Spotting Trees with Few Leaves

We show two results related to the Hamiltonicity and $k$-Path algorithms in undirected graphs by Bj\"orklund [FOCS'10], and Bj\"orklund et al., [arXiv'10]. First, we demonstrate that the technique used can be generalized to finding some $k$-vertex tree with $l$ leaves in an $n$-vertex undirected graph in $O^*(1.657^k2^{l/2})$ time. It can be applied as a subroutine to solve the $k$-Internal Spanning Tree ($k$-IST) problem in $O^*(\min(3.455^k, 1.946^n))$ time using polynomial space, improving upon previous algorithms for this problem. In particular, for the first time we break the natural barrier of $O^*(2^n)$. Second, we show that the iterated random bipartition employed by the algorithm can be improved whenever the host graph admits a vertex coloring with few colors; it can be an ordinary proper vertex coloring, a fractional vertex coloring, or a vector coloring. In effect, we show improved bounds for $k$-Path and Hamiltonicity in any graph of maximum degree $\Delta=4,\ldots,12$ or with vector chromatic number at most 8

Common evaluations of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis reach discordant classifications across different populations

Objectives: The classification of disease activity states in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be achieved through disease activity indices, such as the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-ESR), the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI), and the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI). Subjective measurements, such as patient reported outcomes have been incorporated into several of these indices alongside more objective assessments, such as increases in the ESR and C-reactive protein. Moreover, while they use similar criteria, different indices weight these criteria to different extents. Therefore, the classifications based on each evaluation may not always be the same. We aim to compare the performance of the three indices and their individual components in two different populations. Methods: Data from Dutch and Portuguese adherent centers were extracted from the METEOR database, a multinational collaboration on RA. We included a total of 24,605 visits from Dutch centers (from 5,870 patients) and 20,120 visits from Portuguese centers (from 3,185 patients). We compared the disease activity states as evaluated by the DAS28-ESR, CDAI, and SDAI across the two populations. In addition, we analyzed the individual components of each evaluation, including their respective contributions to the outcome, in each population. Results: We found significant differences in the disease activity states classified with the DAS28-ESR between the two populations. SDAI and CDAI had more congruous results. While the proportion of visits to Dutch and Portuguese centers that were classified as "in remission" was very similar between the CDAI and SDAI, the DAS28-ESR gave discordant results. Dutch patients had lower ESRs, which is more heavily weighted in the DAS28-ESR. In addition, even though the mean physicians' global assessment values did not vary significantly for Dutch vs Portuguese physicians, we found that doctors at Portuguese centers overall scored the physician's global assessment lower than Dutch physicians for patient visits classified by disease activity state. Conclusion: While the CDAI and SDAI assigned disease activity states that were largely similar, the DAS28-ESR was often discordant across the two populations. Moreover, we found that physicians, more than patients, evaluated disease activity differently among the Portuguese and Dutch populations. © 2018 Canhão, Rodrigues, Gregório, Dias, Melo Gomes, Santos, Faustino, Costa, Allaart, Gvozdenovic, van der Heijde, Machado, Branco, Fonseca and Silva

Receptor Tyrosine Kinases in Osteosarcoma: 2019 Update

The primary conclusions of our 2014 contribution to this series were as follows: Multiple receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) likely contribute to aggressive phenotypes in osteosarcoma and, therefore, inhibition of multiple RTKs is likely necessary for successful clinical outcomes. Inhibition of multiple RTKs may also be useful to overcome resistance to inhibitors of individual RTKs as well as resistance to conventional chemotherapies. Different combinations of RTKs are likely important in individual patients. AXL, EPHB2, FGFR2, IGF1R, and RET were identified as promising therapeutic targets by our in vitro phosphoproteomic/siRNA screen of 42 RTKs in the highly metastatic LM7 and 143B human osteosarcoma cell lines. This chapter is intended to provide an update on these topics as well as the large number of osteosarcoma clinical studies of inhibitors of multiple tyrosine kinases (multi-TKIs) that were recently published

Partitioning a Call Graph

Splitting a large software system into smaller and more manageable units has become an important problem for many organizations. The basic structure of a software system is given by a directed graph with vertices representing the programs of the system and arcs representing calls from one program to another. Generating a good partitioning into smaller modules becomes a minimization problem for the number of programs being called by external programs. First, we formulate an equivalent integer linear programming problem with 0–1 variables. Theoretically, with this approach the problem can be solved to optimality, but this becomes very costly with increasing size of the software system. Second, we formulate the problem as a hypergraph partitioning problem. This is a heuristic method using a multilevel strategy, but it turns out to be very fast and to deliver solutions that are close to optimal

Partitioning a Call Graph

Splitting a large software system into smaller and more manageable units has become an important problem for many organizations. The basic structure of a software system is given by a directed graph with vertices representing the programs of the system and arcs representing calls from one program to another. Generating a good partitioning into smaller modules becomes a minimization problem for the number of programs being called by external programs. First, we formulate an equivalent integer linear programming problem with 0–1 variables. Theoretically, with this approach the problem can be solved to optimality, but this becomes very costly with increasing size of the software system. Second, we formulate the problem as a hypergraph partitioning problem. This is a heuristic method using a multilevel strategy, but it turns out to be very fast and to deliver solutions that are close to optimal