMR using genomic data. The second is the use of ML to gain insight into the cellular functions disrupted by antibiotics, which forms the basis for understanding mechanisms of action and developing novel anti-infectives. The third focuses on the application of ML for antimicrobial stewardship using data extracted from the electronic health record. Though the use of ML for understanding, diagnosing, treating and preventing AMR is still in its infancy, the continued growth of data and interest ensures it will become an important tool for future translational research programs.Temperature is an important environmental factor governing the ability of organisms to grow, survive and reproduce. Thermal performance curves (TPCs), with some caveats, are useful for charting the relationship between body temperature and some measure of performance in ectotherms, and provide a standardized set of characteristics for interspecific comparisons. Endotherms, however, have a more complicated relationship with environmental temperature, as endothermy leads to a decoupling of body temperature from external temperature through use of metabolic heat production, large changes in insulation and variable rates of evaporative heat loss. This has impeded our ability to model endothermic performance in relation to environmental temperature as well as to readily compare performance between species. In this Commentary, we compare the strengths and weaknesses of potential TPC analogues (including other useful proxies for linking performance to temperature) in endotherms and suggest several ways forward in the comparative ecophysiology of endotherms. Our goal is to provide a common language with which ecologists and physiologists can evaluate the effects of temperature on performance. Key directions for improving our understanding of endotherm thermoregulatory physiology include a comparative approach to the study of the level and precision of body temperature, measuring performance directly over a range of body temperatures and building comprehensive mechanistic models of endotherm responses to environmental temperatures. We believe the answer to the question posed in the title could be 'yes', but only if 'performance' is well defined and understood in relation to body temperature variation, and the costs and benefits of endothermy are specifically modelled.Xenopus laevis tadpoles have been an excellent, simple vertebrate model for studying the basic organization and physiology of the spinal cord and motor centers in the brainstem. In the past, intracellular recordings from the spinal and brainstem neurons were primarily made using sharp electrodes, although whole-cell patch-clamp technology has been around since the early 1980s. In this protocol, I describe the dissections and procedures needed for in situ whole-cell patch-clamp recording, which has become routine in tadpole neurophysiology since the early 2000s. The critical step in the dissections is to delicately remove some ependymal cells lining the tadpole neurocoele in order to expose clean neuronal somata without severing axon tracts. Whole-cell recordings can then be made from the somata in either current- or voltage-clamp mode.The Xenopus tadpole retinotectal projection is the main component of the amphibian visual system. It comprises the retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) in the eye, which project an axon to synapse onto tectal neurons in the optic tectum. There are many attributes of this relatively simple projection that render it uniquely well-suited for studying the functional development of neural circuits. One major experimental advantage of this circuit is that it can be genetically or pharmacologically altered and then assessed at high resolution via whole-cell electrophysiological recordings using an ex vivo isolated brain preparation. selleck This protocol provides instructions for performing such electrophysiological investigations using the ex-vivo-isolated brain preparation. It allows one to measure many different aspects of synaptic transmission between the RGC axons and individual postsynaptic tectal neurons, including AMPA (α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid) to NMDA (N-methyl-d-aspartate) ratios, strength of individual RGC axons, paired pulse facilitation, and strength of individual synapses.Restriction enzymes provided the foundation on which molecular cloning was built, and they remain as essential tools in current recombinant DNA technology. The three classes of restriction enzymes and their features are introduced here.The Xenopus tadpole visual system shows an extraordinary extent of developmental and visual experience-dependent plasticity, establishing sophisticated neuronal response properties that guide essential survival behaviors. The external development and access to the developing visual circuit of Xenopus tadpoles make them an excellent experimental system in which to elucidate plastic changes in neuronal properties and their capacity to encode information about the visual scene. The temporal structure of neural activity encodes a significant amount of information, access to which requires recording methods with high temporal resolution. Conversely, elucidating changes in the temporal structure of neural activity requires recording over extended periods. It is challenging to maintain patch-clamp recordings over extended periods and Ca2+ imaging has limited temporal resolution. Extracellular recordings have been used in other systems for extended recording; however, spike amplitudes in the developing Xenopus visual circuit are not large enough to be captured by distant electrodes.
Here's my website: https://www.selleckchem.com/