IT Governance For Systems Support And Maintenance – Views From CIOS In Multinational Enterprises

This paper explores IS governance as it relates to systems support and maintenance (SS&M). We argue, that can be critically supportive of business operations, decision making, innovation and knowledge management strategies. Based on interviews with high level IS practitioners from large IT companies, we find that the value of SS&M as a potential link between the IT side and the business side of the organization, while recognized is still under-utilized. We enumerate and discuss a number of reasons for this situation from an IT governance perspective and call for a comprehensive research agenda to develop an integrated approach to link SS&M more closely

Studies of Wilms’ Tumor (WT1) Gene Expression in Adult Acute Leukemias in Singapore

Biomarkers provide certain values for diagnosis, monitor treatment efficacy, or for the development of novel therapeutic approach for particular diseases. Thus, the identification of specific of biomarkers for specific medical problems, including malignant diseases may be valuable in medical practice. In the study, we have used the Wilms’ tumor gene (WT1) as a biomarker to evaluate its expression in local adult patients with newly diagnosed acute leukemia, including both acute myeloid and lymphoid leukemias (AML and ALL)

Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the fatigue scale-adolescent

© 2015 Ho et al. Background: The availability of a valid and reliable instrument that accurately assesses the level of fatigue among adolescent cancer survivors is crucial before any appropriate interventions to reduce their fatigue can be appropriately planned and evaluated. The study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Fatigue Scale for Adolescents. In particular, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine its factorial structure. Methods: A cross-sectional study was employed. Adolescents (13- to 18-year-olds) who had survived cancer and attended medical follow-up at the outpatient clinic in Hong Kong were invited to participate. The internal consistency, content validity and construct validity and test-retest reliability of the Chinese version of the Fatigue Scale for Adolescents were assessed. Results: The content validity index was 0.92. There was a strong positive correlation between adolescents' levels of fatigue and depressive symptoms (r=0.53) and a strong negative correlation between adolescents' levels of fatigue and quality of life (r=-0.58). The mean levels of fatigue of the survivors group was significantly lower than that of those still receiving treatment in hospital, but significantly higher than that of their healthy counterparts. Confirmatory factor analysis indicated that there were 4 factors underlying the Chinese version of the Cancer Module. Conclusions: The findings of the study add further evidence that the Chinese version of the Fatigue Scale for Adolescents (12-item) can be used as a reliable and valid tool in assessing cancer-related fatigue among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents who have survived cancer.published_or_final_versio

Ancilla-based quantum simulation

We consider simulating the BCS Hamiltonian, a model of low temperature superconductivity, on a quantum computer. In particular we consider conducting the simulation on the qubus quantum computer, which uses a continuous variable ancilla to generate interactions between qubits. We demonstrate an O(N^3) improvement over previous work conducted on an NMR computer [PRL 89 057904 (2002) & PRL 97 050504 (2006)] for the nearest neighbour and completely general cases. We then go on to show methods to minimise the number of operations needed per time step using the qubus in three cases; a completely general case, a case of exponentially decaying interactions and the case of fixed range interactions. We make these results controlled on an ancilla qubit so that we can apply the phase estimation algorithm, and hence show that when N \geq 5, our qubus simulation requires significantly less operations that a similar simulation conducted on an NMR computer.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures: V2 added section on phase estimation and performing controlled unitaries, V3 corrected minor typo

Wnt activation downregulates olfactomedin-1 in Fallopian tubal epithelial cells:a microenvironment predisposed to tubal ectopic pregnancy

Ectopic pregnancy (EP) occurs when the embryo fails to transit to the uterus and attach to the luminal epithelium of the Fallopian tube (FT). Tubal EP is a common gynecological emergency and more than 95% of EP occurs in the ampullary region of the FT. In humans, Wnt activation and downregulation of olfactomedin-1 (Olfm-1) occur in the receptive endometrium and coincided with embryo implantation in vivo. Whether similar molecular changes happen in the FT leading to EP remains unclear. We hypothesized that activation of Wnt signaling downregulates Olfm-1 expression predisposes to EP. We investigated the spatiotemporal expression of Olfm-1 in FT from non-pregnant women and women with EP, and used a novel trophoblastic spheroid (embryo surrogate)-FT epithelial cell co-culture model (JAr and OE-E6/E7 cells) to study the role of Olfm-1 on spheroid attachment. Olfm-1 mRNA expression in the ampullary region of non-pregnant FT was higher (P0.05) in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase. Ampullary tubal Olfm-1 expression was lower in FT from women with EP compared to normal controls at the luteal phase (histological scoring (H-SCORE)1.30.2 vs 2.40.5; P0.05). Treatment of OE-E6/E7 with recombinant Olfm-1 (0.2-5 g/ml) suppressed spheroid attachment to OE-E6/E7 cells, while activation of Wnt-signaling pathway by Wnt3a or LiCl reduced endogenous Olfm-1 expression and increased spheroid attachment. Conversely, suppression of Olfm-1 expression by RNAi increased spheroid attachment to OE-E6/E7 cells. Taken together, Wnt activation suppresses Olfm-1 expression, and this may predispose a favorable microenvironment of the retained embryo in the FT, leading to EP in humans. © 2012 USCAP, Inc All rights reserved.link_to_OA_fulltex

The WD40 Domain Is Required for LRRK2 Neurotoxicity

BACKGROUND:Mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) are the most common genetic cause of Parkinson disease (PD). LRRK2 contains an "enzymatic core" composed of GTPase and kinase domains that is flanked by leucine-rich repeat (LRR) and WD40 protein-protein interaction domains. While kinase activity and GTP-binding have both been implicated in LRRK2 neurotoxicity, the potential role of other LRRK2 domains has not been as extensively explored. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:We demonstrate that LRRK2 normally exists in a dimeric complex, and that removing the WD40 domain prevents complex formation and autophosphorylation. Moreover, loss of the WD40 domain completely blocks the neurotoxicity of multiple LRRK2 PD mutations. CONCLUSION:These findings suggest that LRRK2 dimerization and autophosphorylation may be required for the neurotoxicity of LRRK2 PD mutations and highlight a potential role for the WD40 domain in the mechanism of LRRK2-mediated cell death

A physical model for the simultaneous membrane transport and metabolism of drugs

A simple model for the simultaneous passive membrane transport and bioconversion of a drug, which may be a weak electrolyte or a neutral molecule, is mathematically described. It includes an aqueous diffusion layer and an operational aqueous pore pathway. The applicability of the model is shown for the in situ rat intestinal transport of prostaglandin F2a.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/21678/1/0000066.pd

Disentangling the Black Hole Mass Spectrum with Photometric Microlensing Surveys

From the formation mechanisms of stars and compact objects to nuclear physics, modern astronomy frequently leverages surveys to understand populations of objects to answer fundamental questions. The population of dark and isolated compact objects in the Galaxy contains critical information related to many of these topics, but is only practically accessible via gravitational microlensing. However, photometric microlensing observables are degenerate for different types of lenses, and one can seldom classify an event as involving either a compact object or stellar lens on its own. To address this difficulty, we apply a Bayesian framework that treats lens type probabilistically and jointly with a lens population model. This method allows lens population characteristics to be inferred despite intrinsic uncertainty in the lens-class of any single event. We investigate this method's effectiveness on a simulated ground-based photometric survey in the context of characterizing a hypothetical population of primordial black holes (PBHs) with an average mass of $30 M_{\odot}$. On simulated data, our method outperforms current black hole (BH) lens identification pipelines and characterizes different subpopulations of lenses while jointly constraining the PBH contribution to dark matter to ${\approx}25$\%. Key to robust inference, our method can marginalize over population model uncertainty. We find the lower mass cutoff for stellar origin BHs, a key observable in understanding the BH mass gap, particularly difficult to infer in our simulations. This work lays the foundation for cutting-edge PBH abundance constraints to be extracted from current photometric microlensing surveys.Comment: 31 pages, 18 figures, submitted to AA

Comparison of Artificial Neural Network and Logistic Regression Models for Predicting In-Hospital Mortality after Primary Liver Cancer Surgery

BACKGROUND: Since most published articles comparing the performance of artificial neural network (ANN) models and logistic regression (LR) models for predicting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) outcomes used only a single dataset, the essential issue of internal validity (reproducibility) of the models has not been addressed. The study purposes to validate the use of ANN model for predicting in-hospital mortality in HCC surgery patients in Taiwan and to compare the predictive accuracy of ANN with that of LR model. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Patients who underwent a HCC surgery during the period from 1998 to 2009 were included in the study. This study retrospectively compared 1,000 pairs of LR and ANN models based on initial clinical data for 22,926 HCC surgery patients. For each pair of ANN and LR models, the area under the receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves, Hosmer-Lemeshow (H-L) statistics and accuracy rate were calculated and compared using paired T-tests. A global sensitivity analysis was also performed to assess the relative significance of input parameters in the system model and the relative importance of variables. Compared to the LR models, the ANN models had a better accuracy rate in 97.28% of cases, a better H-L statistic in 41.18% of cases, and a better AUROC curve in 84.67% of cases. Surgeon volume was the most influential (sensitive) parameter affecting in-hospital mortality followed by age and lengths of stay. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: In comparison with the conventional LR model, the ANN model in the study was more accurate in predicting in-hospital mortality and had higher overall performance indices. Further studies of this model may consider the effect of a more detailed database that includes complications and clinical examination findings as well as more detailed outcome data

Systems approach to the study of drug transport across membranes using suspension cultures of mammalian cells V. Simultaneous passive transport and biosynthesis

A physical model is described for the simultaneous enzymatic bioconversion of a nonelectrolyte solute and the passive transport of both the solute and product of the enzymatic reaction out of cells in culture suspension. The plasma membrane is assumed to be the rate-determining transport barrier. This model provides the basis for the experimental design and analysis of the Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters of simple enzymatic reactions in situ, the phenomenological transport parameters and other factors. The primary set of differential equations describing the quasisteady state rate of change in the concentration of the solute and product within the cell due to enzyme reaction and transport are given. These are nonlinear and must be solved by numerical methods. However, analytical mathematical expressions have been derived for various cases in the limit when the rate of enzymatic reaction is first or zero order.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/21657/1/0000041.pd