Adv Exp Med Biol
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Significant advances, especially in microbiologic diagnostics and brain imaging, have broadened our understanding of the etiology, pathogenesis, and natural history of acute encephalitis. In some instances this had led to specific therapies and preventive measures. The clinical hallmark of acute encephalitis is the triad of fever, headache, and altered mental status. ⋯ Beyond this there is another robust but not exhaustive list (Table 2) of important considerations in the differential diagnosis. These include infectious agents (bacterial, fungal, parasitic, and amebic) as well as non-infectious etiologies (parainfectious, post-infectious, autoimmune, neoplastic, cerebrovascular, systemic, and other conditions). The challenge for the clinician is to rapidly hone the list and make critical management decisions by considering the specific features of the setting of the patient's illness, host susceptibility, clinical and neurologic findings, and results of laboratory and imaging studies.
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Multicenter Study
Impaired cerebral autoregulation using near-infrared spectroscopy and its relation to clinical outcomes in premature infants.
The concordance between the change in the Mean Arterial Blood Pressure (MABP) and the Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) is studied using the Correlation, Coherence and Partial Coherence methods in order to detect Impaired Cerebral Autoregulation in Neonates. The presence of impaired autoregulation is assessed by the use of the Critical Percentage of Recording Time (CPRT). The changes in CBF are reflected by the measurement of changes in cerebral intravascular oxygenation (HbD), regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO(2)), and cerebral tissue oxygenation (TOI), as measured by Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) (INVOS4100 and NIRO300). The relation between impaired autoregulation and long term clinical outcomes in premature infants is studied.
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Machine learning approaches have wide applications in bioinformatics, and decision tree is one of the successful approaches applied in this field. In this chapter, we briefly review decision tree and related ensemble algorithms and show the successful applications of such approaches on solving biological problems. ⋯ On the other hand, by being exposed to the applications of decision trees and ensemble algorithms in bioinformatics, computer scientists can get better ideas of which bioinformatics topics they may work on in their future research directions. We aim to provide a platform to bridge the gap between biologists and computer scientists.
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Mast cells play an important role in the lung in both health and disease. Their primary role is to initiate an appropriate program of inflammation and repair in response to tissue damage initiated by a variety of diverse stimuli. ⋯ A key goal is the development of treatments which attenuate adverse mast cell function when administered chronically to humans in vivo. Such therapies may offer a novel approach to the treatment of many life-threatening diseases.