27 research outputs found
Entropy in Image Analysis III
Image analysis can be applied to rich and assorted scenarios; therefore, the aim of this recent research field is not only to mimic the human vision system. Image analysis is the main methods that computers are using today, and there is body of knowledge that they will be able to manage in a totally unsupervised manner in future, thanks to their artificial intelligence. The articles published in the book clearly show such a future
Investigating new genetic susceptibility loci in osteoarthritis
Primary osteoarthritis (OA) is a late-onset, degenerative condition of synovial joints,
and is the major cause of pain and disability in older persons. OA represents a
significant disease burden and focus of research, especially as no disease-modifying
therapies exist to manage the condition. The genetic influence to OA is complex and
polygenic. The arcOGEN study, the most powerful genome-wide association study yet
to investigate OA in humans, identified the 9q33.1 locus to be significantly associated
with hip OA in females. TRIM32 lies within the 9q33.1 susceptibility locus and may
have strong biological relevance to OA; it encodes a protein with E3 ubiquitin ligase
activity.
Sanger sequencing of TRIM32 in the youngest 500 female patients with hip OA
from the arcOGEN study was performed to identify rare variants in TRIM32 that are
associated with OA of the hip in females. Polymorphisms were identified in the
proximal promoter, and 3’untranslated regions (3’UTR) of TRIM32 that are
disproportionately represented in female patients with hip OA, compared to the control
population.
In vitro studies identified expression of TRIM32 in human femoral head
cartilage; reduced expression of TRIM32 was also demonstrated in femoral head
primary articular chondrocytes from patients with hip OA compared to control patients.
Trim32 knockout resulted in increased aggrecanolysis in murine femoral head explants.
Murine chondrocytes deficient in Trim32 also exhibited increased expression of markers
of a mature chondrocyte phenotype in response to anabolic cytokine stimulation, and
increased expression of markers of a hypertrophic chondrocyte phenotype upon
catabolic cytokine stimulation. In vivo studies of joint degeneration in Trim32 knockout mice demonstrated
increased cartilage degradation and tibial epiphyseal bone changes after surgically
induced knee joint instability, compared to wild-type mice. Increased cartilage
degradation and medial knee subchondral bone changes were also identified upon
ageing of Trim32 knockout mice.
These results further implicate TRIM32 in the genetic predisposition to OA, and
indicate a role for TRIM32 in the joint degeneration evident in OA. These results
support the further study of TRIM32 in the pathophysiology of OA and development of
novel therapeutic strategies to manage OA
A cumulative index to the 1976 issues of a continuing bibliography on Aerospace Medicine and Biology
This publication is a cumulative index to the abstracts contained in Supplements 151 through 162 of Aerospace Medicine and Biology: A continuing bibliography. It includes three indexes - subject, personal author, and corporate source
New Statistical Algorithms for the Analysis of Mass Spectrometry Time-Of-Flight Mass Data with Applications in Clinical Diagnostics
Mass spectrometry (MS) based techniques have emerged as a standard forlarge-scale protein analysis. The ongoing progress in terms of more sensitive
machines and improved data analysis algorithms led to a constant expansion of
its fields of applications. Recently, MS was introduced into clinical proteomics
with the prospect of early disease detection using proteomic pattern matching.
Analyzing biological samples (e.g. blood) by mass spectrometry generates
mass spectra that represent the components (molecules) contained in a
sample as masses and their respective relative concentrations.
In this work, we are interested in those components that are constant within a
group of individuals but differ much between individuals of two distinct groups.
These distinguishing components that dependent on a particular medical condition
are generally called biomarkers. Since not all biomarkers found by the
algorithms are of equal (discriminating) quality we are only interested in a
small biomarker subset that - as a combination - can be used as a
fingerprint for a disease. Once a fingerprint for a particular disease
(or medical condition) is identified, it can be used in clinical diagnostics to
classify unknown spectra.
In this thesis we have developed new algorithms for automatic extraction of
disease specific fingerprints from mass spectrometry data. Special emphasis has
been put on designing highly sensitive methods with respect to signal detection.
Thanks to our statistically based approach our methods are able to
detect signals even below the noise level inherent in data acquired by common MS
machines, such as hormones.
To provide access to these new classes of algorithms to collaborating groups
we have created a web-based analysis platform that provides all necessary
interfaces for data transfer, data analysis and result inspection.
To prove the platform's practical relevance it has been utilized in several
clinical studies two of which are presented in this thesis. In these studies it
could be shown that our platform is superior to commercial systems with respect
to fingerprint identification. As an outcome of these studies several
fingerprints for different cancer types (bladder, kidney, testicle, pancreas,
colon and thyroid) have been detected and validated. The clinical partners in
fact emphasize that these results would be impossible with a less sensitive
analysis tool (such as the currently available systems).
In addition to the issue of reliably finding and handling signals in noise we
faced the problem to handle very large amounts of data, since an average dataset
of an individual is about 2.5 Gigabytes in size and we have data of hundreds to
thousands of persons. To cope with these large datasets, we developed a new
framework for a heterogeneous (quasi) ad-hoc Grid - an infrastructure that
allows to integrate thousands of computing resources (e.g. Desktop Computers,
Computing Clusters or specialized hardware, such as IBM's Cell Processor in a
Playstation 3)