PhyleasProg: a user-oriented web server for wide evolutionary analyses

Evolutionary analyses of biological data are becoming a prerequisite in many fields of biology. At a time of high-throughput data analysis, phylogenetics is often a necessary complementary tool for biologists to understand, compare and identify the functions of sequences. But available bioinformatics tools are frequently not easy for non-specialists to use. We developed PhyleasProg (http://phyleasprog.inra.fr), a user-friendly web server as a turnkey tool dedicated to evolutionary analyses. PhyleasProg can help biologists with little experience in evolutionary methodologies by analysing their data in a simple and robust way, using methods corresponding to robust standards. Via a very intuitive web interface, users only need to enter a list of Ensembl protein IDs and a list of species as inputs. After dynamic computations, users have access to phylogenetic trees, positive/purifying selection data (on site and branch-site models), with a display of these results on the protein sequence and on a 3D structure model, and the synteny environment of related genes. This connection between different domains of phylogenetics opens the way to new biological analyses for the discovery of the function and structure of proteins

Permanent Pancreatic Duct Occlusion With Neoprene-based Glue Injection After Pancreatoduodenectomy at High Risk of Pancreatic Fistula : A Prospective Clinical Study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess safety and efficacy of pancreatic duct occlusion (PDO) with neoprene-based glue in selected patients undergoing pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) at high risk of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF). BACKGROUND DATA: PD is the reference standard approach for tumors of the pancreaticoduodenal region. POPF is the most relevant complication after PD. PDO has been proposed as an alternative to anastomosis to manage the pancreatic stump. METHODS: A single-center, prospective, nonrandomized trial enrolled 100 consecutive PD for cancer. Patients at high risk for POPF according to Fistula Risk Score (FRS) >15% ( 656 points) were treated with PDO using neoprene glue (study cohort); patients with FRS 6415% ( 645 points) received pancreaticojejunal anastomosis (PJA: control cohort). Primary endpoint was complication rate grade 653 according to Dindo-Clavien Classification (DCC). Other postoperative outcomes were monitored (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03738787). RESULTS: Fifty-one patients underwent PDO and 49 PJA. DCC 653, postoperative mortality, and POPF grade B-C were 25.5% versus 24.5% (P = 0.91), 5.9% versus 2% (P = 0.62), and 11.8% versus 16.3% (P = 0.51) in the study versus control cohort, respectively. At 1 and 3 years, new-onset diabetes was diagnosed in 13.7% and 36.7% of the study cohort versu 4.2% and 12.2% in controls (P = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: PDO with neoprene-based glue is a safe technique that equalizes early outcome of selected patients at high risk of POPF to those at low risk undergoing PJA. Neoprene-based PDO, however, triples the risk of diabetes at 1 and 3 years

A new equation for the mid-plane potential of power law discs. II. Exact solutions and approximate formulae

The first-order ordinary differential equation (ODE) that describes the mid-plane gravitational potential in flat finite size discs in which the surface density is a power-law function of the radius R with exponent s (Hur\'e & Hersant 2007) is solved exactly in terms of infinite series. The formal solution of the ODE is derived and then converted into a series representation by expanding the elliptic integral of the first kind over its modulus before analytical integration. Inside the disc, the gravitational potential consists of three terms: a power law of radius R with index 1+s, and two infinite series of the variables R and 1/R. The convergence of the series can be accelerated, enabling the construction of reliable approximations. At the lowest-order, the potential inside large astrophysical discs (s ~ -1.5 +/- 1) is described by a very simple formula whose accuracy (a few percent typically) is easily increased by considering successive orders through a recurrence. A basic algorithm is given. Applications concern all theoretical models and numerical simulations where the influence of disc gravity must be checked and/or reliably taken into account.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 13 pages, 8 figure

Privaros: A Framework for Privacy-Compliant Delivery Drones

We present Privaros, a framework to enforce privacy policies on drones. Privaros is designed for commercial delivery drones, such as the ones that will likely be used by Amazon Prime Air. Such drones visit a number of host airspaces, each of which may have different privacy requirements. Privaros provides an information flow control framework to enforce the policies of these hosts on the guest delivery drones. The mechanisms in Privaros are built on top of ROS, a middleware popular in many drone platforms. This paper presents the design and implementation of these mechanisms, describes how policies are specified, and shows that Privaros's policy specification can be integrated with India's Digital Sky portal. Our evaluation shows that a drone running Privaros can robustly enforce various privacy policies specified by hosts, and that its core mechanisms only marginally increase communication latency and power consumption