Computational Approaches and Analysis for a Spatio-Structural-Temporal Invasive Carcinoma Model

Spatio-temporal models have long been used to describe biological systems of cancer, but it has not been until very recently that increased attention has been paid to structural dynamics of the interaction between cancer populations and the molecular mechanisms associated with local invasion. One system that is of particular interest is that of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) wherein uPA binds uPA receptors on the cancer cell surface, allowing plasminogen to be cleaved into plasmin, which degrades the extracellular matrix and this way leads to enhanced cancer cell migration. In this paper, we develop a novel numerical approach and associated analysis for spatio-structuro-temporal modelling of the uPA system for up to two-spatial and two-structural dimensions. This is accompanied by analytical exploration of the numerical techniques used in simulating this system, with special consideration being given to the proof of stability within numerical regimes encapsulating a central differences approach to approximating numerical gradients. The stability analysis performed here reveals instabilities induced by the coupling of the structural binding and proliferative processes. The numerical results expound how the uPA system aids the tumour in invading the local stroma, whilst the inhibitor to this system may impede this behaviour and encourage a more sporadic pattern of invasion.PostprintPeer reviewe

The human keratins: biology and pathology

The keratins are the typical intermediate filament proteins of epithelia, showing an outstanding degree of molecular diversity. Heteropolymeric filaments are formed by pairing of type I and type II molecules. In humans 54 functional keratin genes exist. They are expressed in highly specific patterns related to the epithelial type and stage of cellular differentiation. About half of all keratins—including numerous keratins characterized only recently—are restricted to the various compartments of hair follicles. As part of the epithelial cytoskeleton, keratins are important for the mechanical stability and integrity of epithelial cells and tissues. Moreover, some keratins also have regulatory functions and are involved in intracellular signaling pathways, e.g. protection from stress, wound healing, and apoptosis. Applying the new consensus nomenclature, this article summarizes, for all human keratins, their cell type and tissue distribution and their functional significance in relation to transgenic mouse models and human hereditary keratin diseases. Furthermore, since keratins also exhibit characteristic expression patterns in human tumors, several of them (notably K5, K7, K8/K18, K19, and K20) have great importance in immunohistochemical tumor diagnosis of carcinomas, in particular of unclear metastases and in precise classification and subtyping. Future research might open further fields of clinical application for this remarkable protein family

Crowdsourcing for Cognitive Science – The Utility of Smartphones

By 2015, there will be an estimated two billion smartphone users worldwide. This technology presents exciting opportunities for cognitive science as a medium for rapid, large-scale experimentation and data collection. At present, cost and logistics limit most study populations to small samples, restricting the experimental questions that can be addressed. In this study we investigated whether the mass collection of experimental data using smartphone technology is valid, given the variability of data collection outside of a laboratory setting. We presented four classic experimental paradigms as short games, available as a free app and over the first month 20,800 users submitted data. We found that the large sample size vastly outweighed the noise inherent in collecting data outside a controlled laboratory setting, and show that for all four games canonical results were reproduced. For the first time, we provide experimental validation for the use of smartphones for data collection in cognitive science, which can lead to the collection of richer data sets and a significant cost reduction as well as provide an opportunity for efficient phenotypic screening of large populations