Capturing Multivariate Spatial Dependence: Model, Estimate and then Predict

Physical processes rarely occur in isolation, rather they influence and interact with one another. Thus, there is great benefit in modeling potential dependence between both spatial locations and different processes. It is the interaction between these two dependencies that is the focus of Genton and Kleiber's paper under discussion. We see the problem of ensuring that any multivariate spatial covariance matrix is nonnegative definite as important, but we also see it as a means to an end. That "end" is solving the scientific problem of predicting a multivariate field. [arXiv:1507.08017].Comment: Published at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/15-STS517 in the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Chemotherapy-induced neutropenia management in a patient with metastatic breast cancer and Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS): A case report

BACKGROUND: Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is a rare inherited bone marrow failure syndrome associated with cytopenia and the development of hematologic malignancies. Solid tumor occurrence is rare and, historically, these patients have had poor outcomes due to chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression and increased susceptibility to infections. We report the administration of cytotoxic systemic therapy with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) in a patient with SDS and metastatic breast cancer. We describe the risk-benefit profile of utilizing G-CSF in managing this patient to improve her therapeutic outcome and review the prior literature. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 41-year-old Caucasian female with SDS developed stage IV triple-positive [estrogen positive, progesterone positive, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 ( CONCLUSIONS: This case report describes the treatment of a patient with SDS and metastatic breast cancer with cytotoxic chemotherapy and G-CSF. G-CSF facilitated ongoing chemotherapy administration and reduced the risk of infection leading to an optimal therapeutic outcome. There should be careful consideration of early G-CSF use in patients with SDS to optimize continuous chemotherapy dosing

Tensile Cervical Facet Capsule Ligament Mechanics: Failure and Subfailure Responses in the Rat

Clinical, epidemiological, and biomechanical studies suggest the involvement of the cervical facet joint in neck pain. Mechanical studies have suggested the facet capsular ligament to be at risk for subfailure tensile injury during whiplash kinematics of the neck. Ligament mechanical properties can be altered by subfailure injury and such loading can induce cellular damage. However, at present, there is no clear understanding of the physiologic context of subfailure facet capsular ligament injury and mechanical implications for whiplash-related pain. Therefore, this study aimed to define a relationship between mechanical properties at failure and a subfailure condition associated with pain for tension in the rat cervical facet capsular ligament. Tensile failure studies of the C6/C7 rat cervical facet capsular ligament were performed using a customized vertebral distraction device. Force and displacement at failure were measured and stiffness and energy to failure were calculated. Vertebral motions and ligament deformations were tracked and maximum principal strains and their directions were calculated. Mean tensile force at failure (2.96±0.69 N) was significantly greater (p\u3c0.005) than force at subfailure (1.17±0.48 N). Mean ligament stiffness to failure was 0.75±0.27 N/mm. Maximum principal strain at failure (41.3±20.0%) was significantly higher (p=0.003) than the corresponding subfailure value (23.1±9.3%). This study determined that failure and a subfailure painful condition were significantly different in ligament mechanics and findings provide preliminary insight into the relationship between mechanics and pain physiology for this ligament. Together with existing studies, these findings offer additional considerations for defining mechanical thresholds for painful injuries

Interplay of non-covalent interactions in ribbon-like guanosine self-assembly : a NMR crystallography study

A NMR crystallography study shows how intermolecular NH...O, NH...N, OH...N, OH...O and CH–π interactions stabilize the ribbon-like supramolecular structures of three different guanosine derivatives; guanosine dihydrate (G), 3/, 5/–O– dipropanolyl deoxyguanosine (dGC(3)2) and 3/, 5/ –O– isopropylideneguanosine hemihydrate (Gace). Experimental solid-state 1H NMR spectra obtained at 20 T using fast Magic-Angle Spinning (MAS), here at 75 kHz, are presented for a dihydrate of G. For each guanosine derivative, the role of specific interactions is probed by means of NMR chemical shifts calculated using the Density Functional Theory (DFT) Gauge-Including Projector-Augmented Wave (GIPAW) approach for the full crystal and extracted isolated single molecules. Specifically, the isolated molecule to full crystal transformations result in net changes in the GIPAW calculated 1H NMR chemical shifts of up to 8 ppm for OH...O, up to 6.5 ppm for NH...N and up to 4.6 ppm for NH...O hydrogen bonds; notably, the presence of water molecules in G and Gace reinforces the molecular stacking through strong OH...O hydrogen bonds. The sugar conformations are markedly different in G, dG(C3)2 and Gace, and it is shown that the experimental 13C solid-state NMR chemical shift at the C8 position is a reliable indicator of a ‘syn’ (> 135 ppm) or ‘anti’ (< 135 ppm) conformer

A Plant Virus Substrate Induces Early Upregulation of BMP2 for Rapid Bone Formation

Many nanoscale materials have been developed to investigate the effects on stem cell differentiations via topographical and chemical cues for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The use of plant viruses as cell supporting substrates has been of particular interest due to the rapid induction of bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) towards osteogenic cells. In this study, the role of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and its early effects on osteoinduction with particular emphasis on the regulation of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) was examined. We observed that the cells on the virus substrate immediately aggregated and formed bone-like nodules within 24 hours. An immediate increase in BMP2 gene and protein expression for cells on the TMV substrate was observed within 8 hours of osteoinduction. Moreover, BMP2 expression was highly localized to cells within the cell aggregates. This enhanced differentiation only occurred when TMV was coated on a solid support but not upon adding the virus to the media solution. Taken together, the results from this study highlight the potential of virus-based nanomaterials to promote endogenous BMP2 production which may prove to be a unique approach to studying the regulatory mechanisms involved in early osteoblastic differentiation

Effects of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor Fluoxetine on Counterregulatory Responses to Hypoglycemia in Individuals With Type 1 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE—Previous work has demonstrated that chronic administration of the serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine augments counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia in healthy humans. However, virtually no information exists regarding the effects of fluoxetine on integrated physiological counterregulatory responses during hypoglycemia in type 1 diabetes. Therefore, the specific aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that 6-week use of the SSRI fluoxetine would amplify autonomic nervous system (ANS) counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia in individuals with type 1 diabetes

An estimate of \Omega_m without priors

Using mean relative peculiar velocity measurements for pairs of galaxies, we estimate the cosmological density parameter $\Omega_m$ and the amplitude of density fluctuations $\sigma_8$. Our results suggest that our statistic is a robust and reproducible measure of the mean pairwise velocity and thereby the $\Omega_m$ parameter. We get $\Omega_m = 0.30^{+0.17}_{-0.07}$ and $\sigma_8 = 1.13^{+0.22}_{-0.23}$. These estimates do not depend on prior assumptions on the adiabaticity of the initial density fluctuations, the ionization history, or the values of other cosmological parameters.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, slight changes to reflect published versio