403 research outputs found
Qualitative Evaluation of Associations by the Transitivity of the Association Signs
We say that the signs of association measures among three variables {X, Y, Z}
are transitive if a positive association measure between the variable X and the
intermediate variable Y and further a positive association measure between Y
and the endpoint variable Z imply a positive association measure between X and
Z. We introduce four association measures with different stringencies, and
discuss conditions for the transitivity of the signs of these association
measures. When the variables follow exponential family distributions, the
conditions become simpler and more interpretable. Applying our results to two
data sets from an observational study and a randomized experiment, we
demonstrate that the results can help us to draw conclusions about the signs of
the association measures between X and Z based only on two separate studies
about {X, Y} and {Y, Z}.Comment: Statistica Sinica 201
Principal causal effect identification and surrogate endpoint evaluation by multiple trials
Principal stratification is a causal framework to analyze randomized
experiments with a post-treatment variable between the treatment and endpoint
variables. Because the principal strata defined by the potential outcomes of
the post-treatment variable are not observable, we generally cannot identify
the causal effects within principal strata. Motivated by a real data set of
phase III adjuvant colon clinical trials, we propose approaches to identifying
and estimating the principal causal effects via multiple trials. For the
identifiability, we remove the commonly-used exclusion restriction assumption
by stipulating that the principal causal effects are homogeneous across these
trials. To remove another commonly-used monotonicity assumption, we give a
necessary condition for the local identifiability, which requires at least
three trials. Applying our approaches to the data from adjuvant colon clinical
trials, we find that the commonly-used monotonicity assumption is untenable,
and disease-free survival with three-year follow-up is a valid surrogate
endpoint for overall survival with five-year follow-up, which satisfies both
the causal necessity and the causal sufficiency. We also propose a sensitivity
analysis approach based on Bayesian hierarchical models to investigate the
impact of the deviation from the homogeneity assumption
A comprehensive census of microbial diversity in hot springs of Tengchong, Yunnan Province China using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing
The Rehai and Ruidian geothermal fields, located in Tengchong County, Yunnan Province, China, host a variety of geochemically distinct hot springs. In this study, we report a comprehensive, cultivation-independent census of microbial communities in 37 samples collected from these geothermal fields, encompassing sites ranging in temperature from 55.1 to 93.6°C, in pH from 2.5 to 9.4, and in mineralogy from silicates in Rehai to carbonates in Ruidian. Richness was low in all samples, with 21–123 species-level OTUs detected. The bacterial phylum Aquificae or archaeal phylum Crenarchaeota were dominant in Rehai samples, yet the dominant taxa within those phyla depended on temperature, pH, and geochemistry. Rehai springs with low pH (2.5–2.6), high temperature (85.1–89.1°C), and high sulfur contents favored the crenarchaeal order Sulfolobales, whereas those with low pH (2.6–4.8) and cooler temperature (55.1–64.5°C) favored the Aquificae genus Hydrogenobaculum. Rehai springs with neutral-alkaline pH (7.2–9.4) and high temperature (>80°C) with high concentrations of silica and salt ions (Na, K, and Cl) favored the Aquificae genus Hydrogenobacter and crenarchaeal orders Desulfurococcales and Thermoproteales. Desulfurococcales and Thermoproteales became predominant in springs with pH much higher than the optimum and even the maximum pH known for these orders. Ruidian water samples harbored a single Aquificae genus Hydrogenobacter, whereas microbial communities in Ruidian sediment samples were more diverse at the phylum level and distinctly different from those in Rehai and Ruidian water samples, with a higher abundance of uncultivated lineages, close relatives of the ammonia-oxidizing archaeon “Candidatus Nitrosocaldus yellowstonii”, and candidate division O1aA90 and OP1. These differences between Ruidian sediments and Rehai samples were likely caused by temperature, pH, and sediment mineralogy. The results of this study significantly expand the current understanding of the microbiology in Tengchong hot springs and provide a basis for comparison with other geothermal systems around the world
Plastrum Testudinis Extracts Promote BMSC Proliferation and Osteogenic Differentiation by Regulating Let-7f-5p and the TNFR2/PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway
Background/Aims: Plastrum testudinis extracts (PTE) show osteoprotective effects on glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis in vivo and in vitro. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of PTE in promoting osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) is unclear. Methods: BMSC proliferation was investigated using the Cell Counting Kit-8 assay. BMSC differentiation and osteogenic mineralization were assayed using alkaline phosphatase and Alizarin red staining, respectively. The mRNA expression levels of Let-7f-5p, Tnfr2, Traf2, Pi3k, Akt, β-catenin, Gsk3β, Runx2, and Ocn were measured using real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Protein levels of TNFR2, TRAF2, p-PI3K, p-AKT, p-β-CATENIN, and p-GSK3β were analyzed by western blotting. The functional relationship of Let-7f-5p and Tnfr2 was determined by luciferase reporter assays. Results: The optimum concentration for PTE was 30 μg/ml. PTE significantly promoted BMSC osteogenic differentiation and mineralization after 7 and 14 days in culture, respectively. The combination of PTE and osteogenic induction exhibited significant synergy. PTE upregulated Let-7f-5p, β-catenin, Runx2, and Ocn mRNA expression, and downregulated Tnfr2, Traf2, Pi3k, Akt, and Gsk3β mRNA expression. PTE inhibited TNFR2, TRAF2, and p-β-CATENIN protein expression, and promoted p-PI3K, p-AKT, and p-GSK3β protein expression. In addition, Tnfr2 was a functional target of Let-7f-5p in 293T cells. Conclusions: Our results suggested that PTE may promote BMSC proliferation and osteogenic differentiation via a mechanism associated with the regulation of Let-7f-5p and the TNFR2/PI3K/AKT signaling pathway
Shape controlled growth of gold nanoparticles by a solution synthesis
The shape of gold nanoparticles has been successfully tuned among penta-twinned decahedrons, truncated tetrahedrons, cubes, octahedrons, hexagonal thin plates by introducing a small amount of salt into a N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) solution containing poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), and changing the temperature or the concentration of the gold precursor
Advances in automated tongue diagnosis techniques
This paper reviews the recent advances in a significant constituent of traditional oriental medicinal technology, called tongue diagnosis. Tongue diagnosis can be an effective, noninvasive method to perform an auxiliary diagnosis any time anywhere, which can support the global need in the primary healthcare system. This work explores the literature to evaluate the works done on the various aspects of computerized tongue diagnosis, namely preprocessing, tongue detection, segmentation, feature extraction, tongue analysis, especially in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In spite of huge volume of work done on automatic tongue diagnosis (ATD), there is a lack of adequate survey, especially to combine it with the current diagnosis trends. This paper studies the merits, capabilities, and associated research gaps in current works on ATD systems. After exploring the algorithms used in tongue diagnosis, the current trend and global requirements in health domain motivates us to propose a conceptual framework for the automated tongue diagnostic system on mobile enabled platform. This framework will be able to connect tongue diagnosis with the future point-of-care health system
Amplitude analysis of
Utilizing the data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of
fb collected by the BESIII detector at a center-of-mass energy of 4.178
GeV, we perform an amplitude analysis of the decay.
The sample contains 13,797 candidates with a signal purity of 80%. The
amplitude and phase of the contributing wave are measured
based on a quasi-model-independent approach, along with the amplitudes and
phases of the and waves parametrized by Breit-Wigner
models. The fit fractions of different intermediate decay channels are also
reported.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Search for New Hadronic Decays of and Observation of
Ten hadronic final states of the decays are investigated via the
process , using a data sample of events collected with the BESIII detector. The
decay channel is observed for
the first time with a significance of . The corresponding branching
fraction is determined to be (the
first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematical). Evidence for the
decays and is found with a significance of and , respectively. The corresponding branching fractions
(and upper limits) are obtained to be and
. Upper limits on the branching fractions for the final
states , ,
, ,
, , and
are determined at a confidence level of 90\%.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
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