Single Channel Probe Utilizing the EGN Model to Estimate Link Parameters for Network Abstraction

© 2017 IEEE. We experimentally demonstrate multi-span link parameter abstraction using a single channel 11.5GBd probe. EGN based abstraction gave γ=1.14W 1 km -1 c.f. 0.72W 1 km 1 for a GN based abstraction. The GN model overestimates the abstracted SNR by 0.4dB c.f. the EGN model at 1000km

Estimating coherent optical transmission system performance over heterogeneous fibre span lengths

© 2017 IEEE. This work investigates the estimation accuracy of a coherent optical transmission system's performance when the number of spans in the system is known and the overall system length is approximately known. However, there is no knowledge of the lengths of the individual spans as may happen when institutional knowledge of deployed fibre is lost. Estimating the performance of an optical signal over systems using this fibre may be inaccurate as a result. In this paper, the estimation accuracy of this scenario is examined considering a system with heterogeneous fibre span lengths for a DWDM system transmitting 80 channels modulating polarization multiplexed quadrature phase shift keying (PM-QPSK) at 32 Gbaud across the optical C-band using the Gaussian noise (GN) model in comparison to a reference system with homogenous fibre spans.EU ICONE project grant #60809

A genome-wide scanning and fine mapping study of COGA data

A thorough genetic mapping study was performed to identify predisposing genes for alcoholism dependence using the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) data. The procedure comprised whole-genome linkage and confirmation analyses, single locus and haplotype fine mapping analyses, and gene × environment haplotype regression. Stratified analysis was considered to reduce the ethnic heterogeneity and simultaneously family-based and case-control study designs were applied to detect potential genetic signals. By using different methods and markers, we found high linkage signals at D1S225 (253.7 cM), D1S547 (279.2 cM), D2S1356 (64.6 cM), and D7S2846 (56.8 cM) with nonparametric linkage scores of 3.92, 4.10, 4.44, and 3.55, respectively. We also conducted haplotype and odds ratio analyses, where the response was the dichotomous status of alcohol dependence, explanatory variables were the inferred individual haplotypes and the three statistically significant covariates were age, gender, and max drink (the maximum number of drinks consumed in a 24-hr period). The final model identified important AD-related haplotypes within a candidate region of NRXN1 at 2p21 and a few others in the inter-gene regions. The relative magnitude of risks to the identified risky/protective haplotypes was elucidated

PDA: Pooled DNA analyzer

BACKGROUND: Association mapping using abundant single nucleotide polymorphisms is a powerful tool for identifying disease susceptibility genes for complex traits and exploring possible genetic diversity. Genotyping large numbers of SNPs individually is performed routinely but is cost prohibitive for large-scale genetic studies. DNA pooling is a reliable and cost-saving alternative genotyping method. However, no software has been developed for complete pooled-DNA analyses, including data standardization, allele frequency estimation, and single/multipoint DNA pooling association tests. This motivated the development of the software, 'PDA' (Pooled DNA Analyzer), to analyze pooled DNA data. RESULTS: We develop the software, PDA, for the analysis of pooled-DNA data. PDA is originally implemented with the MATLAB(® )language, but it can also be executed on a Windows system without installing the MATLAB(®). PDA provides estimates of the coefficient of preferential amplification and allele frequency. PDA considers an extended single-point association test, which can compare allele frequencies between two DNA pools constructed under different experimental conditions. Moreover, PDA also provides novel chromosome-wide multipoint association tests based on p-value combinations and a sliding-window concept. This new multipoint testing procedure overcomes a computational bottleneck of conventional haplotype-oriented multipoint methods in DNA pooling analyses and can handle data sets having a large pool size and/or large numbers of polymorphic markers. All of the PDA functions are illustrated in the four bona fide examples. CONCLUSION: PDA is simple to operate and does not require that users have a strong statistical background. The software is available at

Patient Access to U.S. Physicians Who Conduct Internet or E-mail Consults

BACKGROUND: E-mail communication has the potential to improve communication between patients and doctors. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study is to describe the access of patients to physicians who conduct e-mail consults. METHODS: We analyzed data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of office-based physician visits, in 2001, 2002, and 2003. The main outcome measure was the percentage of visits to a provider who reported doing internet or e-mail consults. RESULTS: There was fewer than 1 in 10 outpatient visits in 2001 (9.2%) to physicians who reported doing internet or e-mail consults, and this did not increase in 2002 (5.8%) or 2003 (5.5%). Access to these physicians was greater among patients who were male, nonminority, lived in the Western United States, seen for pre-/postoperative care, seen by a primary care provider, and not seen by a nurse during their visit. Access to physicians who conducted internet or e-mail consults was independent of other patient (e.g., chronic conditions), provider (e.g., office setting), and visit (e.g., medications prescribed) characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Access to physicians who do internet or e-mail consults is generally low and did not increase between 2001 and 2003, despite growth in internet access and in other internet-related activities

Patient-centric trials for therapeutic development in precision oncology

An enhanced understanding of the molecular pathology of disease gained from genomic studies is facilitating the development of treatments that target discrete molecular subclasses of tumours. Considerable associated challenges include how to advance and implement targeted drug-development strategies. Precision medicine centres on delivering the most appropriate therapy to a patient on the basis of clinical and molecular features of their disease. The development of therapeutic agents that target molecular mechanisms is driving innovation in clinical-trial strategies. Although progress has been made, modifications to existing core paradigms in oncology drug development will be required to realize fully the promise of precision medicine

Probabilistic design of optical transmission systems

Traditionally, optical fiber nonlinearity is considered a limiting factor for transmission systems. Nevertheless, from a system design perspective this nonlinearity can be exploited to minimize the impact of uncertainty on the system performance. A consequence of this is that it becomes beneficial to consider the uncertainty at the design stage, resulting in a probabilistic design, rather than conventional design approaches whereby uncertainty is added by way of system margins to a deterministic design. In this paper, we conduct extensive experimental measurements to quantify the impact of uncertainty for a multispan wavelength division multiplexed system transmitting 100 GbE or 200 GbE as dual polarization quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) or 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (16QAM), respectively. The impact of uncertainty in the power launched into a span is assessed for a 10 × 80 km link. For dual polarization (DP)-QPSK, the intralink power deviation with the probabilistic design with 100% reliability is ±1.3 dB falling to 99% reliability with ±1.6 dB. In contrast, for DP-16QAM maximum deviation for 100% reliability is ±0.5 dB falling to 99% for ±0.6 dB. Following this, we consider the interplay between polarization dependent loss (PDL) and fiber nonlinearity over an 8 × 80 km system again for both DP-QPSK and DP-16QAM. A system Q variation of less than 0.15 dB due to the interaction between PDL and fiber nonlinearity is observed for 99.9% of examined PDL values for DP-QPSK and DP-16QAM, thereby allowing the two effects to be considered separately.This research was supported by a Ciena University collaborative research grant. The work of H.-M. Chin was supported in part by a Ph.D. studentship from Ciena and in part by EU ICONE Project under Grant #608099. The work of S. J. Savory was supported by a Senior Research Fellowship from the RAEng/The Leverhulme Trust

A low density of 0.8 g/cc for the Trojan binary asteroid 617 Patroclus

The Trojan population consists of two swarms of asteroids following the same orbit as Jupiter and located at the L4 and L5 Lagrange points of the Jupiter-Sun system (leading and following Jupiter by 60 degrees). The asteroid 617 Patroclus is the only known binary Trojan (Merline et al. 2001). The orbit of this double system was hitherto unknown. Here we report that the components, separated by 680 km, move around the system centre of mass, describing roughly a circular orbit. Using the orbital parameters, combined with thermal measurements to estimate the size of the components, we derive a very low density of 0.8 g/cc. The components of Patroclus are therefore very porous or composed mostly of water ice, suggesting that they could have been formed in the outer part of the solar system.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

Increased Immune-Regulatory Receptor Expression on Effector T Cells as Early Indicators of Relapse Following Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation for Multiple Myeloma

The benefit of autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) in newly diagnosed myeloma patients, apart from supporting high dose chemotherapy, may include effects on T cell function in the bone marrow (BM). We report our exploratory findings on marrow infiltrating T cells early post-ASCT (day+100), examining phenotype and T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire, seeking correlations with timing of relapse. Compared to healthy donors (HD), we observed an increase in regulatory T cells (CD4+FoxP3+, Tregs) with reduction in CD4 T cells, leading to lower CD4:8 ratios. Compared to paired pre-treatment marrow, both CD4 and CD8 compartments showed a reduction in naïve, and increase in effector memory subsets, suggestive of a more differentiated phenotype. This was supported by increased levels of several immune-regulatory and activation proteins (ICOS, PD-1, LAG-3, CTLA-4 and GzmB) when compared with HD. Unsupervised analysis identified a patient subgroup with shorter PFS (p=0.031) whose BM contained increased Tregs, and higher immune-regulatory markers (ICOS, PD-1, LAG-3) on effector T cells. Using single feature analysis, higher frequencies of marrow PD-1+ on CD4+FoxP3- cells and Ki67+ on CD8 cells were independently associated with early relapse. Finally, studying paired pre-treatment and post-ASCT BM (n=5), we note reduced abundance of TCR sequences at day+100, with a greater proportion of expanded sequences indicating a more focused persistent TCR repertoire. Our findings indicate that, following induction chemotherapy and ASCT, marrow T cells demonstrate increased activation and differentiation, with TCR repertoire focusing. Pending confirmation in larger series, higher levels of immune-regulatory proteins on T cell effectors at day+100 may indicate early relapse

Cardiovascular Outcomes in Acute Coronary Syndrome and Malnutrition: A Meta-Analysis of Nutritional Assessment Tools

Background: There is emerging evidence that malnutrition is associated with poor prognosis among patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). // Objectives: This study seeks to elucidate the prognostic impact of malnutrition in patients with ACS and provide a quantitative review of most commonly used nutritional assessment tools. // Methods: Medline and Embase were searched for studies reporting outcomes in patients with malnutrition and ACS. Nutritional screening tools of interest included the Prognostic Nutrition Index, Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index, and Controlling Nutritional Status. A comparative meta-analysis was used to estimate the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events based on the presence of malnutrition and stratified according to ACS type, ACS intervention, ethnicity, and income. // Results: Thirty studies comprising 37,303 patients with ACS were included, of whom 33.5% had malnutrition. In the population with malnutrition, the pooled mortality rate was 20.59% (95% CI: 14.95%-27.67%). Malnutrition was significantly associated with all-cause mortality risk after adjusting for confounders including age and left ventricular ejection fraction (adjusted HR: 2.66, 95% CI: 1.78-3.96, P = 0.004). There was excess mortality in the group with malnutrition regardless of ACS type (P = 0.132), ethnicity (P = 0.245), and income status (P = 0.058). Subgroup analysis demonstrated no statistically significant difference in mortality risk between individuals with and without malnutrition (P = 0.499) when using Controlling Nutritional Status (OR: 7.80, 95% CI: 2.17-28.07, P = 0.011), Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (OR: 4.30, 95% CI: 2.78-6.66, P < 0.001), and Prognostic Nutrition Index (OR: 4.67, 95% CI: 2.38-9.17, P = 0.023). // Conclusions: Malnutrition was significantly associated with all-cause mortality risk following ACS, regardless of ACS type, ethnicity, and income status, underscoring the importance of screening and interventional strategies for patients with malnutrition