Single-cell multiomics identifies clinically relevant mesenchymal stem-like cells and key regulators for MPNST malignancy

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (MPNST), a highly aggressive Schwann cell (SC)-derived soft tissue sarcoma, arises from benign neurofibroma (NF); however, the identity, heterogeneity and origins of tumor populations remain elusive. Nesti

Subtyping of common complex diseases and disorders by integrating heterogeneous data. Identifying clusters among women with lower urinary tract symptoms in the LURN study

We present a methodology for subtyping of persons with a common clinical symptom complex by integrating heterogeneous continuous and categorical data. We illustrate it by clustering women with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), who represent a heterogeneous cohort with overlapping symptoms and multifactorial etiology. Data collected in the Symptoms of Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction Research Network (LURN), a multi-center observational study, included self-reported urinary and non-urinary symptoms, bladder diaries, and physical examination data for 545 women. Heterogeneity in these multidimensional data required thorough and non-trivial preprocessing, including scaling by controls and weighting to mitigate data redundancy, while the various data types (continuous and categorical) required novel methodology using a weighted Tanimoto indices approach. Data domains only available on a subset of the cohort were integrated using a semi-supervised clustering approach. Novel contrast criterion for determination of the optimal number of clusters in consensus clustering was introduced and compared with existing criteria. Distinctiveness of the clusters was confirmed by using multiple criteria for cluster quality, and by testing for significantly different variables in pairwise comparisons of the clusters. Cluster dynamics were explored by analyzing longitudinal data at 3- and 12-month follow-up. Five clusters of women with LUTS were identified using the developed methodology. None of the clusters could be characterized by a single symptom, but rather by a distinct combination of symptoms with various levels of severity. Targeted proteomics of serum samples demonstrated that differentially abundant proteins and affected pathways are different across the clusters. The clinical relevance of the identified clusters is discussed and compared with the current conventional approaches to the evaluation of LUTS patients. The rationale and thought process are described for the selection of procedures for data preprocessing, clustering, and cluster evaluation. Suggestions are provided for minimum reporting requirements in publications utilizing clustering methodology with multiple heterogeneous data domains

Pembangunan e-modul pembelajaran enjin diesel untuk kursus teknologi automotif

"Penyelidikan ini adalah untuk membangunkan satu reka bentuk e-modul pembelajaran pelajar kursus Teknologi Automotif di kolej vokasional. Tujuan penyelidikan ini adalah bagi mengenalpasti kesesuaian elemen yang digunakan dalam modul dan reka letak papan cerita yang dibangunkan. Penggunaan e-modul dalam modul vokasional ini dapat memudahkan pemahaman pelajar dan cemerlang di dalam pentaksiran kompetensi. Modul menggunakan Model ADDIE sebagai model dan prinsip pembangunan bahan multimedia serta prinsip hueristik kebolehgunaan bagi pembangunan modul interaktif ini. Proses pembangunan modul menggunakan perisian CourseLab, Audacity, Freemake Video Converter, GIMP yang merupakan antara perisian percuma dan perisian sumber terbuka. Hasil pembangunan modul diuji sebanyak dua kali ke atas seramai 30 orang pelajar Kursus Teknologi Automotif yang terlibat di dalam penyelidikan ini dan 7 orang pensyarah dari kolej vokasional dipilih sebagai responden kajian. Soal selidik digunakan sebagai instrumen oleh pengkaji dalam kajian ini. Set soal selidik ini terdiri dari tiga set iaitu untuk kesesuaian elemen modul, kesesuaian papan cerita dan pembangunan e-modul pembelajaran. Soalan-soalan yang dikemukakan pada ketiga-tiga set akan dijawab berdasarkan skala likert. Maklumat dan data yang diperoleh akan dianalisis dengan menggunakan Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Kesimpulan daripada data dan maklumat yang diperolehi menunjukkan satu e-modul pembelajaran dapat dibangunkan dengan mempunyai aspek rekabentuk (skor min = 4.74), aspek persembahan (skor min = 4.67) dan aspek mesra pengguna (skor min = 4.69) yang dapat menarik minat belajar berdasarkan pada purata keseluruhan skor min.

Nuclei in Strongly Magnetised Neutron Star Crusts

We discuss the ground state properties of matter in outer and inner crusts of neutron stars under the influence of strong magnetic fields. In particular, we demonstrate the effects of Landau quantization of electrons on compositions of neutron star crusts. First we revisit the sequence of nuclei and the equation of state of the outer crust adopting the Baym, Pethick and Sutherland (BPS) model in the presence of strong magnetic fields and most recent versions of the theoretical and experimental nuclear mass tables. Next we deal with nuclei in the inner crust. Nuclei which are arranged in a lattice, are immersed in a nucleonic gas as well as a uniform background of electrons in the inner crust. The Wigner-Seitz approximation is adopted in this calculation and each lattice volume is replaced by a spherical cell. The coexistence of two phases of nuclear matter - liquid and gas, is considered in this case. We obtain the equilibrium nucleus corresponding to each baryon density by minimizing the free energy of the cell. We perform this calculation using Skyrme nucleon-nucleon interaction with different parameter sets. We find nuclei with larger mass and charge numbers in the inner crust in the presence of strong magnetic fields than those of the zero field case for all nucleon-nucleon interactions considered here. However, SLy4 interaction has dramatic effects on the proton fraction as well as masses and charges of nuclei. This may be attributed to the behaviour of symmetry energy with density in the sub-saturation density regime. Further we discuss the implications of our results to shear mode oscillations of magnetars.Comment: presented in "Exciting Physics Symposium" held in Makutsi, South Africa in November, 2011 and to be published in a book by Springer Verla

Search for D^{0} decays to invisible final states at Belle

We report the result from the first search for D0 decays to invisible final states. The analysis is performed on a data sample of 924  fb−1 collected at and near the Υ(4S) and Υ(5S) resonances with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e− collider. The absolute branching fraction is determined using an inclusive D0 sample, obtained by fully reconstructing the rest of the particle system including the other charmed particle. No significant signal yield is observed and an upper limit of 9.4×10−5 is set on the branching fraction of D0 to invisible final states at 90% confidence level

Analytical Treatment of the Oscillating Yukawa Potential

Using a suitable Laguerre basis set that ensures a tridiagonal matrix representation of the reference Hamiltonian, we were able to evaluate in closed form the matrix elements of the generalized Yukawa potential with complex screening parameter. This enabled us to treat analytically both the cosine and sine-like Yukawa potentials on equal footing and compute their bound states spectrum as the eigenvalues of the associated analytical matrix representing their Hamiltonians. Finally we used a carefully designed complex scaling method to evaluate the resonance energies and compared our results satisfactorily with those obtained in the literature.Comment: 8 pages 2 table

A study of Malaysian accounting education in higher-learning institutions: Is Malaysia preparing undergraduates for a tsunami of fraud?

The current syllabus lack sufficiency of fraud education in areas of auditing, fraud examination and forensic accounting in the current accounting curriculum. This paper seeks to analyze the relationship between final year accouting students’ perceived coverage of fraud education and the overall sufficiency of the three areas in higher-learning institutions. Learning objectives were used to determine the sufficiency of fraud education in current accounting curriculum and a brief comparison between different higher learning institutions in Malaysia, students with and without internship experience, and test of ethical conduct was performed. Findings include insufficient coverage in the areas of fraud examination and forensic accounting but not auditing and that the students’ perceived coverage of fraud education depends on the sufficiency of fraud examination and forensic accounting areas. The paper only tested the perception aspect of students and results may differ depending on student’s aptitude in learning. This study provides valuable input to redesigning the current accounting curriculum to expose students to fraud-based learning environment and also incorporating forensic accounting courses. It seeks to regain society’s confidence in the accounting profession through improved fraud detection. The research will add value to the accounting education offered to undergraduates as very little prior research has been done to provide insights in students’ (end-user) perception of fraud education