Approximations from Anywhere and General Rough Sets

Not all approximations arise from information systems. The problem of fitting approximations, subjected to some rules (and related data), to information systems in a rough scheme of things is known as the \emph{inverse problem}. The inverse problem is more general than the duality (or abstract representation) problems and was introduced by the present author in her earlier papers. From the practical perspective, a few (as opposed to one) theoretical frameworks may be suitable for formulating the problem itself. \emph{Granular operator spaces} have been recently introduced and investigated by the present author in her recent work in the context of antichain based and dialectical semantics for general rough sets. The nature of the inverse problem is examined from number-theoretic and combinatorial perspectives in a higher order variant of granular operator spaces and some necessary conditions are proved. The results and the novel approach would be useful in a number of unsupervised and semi supervised learning contexts and algorithms.Comment: 20 Pages. Scheduled to appear in IJCRS'2017 LNCS Proceedings, Springe

Identification of proteins involved in neural progenitor cell targeting of gliomas

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Glioblastoma are highly aggressive tumors with an average survival time of 12 months with currently available treatment. We have previously shown that specific embryonic neural progenitor cells (NPC) have the potential to target glioma growth in the CNS of rats. The neural progenitor cell treatment can cure approximately 40% of the animals with malignant gliomas with no trace of a tumor burden 6 months after finishing the experiment. Furthermore, the NPCs have been shown to respond to signals from the tumor environment resulting in specific migration towards the tumor. Based on these results we wanted to investigate what factors could influence the growth and progression of gliomas in our rodent model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using microarrays we screened for candidate genes involved in the functional mechanism of tumor inhibition by comparing glioma cell lines to neural progenitor cells with or without anti-tumor activity. The expression of candidate genes was confirmed at RNA level by quantitative RT-PCR and at the protein level by Western blots and immunocytochemistry. Moreover, we have developed <it>in vitro </it>assays to mimic the antitumor effect seen <it>in vivo</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified several targets involved in glioma growth and migration, specifically CXCL1, CD81, TPT1, Gas6 and AXL proteins. We further showed that follistatin secretion from the NPC has the potential to decrease tumor proliferation. <it>In vitro </it>co-cultures of NPC and tumor cells resulted in the inhibition of tumor growth. The addition of antibodies against proteins selected by gene and protein expression analysis either increased or decreased the proliferation rate of the glioma cell lines <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest that these identified factors might be useful starting points for performing future experiments directed towards a potential therapy against malignant gliomas.</p

Facing depression with botulinum toxin: a randomized controlled trial

Positive effects on mood have been observed in subjects who underwent treatment of glabellar frown lines with botulinum toxin and, in an open case series, depression remitted or improved after such treatment. Using a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial design we assessed botulinum toxin injection to the glabellar region as an adjunctive treatment of major depression. Thirty patients were randomly assigned to a verum (onabotulinumtoxinA, n = 15) or placebo (saline, n = 15) group. The primary end point was change in the 17-item version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale six weeks after treatment compared to baseline. The verum and the placebo groups did not differ significantly in any of the collected baseline characteristics. Throughout the sixteen-week follow-up period there was a significant improvement in depressive symptoms in the verum group compared to the placebo group as measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (F((6,168)) = 5.76, p < 0.001, η(2) = 0.17). Six weeks after a single treatment scores of onabotulinumtoxinA recipients were reduced on average by 47.1% and by 9.2% in placebo-treated participants (F((1,28)) = 12.30, p = 0.002, η(2) = 0.31, d = 1.28). The effect size was even larger at the end of the study (d = 1.80). Treatment-dependent clinical improvement was also reflected in the Beck Depression Inventory, and in the Clinical Global Impressions Scale. This study shows that a single treatment of the glabellar region with botulinum toxin may shortly accomplish a strong and sustained alleviation of depression in patients, who did not improve sufficiently on previous medication. It supports the concept, that the facial musculature not only expresses, but also regulates mood states