Spring Sightings of Narwhal and Beluga Calves in Lancaster Sound, N.W.T.

During aerial surveys in 1986 of whales migrating in Lancaster Sound, we observed newborn narwhals as early as 27 May and regularly thereafter. Beluga calves were first seen on 31 May and were seen sporadically throughout the study period. These observations represent the earliest reported sightings to date of newborn narwhals.

On the number of generators for transeunt triangles

This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. As such, it is in the public domain, and under the provisions of Title 17, United States Code, Section 105, may not be copyrighted.Discrete Applied Mathematics, 108, 2001, pp. 309-316A transeunt triangle for size n consists of (n+1)x(n+1)x(n+1) 0's and 1's whose values are determined by the sum modulo 2 of two other local values. For a given n, two transeunt triangles of size n can be combined using the element-by-element modulo 2 sum to generate a third transeunt triangle. We show that, for large n ..

Diversified Late Acceptance Search

The well-known Late Acceptance Hill Climbing (LAHC) search aims to overcome the main downside of traditional Hill Climbing (HC) search, which is often quickly trapped in a local optimum due to strictly accepting only non-worsening moves within each iteration. In contrast, LAHC also accepts worsening moves, by keeping a circular array of fitness values of previously visited solutions and comparing the fitness values of candidate solutions against the least recent element in the array. While this straightforward strategy has proven effective, there are nevertheless situations where LAHC can unfortunately behave in a similar manner to HC. For example, when a new local optimum is found, often the same fitness value is stored many times in the array. To address this shortcoming, we propose new acceptance and replacement strategies to take into account worsening, improving, and sideways movement scenarios with the aim to improve the diversity of values in the array. Compared to LAHC, the proposed Diversified Late Acceptance Search approach is shown to lead to better quality solutions that are obtained with a lower number of iterations on benchmark Travelling Salesman Problems and Quadratic Assignment Problems

Transfer RNA-derived small RNAs in the cancer transcriptome

The cellular lifetime includes stages such as differentiation, proliferation, division, senescence and apoptosis.These stages are driven by a strictly ordered process of transcription dynamics. Molecular disruption to RNA polymerase assembly, chromatin remodelling and transcription factor binding through to RNA editing, splicing, post-transcriptional regulation and ribosome scanning can result in significant costs arising from genome instability. Cancer development is one example of when such disruption takes place. RNA silencing is a term used to describe the effects of post-transcriptional gene silencing mediated by a diverse set of small RNA molecules. Small RNAs are crucial for regulating gene expression and microguarding genome integrity.RNA silencing studies predominantly focus on small RNAs such as microRNAs, short-interfering RNAs and piwi-interacting RNAs. We describe an emerging renewal of inter-est in a‘larger’small RNA, the transfer RNA (tRNA).Precisely generated tRNA-derived small RNAs, named tRNA halves (tiRNAs) and tRNA fragments (tRFs), have been reported to be abundant with dysregulation associated with cancer. Transfection of tiRNAs inhibits protein translation by displacing eukaryotic initiation factors from messenger RNA (mRNA) and inaugurating stress granule formation.Knockdown of an overexpressed tRF inhibits cancer cell proliferation. Recovery of lacking tRFs prevents cancer metastasis. The dual oncogenic and tumour-suppressive role is typical of functional small RNAs. We review recent reports on tiRNA and tRF discovery and biogenesis, identification and analysis from next-generation sequencing data and a mechanistic animal study to demonstrate their physiological role in cancer biology. We propose tRNA-derived small RNA-mediated RNA silencing is an innate defence mechanism to prevent oncogenic translation. We expect that cancer cells are percipient to their ablated control of transcription and attempt to prevent loss of genome control through RNA silencing

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation compared to neoadjuvant radiation alone and surgery alone for Stage II and III soft tissue sarcoma of the extremities

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neoadjuvant chemoradiation (NCR) prior to resection of extremity soft tissue sarcoma (STS) has been studied, but data are limited. We present outcomes with NCR using a variety of chemotherapy regimens compared to neoadjuvant radiation without chemotherapy (NR) and surgery alone (SA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a retrospective chart review of 112 cases.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Treatments included SA (36 patients), NCR (39 patients), and NR (37 patients). NCR did not improve the rate of margin-negative resections over SA or NR. Loco-regional relapse-free survival, distant metastases-free survival, and overall survival (OS) were not different among the treatment groups. Patients with relapsed disease (OR 11.6; p = 0.01), and tumor size greater than 5 cm (OR 9.4; p = 0.01) were more likely to have a loco-regional recurrence on logistic regression analysis. Significantly increased OS was found among NCR-treated patients with tumors greater than 5 cm compared to SA (3 year OS 69 vs. 40%; p = 0.03). Wound complication rates were higher after NCR compared to SA (50 vs. 11%; p = 0.003) but not compared to NR (p = 0.36). Wet desquamation was the most common adverse event of NCR.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>NCR and NR are acceptable strategies for patients with STS. NCR is well-tolerated, but not clearly superior to NR.</p

741phealth related quality of life hrqol in patients with early stage pancreatic cancer espc receiving adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy a nac a systematic literature review slr

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Lichtspectrum bij stuur- en groeilicht in Freesia: Indicatief praktijkonderzoek naar de effecten van stuurlicht met LED lampen en groeilicht met plasmalampen

Wageningen UR glastuinbouw heeft samen met Penning Freesia en Pronk Consultancy in 2012 onderzoek gedaan naar de teeltkundige toepassingsmogelijkheden van LED- en zwavelplasmalampen in de teelt van. Met LED onderzoeksmodules is dagverlenging gerealiseerd van 10 uur bij een laag lichtniveau van 4 μmol/m 2 /s. Met zwavelplasmalampen is groeilicht gegeven ter vervanging van SON-T lampen. Rood licht heeft een toename van het cumulatief geoogst gewicht gegeven van 7% in Albatros tot 20% in Red Beauty. Verrood licht had een positief effect op het takgewicht van de hoofdtak. In beide rassen was de lengte onder zwavelplasma lampen korter en in Red Beauty was de lengte onder stuurlicht van alle kleuren ook iets korter dan onder SON-T. Er is in deze proef geen extra stimulering van de groei waargenomen door belichten met 35 μmol/m 2 /s Ecoplasma zwavelplasmalampen ten opzichte van SON-T. Het onderzoek is mogelijk gemaakt door financiering door het Productschap Tuinbouw en uitgevoerd onder begeleiding van de BCO en de landelijke commissie Freesia van LTO Groeiservice

Herkennen en Spiegelen: Barrieres en kennishiaten bij energiebesparing in de glastuinbouw.

In dit rapport wordt verslag gedaan van een dieptestudie naar barrières en kennishiaten die glastuinders ervaren bij hun streven naar het besparen van energie. Glastuinders hebben in de loop der jaren een 'persoonlijk optimum' van produceren ontwikkeld dat een (kwetsbaar) evenwicht is tussen de inzet van productiemiddelen en de opbrengst. Besparing op alleen energie brengt dit evenwicht in gevaar. Een nieuw evenwicht kan pas gevonden worden wanneer de inzet van alle productiemiddelen simultaan wordt aangepast. De teler ontbeert de noodzakelijke teeltkundige kennis om zonder grote risico's te lopen zelfstandig op zoek te gaan naar het nieuwe evenwicht, en wordt in zijn mogelijkheden begrensd door de investeringscyclus. In this report, results are described of an in-depth study into barriers and knowledge gaps experienced by greenhouse growers saving energy. In the course of years, growers have found a balance between inputs and production. Merely saving energy endangers this balance. A new balance can only be found if all inputs are adjusted simultaneously. The grower lacks the necessary cultivation knowledge to search independently for a new balance without running huge risks, and is limited in his possibilities by the investment cycle

Unsupervised Bayesian linear unmixing of gene expression microarrays

Background: This paper introduces a new constrained model and the corresponding algorithm, called unsupervised Bayesian linear unmixing (uBLU), to identify biological signatures from high dimensional assays like gene expression microarrays. The basis for uBLU is a Bayesian model for the data samples which are represented as an additive mixture of random positive gene signatures, called factors, with random positive mixing coefficients, called factor scores, that specify the relative contribution of each signature to a specific sample. The particularity of the proposed method is that uBLU constrains the factor loadings to be non-negative and the factor scores to be probability distributions over the factors. Furthermore, it also provides estimates of the number of factors. A Gibbs sampling strategy is adopted here to generate random samples according to the posterior distribution of the factors, factor scores, and number of factors. These samples are then used to estimate all the unknown parameters. Results: Firstly, the proposed uBLU method is applied to several simulated datasets with known ground truth and compared with previous factor decomposition methods, such as principal component analysis (PCA), non negative matrix factorization (NMF), Bayesian factor regression modeling (BFRM), and the gradient-based algorithm for general matrix factorization (GB-GMF). Secondly, we illustrate the application of uBLU on a real time-evolving gene expression dataset from a recent viral challenge study in which individuals have been inoculated with influenza A/H3N2/Wisconsin. We show that the uBLU method significantly outperforms the other methods on the simulated and real data sets considered here. Conclusions: The results obtained on synthetic and real data illustrate the accuracy of the proposed uBLU method when compared to other factor decomposition methods from the literature (PCA, NMF, BFRM, and GB-GMF). The uBLU method identifies an inflammatory component closely associated with clinical symptom scores collected during the study. Using a constrained model allows recovery of all the inflammatory genes in a single factor

Impact of Software Modeling on the Accuracy of Perfusion MRI in Glioma

PURPOSE: To determine whether differences in modeling implementation will impact the correction of leakage effects (from blood brain barrier disruption) and relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) calculations as measured on T2*-weighted dynamic susceptibility-weighted contrast-enhanced (DSC)-MRI at 3T field strength. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This HIPAA-compliant study included 52 glioma patients undergoing DSC-MRI. Thirty-six patients underwent both non Preload Dose (PLD) and PLD-corrected DSC acquisitions, with sixteen patients undergoing PLD-corrected acquisitions only. For each acquisition, we generated two sets of rCBV metrics using two separate, widely published, FDA-approved commercial software packages: IB Neuro (IBN) and NordicICE (NICE). We calculated 4 rCBV metrics within tumor volumes: mean rCBV, mode rCBV, percentage of voxels with rCBV > 1.75 (%>1.75), and percentage of voxels with rCBV > 1.0 (Fractional Tumor Burden or FTB). We determined Pearson (r) and Spearman (ρ) correlations between non-PLD- and PLD-corrected metrics. In a subset of recurrent glioblastoma patients (n=25), we determined Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) Areas-Under-Curve (AUC) for FTB accuracy to predict the tissue diagnosis of tumor recurrence versus post-treatment effect (PTRE). We also determined correlations between rCBV and microvessel area (MVA) from stereotactic biopsies (n=29) in twelve patients. RESULTS: Using IBN, rCBV metrics correlated highly between non-PLD- and PLD-corrected conditions for FTB (r=0.96, ρ=0.94), %>1.75 (r=0.93, ρ=0.91), mean (r=0.87, ρ=0.86) and mode (r=0.78, ρ=0.76). These correlations dropped substantially with NICE. Using FTB, IBN was more accurate than NICE in diagnosing tumor vs PTRE (AUC=0.85 vs 0.67) (p<0.01). The highest rCBV-MVA correlations required PLD and IBN (r=0.64, ρ=0.58, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Different implementations of perfusion MRI software modeling can impact the accuracy of leakage correction, rCBV calculation, and correlations with histologic benchmarks