A specific case in the classification of woods by FTIR and chemometric: discrimination of Fagales from Malpighiales

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic data was used to classify wood samples from nine species within the Fagales and Malpighiales using a range of multivariate statistical methods. Taxonomic classification of the family Fagaceae and Betulaceae from Angiosperm Phylogenetic System Classification (APG II System) was successfully performed using supervised pattern recognition techniques. A methodology for wood sample discrimination was developed using both sapwood and heartwood samples. Ten and eight biomarkers emerged from the dataset to discriminate order and family, respectively. In the species studied FTIR in combination with multivariate analysis highlighted significant chemical differences in hemicelluloses, cellulose and guaiacyl (lignin) and shows promise as a suitable approach for wood sample classification

The Impact of Venous Thromboembolism on Risk of Death or Hemorrhage in Older Cancer Patients

BACKGROUND: Among older cancer patients, there is uncertainty about the degree to which venous thromboembolism (VTE) and its treatment increase the risk of death or major hemorrhage. OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of VTE in a cohort of older cancer patients, as well as the degree to which VTE increased the risk of death or major hemorrhage. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results cancer registry and Medicare administrative claims data. Patients with any of ten invasive cancers diagnosed during 1995 through 1999 were included; the independent variable was VTE diagnosed concomitantly with cancer diagnosis. Outcomes included major hemorrhage during the first year after cancer diagnosis and all-cause mortality; RESULTS: Overall, about 1% of patients who were diagnosed with cancer also had a VTE diagnosed concomitantly. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors and cancer stage and grade, concomitant VTE was associated with a relative increase in the risk of death for 8 of the 10 cancer types; the increase in risk tended to range 20–40% across most cancer types. Approximately 16.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 14.9–18.8%) of patients with a concomitant VTE and 7.9% (95% CI 7.7–8.0%) of patients without a VTE experienced a major hemorrhage during the year after cancer diagnosis (P value <.001). The excess risk of hemorrhage associated with VTE varied substantially across cancer types, ranging from no significant excess (kidney and uterine cancer) to 11.5% (lymphoma). CONCLUSION: Concomitant VTE is not only a marker and potential mediator of increased risk of death among older cancer patients, but patients with a VTE have a marked increased risk of major hemorrhage

The small molecule specific EphB4 kinase inhibitor NVP-BHG712 inhibits VEGF driven angiogenesis

EphB4 and its cognitive ligand ephrinB2 play an important role in embryonic vessel development and vascular remodeling. In addition, several reports suggest that this receptor ligand pair is also involved in pathologic vessel formation in adults including tumor angiogenesis. Eph/ephrin signaling is a complex phenomena characterized by receptor forward signaling through the tyrosine kinase of the receptor and ephrin reverse signaling through various protein–protein interaction domains and phosphorylation motifs of the ephrin ligands. Therefore, interfering with EphR/ephrin signaling by the means of targeted gene ablation, soluble receptors, dominant negative mutants or antisense molecules often does not allow to discriminate between inhibition of Eph/ephrin forward and reverse signaling. We developed a specific small molecular weight kinase inhibitor of the EphB4 kinase, NVP-BHG712, which inhibits EphB4 kinase activity in the low nanomolar range in cellular assays showed high selectivity for targeting the EphB4 kinase when profiled against other kinases in biochemical as well as in cell based assays. Furthermore, NVP-BHG712 shows excellent pharmacokinetic properties and potently inhibits EphB4 autophosphorylation in tissues after oral administration. In vivo, NVP-BHG712 inhibits VEGF driven vessel formation, while it has only little effects on VEGF receptor (VEGFR) activity in vitro or in cellular assays. The data shown here suggest a close cross talk between the VEGFR and EphR signaling during vessel formation. In addition to its established function in vascular remodeling and endothelial arterio-venous differentiation, EphB4 forward signaling appears to be an important mediator of VEGF induced angiogenesis since inhibition of EphB4 forward signaling is sufficient to inhibit VEGF induced angiogenesis

Extragalactic Radio Continuum Surveys and the Transformation of Radio Astronomy

Next-generation radio surveys are about to transform radio astronomy by discovering and studying tens of millions of previously unknown radio sources. These surveys will provide new insights to understand the evolution of galaxies, measuring the evolution of the cosmic star formation rate, and rivalling traditional techniques in the measurement of fundamental cosmological parameters. By observing a new volume of observational parameter space, they are also likely to discover unexpected new phenomena. This review traces the evolution of extragalactic radio continuum surveys from the earliest days of radio astronomy to the present, and identifies the challenges that must be overcome to achieve this transformational change.Comment: To be published in Nature Astronomy 18 Sept 201

Application of chemometric analysis to infrared spectroscopy for the identification of wood origin

Chemical characteristics of wood are used in this study for plant taxonomy classification based on the current Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification (APG III System) for the division, class and subclass of woody plants. Infrared spectra contain information about the molecular structure and intermolecular interactions among the components in wood but the understanding of this information requires multivariate techniques for the analysis of highly dense datasets. This article is written with the purposes of specifying the chemical differences among taxonomic groups, and predicting the taxa of unknown samples with a mathematical model. Principal component analysis, t-test, stepwise discriminant analysis and linear discriminant analysis, were some of the chosen multivariate techniques. A procedure to determine the division, class, subclass and order of unknown samples was built with promising implications for future applications of Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy in wood taxonomy classification

Reasoning Under Uncertainty: Towards Collaborative Interactive Machine Learning

In this paper, we present the current state-of-the-art of decision making (DM) and machine learning (ML) and bridge the two research domains to create an integrated approach of complex problem solving based on human and computational agents. We present a novel classification of ML, emphasizing the human-in-the-loop in interactive ML (iML) and more specific on collaborative interactive ML (ciML), which we understand as a deep integrated version of iML, where humans and algorithms work hand in hand to solve complex problems. Both humans and computers have specific strengths and weaknesses and integrating humans into machine learning processes might be a very efficient way for tackling problems. This approach bears immense research potential for various domains, e.g., in health informatics or in industrial applications. We outline open questions and name future challenges that have to be addressed by the research community to enable the use of collaborative interactive machine learning for problem solving in a large scale

Gravitational Waves from Gravitational Collapse

Gravitational wave emission from the gravitational collapse of massive stars has been studied for more than three decades. Current state of the art numerical investigations of collapse include those that use progenitors with realistic angular momentum profiles, properly treat microphysics issues, account for general relativity, and examine non--axisymmetric effects in three dimensions. Such simulations predict that gravitational waves from various phenomena associated with gravitational collapse could be detectable with advanced ground--based and future space--based interferometric observatories.Comment: 68 pages including 13 figures; revised version accepted for publication in Living Reviews in Relativity (http://www.livingreviews.org

Isosteviol Has Beneficial Effects on Palmitate-Induced α-Cell Dysfunction and Gene Expression

BACKGROUND: Long-term exposure to high levels of fatty acids impairs insulin secretion and exaggerates glucagon secretion. The aim of this study was to explore if the antihyperglycemic agent, Isosteviol (ISV), is able to counteract palmitate-induced α-cell dysfunction and to influence α-cell gene expression. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Long-term incubation studies with clonal α-TC1-6 cells were performed in the presence of 0.5 mM palmitate with or without ISV. We investigated effects on glucagon secretion, glucagon content, cellular triglyceride (TG) content, cell proliferation, and expression of genes involved in controlling glucagon synthesis, fatty acid metabolism, and insulin signal transduction. Furthermore, we studied effects of ISV on palmitate-induced glucagon secretion from isolated mouse islets. Culturing α-cells for 72-h with 0.5 mM palmitate in the presence of 18 mM glucose resulted in a 56% (p<0.01) increase in glucagon secretion. Concomitantly, the TG content of α-cells increased by 78% (p<0.01) and cell proliferation decreased by 19% (p<0.05). At 18 mM glucose, ISV (10(-8) and 10(-6) M) reduced palmitate-stimulated glucagon release by 27% (p<0.05) and 27% (p<0.05), respectively. ISV (10(-6) M) also counteracted the palmitate-induced hypersecretion of glucagon in mouse islets. ISV (10(-6) M) reduced α-TC1-6 cell proliferation rate by 25% (p<0.05), but ISV (10(-8) and 10(-6) M) had no effect on TG content in the presence of palmitate. Palmitate (0.5 mM) increased Pcsk2 (p<0.001), Irs2 (p<0.001), Fasn (p<0.001), Srebf2 (p<0.001), Acaca (p<0.01), Pax6 (p<0.05) and Gcg mRNA expression (p<0.05). ISV significantly (p<0.05) up-regulated Insr, Irs1, Irs2, Pik3r1 and Akt1 gene expression in the presence of palmitate. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: ISV counteracts α-cell hypersecretion and apparently contributes to changes in expression of key genes resulting from long-term exposure to palmitate. ISV apparently acts as a glucagonostatic drug with potential as a new anti-diabetic drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes

Dexamethasone stimulates expression of C-type Natriuretic Peptide in chondrocytes

BACKGROUND: Growth of endochondral bones is regulated through the activity of cartilaginous growth plates. Disruption of the physiological patterns of chondrocyte proliferation and differentiation – such as in endocrine disorders or in many different genetic diseases (e.g. chondrodysplasias) – generally results in dwarfism and skeletal defects. For example, glucocorticoid administration in children inhibits endochondral bone growth, but the molecular targets of these hormones in chondrocytes remain largely unknown. In contrast, recent studies have shown that C-type Natriuretic Peptide (CNP) is an important anabolic regulator of cartilage growth, and loss-of-function mutations in the human CNP receptor gene cause dwarfism. We asked whether glucocorticoids could exert their activities by interfering with the expression of CNP or its downstream signaling components. METHODS: Primary mouse chondrocytes in monolayer where incubated with the synthetic glucocorticoid Dexamethasone (DEX) for 12 to 72 hours. Cell numbers were determined by counting, and real-time PCR was performed to examine regulation of genes in the CNP signaling pathway by DEX. RESULTS: We show that DEX does influence expression of key genes in the CNP pathway. Most importantly, DEX significantly increases RNA expression of the gene encoding CNP itself (Nppc). In addition, DEX stimulates expression of Prkg2 (encoding cGMP-dependent protein kinase II) and Npr3 (natriuretic peptide decoy receptor) genes. Conversely, DEX was found to down-regulate the expression of the gene encoding its receptor, Nr3c1 (glucocorticoid receptor), as well as the Npr2 gene (encoding the CNP receptor). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that the growth-suppressive activities of DEX are not due to blockade of CNP signaling. This study reveals a novel, unanticipated relationship between glucocorticoid and CNP signaling and provides the first evidence that CNP expression in chondrocytes is regulated by endocrine factors