Increasing the Reliability of Adaptive Quadrature Using Explicit Interpolants

We present two new adaptive quadrature routines. Both routines differ from previously published algorithms in many aspects, most significantly in how they represent the integrand, how they treat non-numerical values of the integrand, how they deal with improper divergent integrals and how they estimate the integration error. The main focus of these improvements is to increase the reliability of the algorithms without significantly impacting their efficiency. Both algorithms are implemented in Matlab and tested using both the "families" suggested by Lyness and Kaganove and the battery test used by Gander and Gautschi and Kahaner. They are shown to be more reliable, albeit in some cases less efficient, than other commonly-used adaptive integrators.Comment: 32 pages, submitted to ACM Transactions on Mathematical Softwar

Cold Induction of EARLI1, a Putative Arabidopsis Lipid Transfer Protein, Is Light and Calcium Dependent

As sessile organisms, plants must adapt to their environment. One approach toward understanding this adaptation is to investigate environmental regulation of gene expression. Our focus is on the environmental regulation of EARLI1, which is activated by cold and long-day photoperiods. Cold activation of EARLI1 in short-day photoperiods is slow, requiring several hours at 4ºC to detect an increase in mRNA abundance. EARLI1 is not efficiently cold-activated in etiolated seedlings, suggesting that photomorphogenesis is necessary for its cold activation. Cold activation of EARLI1 is inhibited in the presence of the calcium channel blocker lanthanum chloride or the calcium chelator EGTA. Addition of the calcium ionophore Bay K8644 results in cold-independent activation of EARLI1. These data suggest that EARLI1 is not an immediate target of the cold response, and that calcium flux affects its expression. EARLI1 is a putative secreted protein and has motifs found in lipid transfer proteins. Over-expression of EARLI1 in transgenic plants results in reduced electrolyte leakage during freezing damage, suggesting that EARLI1 may affect membrane or cell wall stability in response to low temperature stress

Early symptoms and sensations as predictors of lung cancer: a machine learning multivariate model.

The aim of this study was to identify a combination of early predictive symptoms/sensations attributable to primary lung cancer (LC). An interactive e-questionnaire comprised of pre-diagnostic descriptors of first symptoms/sensations was administered to patients referred for suspected LC. Respondents were included in the present analysis only if they later received a primary LC diagnosis or had no cancer; and inclusion of each descriptor required ≥4 observations. Fully-completed data from 506/670 individuals later diagnosed with primary LC (n = 311) or no cancer (n = 195) were modelled with orthogonal projections to latent structures (OPLS). After analysing 145/285 descriptors, meeting inclusion criteria, through randomised seven-fold cross-validation (six-fold training set: n = 433; test set: n = 73), 63 provided best LC prediction. The most-significant LC-positive descriptors included a cough that varied over the day, back pain/aches/discomfort, early satiety, appetite loss, and having less strength. Upon combining the descriptors with the background variables current smoking, a cold/flu or pneumonia within the past two years, female sex, older age, a history of COPD (positive LC-association); antibiotics within the past two years, and a history of pneumonia (negative LC-association); the resulting 70-variable model had accurate cross-validated test set performance: area under the ROC curve = 0.767 (descriptors only: 0.736/background predictors only: 0.652), sensitivity = 84.8% (73.9/76.1%, respectively), specificity = 55.6% (66.7/51.9%, respectively). In conclusion, accurate prediction of LC was found through 63 early symptoms/sensations and seven background factors. Further research and precision in this model may lead to a tool for referral and LC diagnostic decision-making

WRAP53 promotes cancer cell survival and is a potential target for cancer therapy

We previously identified WRAP53 as an antisense transcript that regulates the p53 tumor suppressor. The WRAP53 gene also encodes a protein essential for Cajal body formation and involved in cellular trafficking of the survival of motor neuron complex, the telomerase enzyme and small Cajal body-specific RNAs to Cajal bodies. Here, we show that the WRAP53 protein is overexpressed in a variety of cancer cell lines of different origin and that WRAP53 overexpression promotes cellular transformation. Knockdown of the WRAP53 protein triggers massive apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway, as demonstrated by Bax/Bak activation, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release. The apoptosis induced by WRAP53 knockdown could moreover be blocked by Bcl-2 overexpression. Interestingly, human tumor cells are more sensitive to WRAP53 depletion as compared with normal human cells indicating that cancer cells in particular depends on WRAP53 expression for their survival. In agreement with this, we found that high levels of WRAP53 correlate with poor prognosis of head and neck cancer. Together these observations propose a role of WRAP53 in carcinogenesis and identify WRAP53 as a novel molecular target for a large fraction of malignancies

PSF calibration requirements for dark energy from cosmic shear

The control of systematic effects when measuring galaxy shapes is one of the main challenges for cosmic shear analyses. In this context, we study the fundamental limitations on shear accuracy due to the measurement of the Point Spread Function (PSF) from the finite number of stars. In order to do that, we translate the accuracy required for cosmological parameter estimation to the minimum number of stars over which the PSF must be calibrated. We first derive our results analytically in the case of infinitely small pixels (i.e. infinitely high resolution). Then image simulations are used to validate these results and investigate the effect of finite pixel size in the case of an elliptical gaussian PSF. Our results are expressed in terms of the minimum number of stars required to calibrate the PSF in order to ensure that systematic errors are smaller than statistical errors when estimating the cosmological parameters. On scales smaller than the area containing this minimum number of stars, there is not enough information to model the PSF. In the case of an elliptical gaussian PSF and in the absence of dithering, 2 pixels per PSF Full Width at Half Maximum (FWHM) implies a 20% increase of the minimum number of stars compared to the ideal case of infinitely small pixels; 0.9 pixels per PSF FWHM implies a factor 100 increase. In the case of a good resolution and a typical Signal-to-Noise Ratio distribution of stars, we find that current surveys need the PSF to be calibrated over a few stars, which may explain residual systematics on scales smaller than a few arcmins. Future all-sky cosmic shear surveys require the PSF to be calibrated over a region containing about 50 stars.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures, accepted by A&

Increase in mast cells and hyaluronic acid correlates to radiation-induced damage and loss of serous acinar cells in salivary glands: the parotid and submandibular glands differ in radiation sensitivity.

The detailed mechanisms which can explain the inherent radiosensitivity of salivary glands remain to be elucidated. Although DNA is the most plausible critical target for the lethal effects of irradiation, interactions with other constituents, such as cell membrane and neuropeptides, have been suggested to cause important physiological changes. Moreover, mast cells seem to be closely linked to radiation-induced pneumonitis. Therefore, in the present study the effects of fractionated irradiation on salivary glands have been assessed with special regard to the appearance of mast cells and its correlation with damage to gland parenchyma. Sprague-Dawley strain rats were unilaterally irradiated to the head and neck with the salivary glands within the radiation field. The irradiation was delivered once daily for 5 days to a total dose of 20, 35 and 45 Gy. The contralateral parotid and submandibular glands served as intra-animal controls and parallel analysis of glands was performed 2, 4, 10 or 180 days following the last radiation treatment. Morphological analysis revealed no obvious changes up to 10 days after the irradiation. At 180 days a radiation dose-dependent loss of gland parenchyma was seen, especially with regard to serious acinar cells in parotid gland and acinar cells and serous CGT (convoluted granular tubule) cells in the submandibular gland. These changes displayed a close correlation with a concomitant dose-dependent enhanced density of mast cells and staining for hyaluronic acid. This cell population seems to conform with the features of the connective tissue mast cell type. The parotid seems to be more sensitive to irradiation than the submandibular gland. Thus, the present results further strengthen the role of and the potential interaction of mast cells with radiation-induced tissue injury and alterations in normal tissue integrity

Music

This is an invited contribution to the SAGE Encyclopedia of Contemporary Early Childhood Education concerning music

Interleukin-2 and histamine in combination inhibit tumour growth and angiogenesis in malignant glioma

Biotherapy including interleukin-2 (IL-2) treatment seems to be more effective outside the central nervous system when compared to the effects obtained when the same tumour is located intracerebrally. Recently published studies suggest that reduced activity of NK cells in tumour tissue can be increased by histamine. The present study was designed to determine whether IL-2 and histamine, alone or in combination, can induce anti-tumour effects in an orthotopic rat glioma model. One group of rats was treated with histamine alone (4 mg kg–1s.c. as daily injections from day 6 after intracranial tumour implantation), another group with IL-2 alone as a continuous subcutaneous infusion and a third group with both histamine and IL-2. The animals were sacrificed at day 24 after tumour implantation. IL-2 and histamine in combination significantly reduced tumour growth. The microvessel density was significantly reduced, an effect mainly affecting the small vessels. No obvious alteration in the pattern of VEGF mRNA expression was evident and no significant changes in apoptosis were observed. Neither IL-2 nor histamine alone caused any detectable effects on tumour growth. Histamine caused an early and pronounced decline in tumour blood flow compared to normal brain. The results indicate that the novel combination of IL-2 and histamine can be of value in reducing intracerebral tumour growth and, thus, it might be of interest to re-evaluate the therapeutic potential of biotherapy in malignant glioma. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig