128 research outputs found
ICSM : une stratégie pour la gestion des inondations dans des bassins versants en redéveloppement
Colloque avec actes et comité de lecture. Internationale.International audienc
Optimising fusion detection through sequential DNA and RNA molecular profiling of non-small cell lung cancer
OBJECTIVES: There is an increasing number of driver fusions in NSCLC which are amenable to targeted therapy. Panel testing for fusions is increasingly appropriate but can be costly and requires adequate good quality biopsy material. In light of the typical mutual exclusivity of driver events in NSCLC, the objective of this study was to trial a novel testing pathway, supported by industrial collaboration, in which only patients negative for driver mutations on DNA-NGS were submitted for fusion panel analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Over 18 months, all patients from a single centre with non-squamous NSCLC were submitted for DNA-NGS, plus ALK and ROS1 immunohistochemistry +/â FISH. Those which were negative for a driver mutation were then recalled for RNA panel testing. RESULTS: 307 samples were referred for DNA-NGS mutation analysis, of which, 10% of cases were unsuitable for or failed DNA-NGS analysis. Driver mutations were detected in 61% (167/275) of all those successfully tested. Of those without a driver mutation and with some remaining tissue available, 28% had insufficient tissue/extracted RNA or failed RNA-NGS. Of those successfully tested, 24% (17/72) had a fusion gene detected involving either ALK, ROS, MET, RET, FGFR or EGFR. Overall, 66% (184/277) of patients had a driver event detected through the combination of DNA and RNA panels. CONCLUSION: Sequential DNA and RNA based molecular profiling increased the efficacy of detecting fusion driven NSCLCs. Continued optimisation of tissue procurement, handling and the diagnostic pathways for gene fusion analysis is necessary to reduce analysis failure rates and improve detection rate for treatment with the next generation of small molecule inhibitors
A Planet Orbiting the Star Rho Coronae Borealis
We report the discovery of near-sinusoidal radial velocity variations of the
G0V star rhoCrB, with period 39.6 days and amplitude 67 m/s. These variations
are consistent with the existence of an orbital companion in a circular orbit.
Adopting a mass of 1.0 M(Sun) for the primary, the companion has minimum mass
about 1.1 Jupiter masses, and orbital radius about 0.23 AU. Such an orbital
radius is too large for tidal circularization of an initially eccentric orbit
during the lifetime of the star, and hence we suggest that the low eccentricity
is primordial, as would be expected for a planet formed in a dissipative
circumstellar disk.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, accepted in Astrophys. J. Letter
The Palomar Testbed Interferometer Calibrator Catalog
The Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) archive of observations between 1998
and 2005 is examined for objects appropriate for calibration of optical
long-baseline interferometer observations - stars that are predictably
point-like and single. Approximately 1,400 nights of data on 1,800 objects were
examined for this investigation. We compare those observations to an
intensively studied object that is a suitable calibrator, HD217014, and
statistically compare each candidate calibrator to that object by computing
both a Mahalanobis distance and a Principal Component Analysis. Our hypothesis
is that the frequency distribution of visibility data associated with
calibrator stars differs from non-calibrator stars such as binary stars.
Spectroscopic binaries resolved by PTI, objects known to be unsuitable for
calibrator use, are similarly tested to establish detection limits of this
approach. From this investigation, we find more than 350 observed stars
suitable for use as calibrators (with an additional being
rejected), corresponding to sky coverage for PTI. This approach
is noteworthy in that it rigorously establishes calibration sources through a
traceable, empirical methodology, leveraging the predictions of spectral energy
distribution modeling but also verifying it with the rich body of PTI's on-sky
observations.Comment: 100 pages, 7 figures, 7 tables; to appear in the May 2008ApJS, v176n
PKS 1502+106: a new and distant gamma-ray blazar in outburst discovered by the Fermi Large Area Telescope
The Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope
discovered a rapid (about 5 days duration), high-energy (E >100 MeV) gamma-ray
outburst from a source identified with the blazar PKS 1502+106 (OR 103, S3
1502+10, z=1.839) starting on August 05, 2008 and followed by bright and
variable flux over the next few months. Results on the gamma-ray localization
and identification, as well as spectral and temporal behavior during the first
months of the Fermi all-sky survey are reported here in conjunction with a
multi-waveband characterization as a result of one of the first Fermi
multi-frequency campaigns. The campaign included a Swift ToO (followed up by
16-day observations on August 07-22, MJD 54685-54700), VLBA (within the MOJAVE
program), Owens Valley (OVRO) 40m, Effelsberg-100m, Metsahovi-14m, RATAN-600
and Kanata-Hiroshima radio/optical observations. Results from the analysis of
archival observations by INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton and Spitzer space telescopes are
reported for a more complete picture of this new gamma-ray blazar.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for The Astrophysical Journa
Deep MMT Transit Survey of the Open Cluster M37 III: Stellar Rotation at 550 Myr
In the course of conducting a deep (14.5 ~< r ~< 23), 20 night survey for
transiting planets in the rich ~550 Myr old open cluster M37 we have measured
the rotation periods of 575 stars which lie near the cluster main sequence,
with masses 0.2 Msun ~< M ~< 1.3 Msun. This is the largest sample of rotation
periods for a cluster older than 500 Myr. Using this rich sample we investigate
a number of relations between rotation period, color and the amplitude of
photometric variability. Stars with M >~ 0.8 Msun show a tight correlation
between period and mass with heavier stars rotating more rapidly. There is a
group of 4 stars with P > 15 days that fall well above this relation, which, if
real, would present a significant challenge to theories of stellar angular
momentum evolution. Below 0.8 Msun the stars continue to follow the period-mass
correlation but with a broad tail of rapid rotators that expands to shorter
periods with decreasing mass. We combine these results with observations of
other open clusters to test the standard theory of lower-main sequence stellar
angular momentum evolution. We find that the model reproduces the observations
for solar mass stars, but discrepancies are apparent for stars with 0.6 ~< M ~<
1.0 Msun. We also find that for late-K through early-M dwarf stars in this
cluster rapid rotators tend to be bluer than slow rotators in B-V but redder
than slow rotators in V-I_{C}. This result supports the hypothesis that the
significant discrepancy between the observed and predicted temperatures and
radii of low-mass main sequence stars is due to stellar activity.Comment: Replaced with version accepted to ApJ. 104 pages, 7 tables, 26
figure
Neurocranium versus Face: A Morphometric Approach with Classical Anthropometric Variables for Characterizing Patterns of Cranial Integration in Extant Hominoids and Extinct Hominins
The relative importance of the two main cranial complexes, the neurocranium and the splanchnocranium, has been examined in the five species of extant hominoids and in a huge sample of extinct hominins using six standard craniometric variables that measure the length, width and height of each cranial module. Factor analysis and two-block partial least squares were used for establishing the major patterns of developmental and evolutionary integration between both cranial modules. The results obtained show that all extant hominoids (including the anatomically modern humans) share a conserved pattern of developmental integration, a result that agrees with previous studies. The pattern of evolutionary integration between both cranial modules in australopiths runs in parallel to developmental integration. In contrast, the pattern of evolutionary and developmental integration of the species of the genus Homo is the opposite, which is probably the consequence of distinctive selective regimes for both hominin groups.JAPC, JMJA and PP received fundings from Ministerio de Ciencia e InnovaciĂłn, Gobierno de España (http://www.idi.mineco.gob.es), project CGL2011-30334, and ConsejerĂa de EconomĂa, InnovaciĂłn, Ciencia y Empleo, Junta de AndalucĂa, España (http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/organismoâs/economiainnovacioncienciayempleo.html), project P11-HUM-7248 and Research Groups RNM-146 and HUM-607
Fine-scale foraging movements by fish-eating killer whales (Orcinus orca) relate to the vertical distributions and escape responses of salmonid prey (Oncorhynchus spp.)
Noncomparabilities & Non Standard Logics
Many normative theories set forth in the welfare economics, distributive justice and cognate literatures posit noncomparabilities or incommensurabilities between magnitudes of various kinds. In some cases these gaps are predicated on metaphysical claims, in others upon epistemic claims, and in still others upon political-moral claims. I show that in all such cases they are best given formal expression in nonstandard logics that reject bivalence, excluded middle, or both. I do so by reference to an illustrative case study: a contradiction known to beset John Rawls\u27s selection and characterization of primary goods as the proper distribuendum in any distributively just society. The contradiction is avoided only by reformulating Rawls\u27s claims in a nonstandard form, which form happens also to cohere quite attractively with Rawls\u27s intuitive argumentation on behalf of his claims
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