Measurements design and phenomena discrimination

The construction of measurements suitable for discriminating signal components produced by phenomena of different types is considered. The required measurements should be capable of cancelling out those signal components which are to be ignored when focusing on a phenomenon of interest. Under the hypothesis that the subspaces hosting the signal components produced by each phenomenon are complementary, their discrimination is accomplished by measurements giving rise to the appropriate oblique projector operator. The subspace onto which the operator should project is selected by nonlinear techniques in line with adaptive pursuit strategies

Constructive updating/downdating of oblique projectors: a generalization of the Gram-Schmidt process

A generalization of the Gram-Schmidt procedure is achieved by providing equations for updating and downdating oblique projectors. The work is motivated by the problem of adaptive signal representation outside the orthogonal basis setting. The proposed techniques are shown to be relevant to the problem of discriminating signals produced by different phenomena when the order of the signal model needs to be adjusted.Comment: As it will appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical (2007

Analysis of error propagation in the ABS class for linear systems

Backward error analysis, optimally stable method,

Synthesis and physicochemical characterization of cyclic laminin related peptides

Tbe synthesis of three cyclic peptides related to an active sequence of Laminin is described. These molecules have no, one, or two stearoyl residues linked to the amino terminal end of the sequence. The physicochemical properties of these peptides as well as their interactions with dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine molecules ordered in mono- and bilayers are described. Properties based on aqueous solutions of peptides show maximum activity for the analogue with one stearoyl residue. But properties measured from organic solutions of peptides (compression isotherms), as well as those in water but at high temperatures, gave as the most surface active the distearoyl derivative. This behavior is interpreted as a strong tendency of this highly Hydrophobic molecule to form aggregates (probably micelles), very stable in aqueous media. Thus, the monostearoyl-substituted peptide seems to be the most adequate for efficient insertion into mono- and bilayers.Peer reviewe

The role of ABC-transporter gene polymorphisms in chemotherapy induced immunosuppression, a retrospective study in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

We examined the association of functional ABCB1 (MDR1) and ABCG2 (BCRP) polymorphisms with acute side effects of chemotherapy. Analyses were performed on clinical data from 138 patients treated with the ALL-BFM-95 protocol implying several substrates of these transporters. ABCB1 3435T>C, 2677G>T/A 1236C>T and ABCG2 421C>A genotypes were determined. A higher proportion of ABCB1 3435TT patients suffered excessive infectious complications than those harbouring at least one C allele (OR=2.5, p=0.03) during the whole half-year-long intensive phase of chemotherapy. Weaker associations were calculated when ABCB1 1236T-2677T-3435T haplotype homozygotes were tested against the remaining part of the population (OR=2.3, p=0.09). During the reinduction phase of therapy, the occurrence of severe leukocytopenia was similar among ABCB1 genotype groups. The frequency of any toxicities were not shown to differ according to the ABCG2 421C>A genotype. Our data suggest that the ABCB1 3435T>C genotype is associated with the infectious complications of the applied chemotherapy regimen