472 research outputs found
Aging after shear rejuvenation in a soft glassy colloidal suspension: evidence for two different regimes
The aging dynamics after shear rejuvenation in a glassy, charged clay
suspension have been investigated through dynamic light scattering (DLS). Two
different aging regimes are observed: one is attained if the sample is
rejuvenated before its gelation and one after the rejuvenation of the gelled
sample. In the first regime, the application of shear fully rejuvenates the
sample, as the system dynamics soon after shear cessation follow the same aging
evolution characteristic of normal aging. In the second regime, aging proceeds
very fast after shear rejuvenation, and classical DLS cannot be used. An
original protocol to measure an ensemble averaged intensity correlation
function is proposed and its consistency with classical DLS is verified. The
fast aging dynamics of rejuvenated gelled samples exhibit a power law
dependence of the slow relaxation time on the waiting time.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Numerical ragweed pollen forecasts using different source maps: a comparison for France.
One of the key input parameters for numerical pollen forecasts is the distribution of pollen sources. Generally, three different methodologies exist to assemble such distribution maps: (1) plant inventories, (2) land use data in combination with annual pollen counts, and (3) ecological modeling. We have used six exemplary maps for all of these methodologies to study their applicability and usefulness in numerical pollen forecasts. The ragweed pollen season of 2012 in France has been simulated with the numerical weather prediction model COSMO-ART using each of the distribution maps in turn. The simulated pollen concentrations were statistically compared to measured values to derive a ranking of the maps with respect to their performance. Overall, approach (2) resulted in the best correspondence between observed and simulated pollen concentrations for the year 2012. It is shown that maps resulting from ecological modeling that does not include a sophisticated estimation of the plant density have a very low predictive skill. For inventory maps and the maps based on land use data and pollen counts, the results depend very much on the observational site. The use of pollen counts to calibrate the map enhances the performance of the model considerably
OBDD-Based Representation of Interval Graphs
A graph can be described by the characteristic function of the
edge set which maps a pair of binary encoded nodes to 1 iff the nodes
are adjacent. Using \emph{Ordered Binary Decision Diagrams} (OBDDs) to store
can lead to a (hopefully) compact representation. Given the OBDD as an
input, symbolic/implicit OBDD-based graph algorithms can solve optimization
problems by mainly using functional operations, e.g. quantification or binary
synthesis. While the OBDD representation size can not be small in general, it
can be provable small for special graph classes and then also lead to fast
algorithms. In this paper, we show that the OBDD size of unit interval graphs
is and the OBDD size of interval graphs is $O(\
| V \ | \log \ | V \ |)\Omega(\ | V \ | \log
\ | V \ |)O(\log \ | V \ |)O(\log^2 \ | V \ |)$ operations and
evaluate the algorithms empirically.Comment: 29 pages, accepted for 39th International Workshop on Graph-Theoretic
Concepts 201
No association between frailty index and epigenetic clocks in Italian semi-supercentenarians
Centenarians experience successful ageing, although they still present high heterogeneity in their health status. The frailty index is a biomarker of biological age, able to capture such heterogeneity, even at extreme old age. At the same time, other biomarkers (e.g., epigenetic clocks) may be informative the biological age of the individual and potentially describe the ageing status in centenarians. In this article, we explore the relationship between epigenetic clocks and frailty index in a cohort of Italian centenarians. No association was reported, suggesting that these two approaches may describe different aspects of the same ageing process
Control of human endometrial stromal cell motility by PDGF-BB, HB-EGF and trophoblast-secreted factors
Human implantation involves extensive tissue remodeling at the fetal-maternal interface. It is becoming increasingly evident that not only trophoblast, but also decidualizing endometrial stromal cells are inherently motile and invasive, and likely contribute to the highly dynamic processes at the implantation site. The present study was undertaken to further characterize the mechanisms involved in the regulation of endometrial stromal cell motility and to identify trophoblast-derived factors that modulate migration. Among local growth factors known to be present at the time of implantation, heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) triggered chemotaxis (directed locomotion), whereas platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB elicited both chemotaxis and chemokinesis (non-directed locomotion) of endometrial stromal cells. Supernatants of the trophoblast cell line AC-1M88 and of first trimester villous explant cultures stimulated chemotaxis but not chemokinesis. Proteome profiling for cytokines and angiogenesis factors revealed neither PDGF-BB nor HB-EGF in conditioned media from trophoblast cells or villous explants, while placental growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor and PDGF-AA were identified as prominent secretory products. Among these, only PDGF-AA triggered endometrial stromal cell chemotaxis. Neutralization of PDGF-AA in trophoblast conditioned media, however, did not diminish chemoattractant activity, suggesting the presence of additional trophoblast-derived chemotactic factors. Pathway inhibitor studies revealed ERK1/2, PI3 kinase/Akt and p38 signaling as relevant for chemotactic motility, whereas chemokinesis depended primarily on PI3 kinase/Akt activation. Both chemotaxis and chemokinesis were stimulated upon inhibition of Rho-associated, coiled-coil containing protein kinase. The chemotactic response to trophoblast secretions was not blunted by inhibition of isolated signaling cascades, indicating activation of overlapping pathways in trophoblast-endometrial communication. In conclusion, trophoblast signals attract endometrial stromal cells, while PDGF-BB and HB-EGF, although not identified as trophoblast-derived, are local growth factors that may serve to fine-tune directed and non-directed migration at the implantation site
Flow Faster: Efficient Decision Algorithms for Probabilistic Simulations
Strong and weak simulation relations have been proposed for Markov chains,
while strong simulation and strong probabilistic simulation relations have been
proposed for probabilistic automata. However, decision algorithms for strong
and weak simulation over Markov chains, and for strong simulation over
probabilistic automata are not efficient, which makes it as yet unclear whether
they can be used as effectively as their non-probabilistic counterparts. This
paper presents drastically improved algorithms to decide whether some
(discrete- or continuous-time) Markov chain strongly or weakly simulates
another, or whether a probabilistic automaton strongly simulates another. The
key innovation is the use of parametric maximum flow techniques to amortize
computations. We also present a novel algorithm for deciding strong
probabilistic simulation preorders on probabilistic automata, which has
polynomial complexity via a reduction to an LP problem. When extending the
algorithms for probabilistic automata to their continuous-time counterpart, we
retain the same complexity for both strong and strong probabilistic
simulations.Comment: LMC
Comparison of Microscopy and Alamar Blue Reduction in a Larval Based Assay for Schistosome Drug Screening
Only one drug, praziquantel, is widely available for treating schistosomiasis, a disease affecting an estimated 200 million people. Because of increasing usage there is concern about development of praziquantel drug resistance and a perceived need to develop new schistosomicides. Possible sources of these are large collections of compounds held by pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. Anti-schistosome activity can be detected in vitro by visually assessing damage to cultured adult schistosome worms, but these are large and are recovered from mice which somewhat limits screening throughput. By contrast, schistosomula can be produced in vitro and used for screening in microwell plates, thus allowing medium throughput screening. High throughput screening (HTS) would require automated readout of schistosomulicidal action rather than manual microscopy. Here we report on the use of Alamar blue (AB), a fluorescent indicator of cell viability which can be measured rapidly and automatically. The AB assay was readily able to detect compounds causing death or severe damage to the larvae but was less reliable than microscopy for more subtle morphological changes including those induced by some known schistosome drugs. It is concluded that an automated HTS would benefit from integrated use of both AB and automatic image-based morphology assays
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