Inferring Developmental Stage Composition from Gene Expression in Human Malaria

In the current era of malaria eradication, reducing transmission is critical. Assessment of transmissibility requires tools that can accurately identify the various developmental stages of the malaria parasite, particularly those required for transmission (sexual stages). Here, we present a method for estimating relative amounts of Plasmodium falciparum asexual and sexual stages from gene expression measurements. These are modeled using constrained linear regression to characterize stage-specific expression profiles within mixed-stage populations. The resulting profiles were analyzed functionally by gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), confirming differentially active pathways such as increased mitochondrial activity and lipid metabolism during sexual development. We validated model predictions both from microarrays and from quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) measurements, based on the expression of a small set of key transcriptional markers. This sufficient marker set was identified by backward selection from the whole genome as available from expression arrays, targeting one sentinel marker per stage. The model as learned can be applied to any new microarray or qRT-PCR transcriptional measurement. We illustrate its use in vitro in inferring changes in stage distribution following stress and drug treatment and in vivo in identifying immature and mature sexual stage carriers within patient cohorts. We believe this approach will be a valuable resource for staging lab and field samples alike and will have wide applicability in epidemiological studies of malaria transmission

On the feasibility of a channel-dependent scheduling for the SC-FDMA in 3GPP-LTE (mobile environment) based on a prioritized-bifacet Hungarian method

We propose a methodology based on the prioritization and opportunistic reuse of the optimization algorithm known as Hungarian method for the feasible implementation of a channel-dependent scheduler in the long-term evolution uplink (single carrier frequency division multiple access system). This proposal aims to offer a solution to the third generation system’s constraint of allocating only adjacent subcarriers, by providing an optimal resource allotment under a fairness scheme. A multiuser mobile environment following the third generation partnership project TS 45.005v9.3.0/25.943v9.0.0 was also implemented for evaluating the scheduler’s performance. From the results, it was possible to examine the channel frequency response for all users (four user equipments) along the whole bandwidth, to visualize the dynamic resource allocation for each of the 10,000 channel realizations considered, to generate the statistical distribution and cumulative distribution functions of the obtained global costs, as well as to evaluate the system’s performance once the proposed algorithm was embedded. Comparing and emphasizing the benefits of utilizing the proposed dynamic allotment instead of the classic static-scheduling and other existent methods.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

An Analysis for Rice Purchasing Behaviors of Urban Consumers classified by the Income Level

This study analyzes the annual features of rice purchasing behaviors of urban households and revisits the issue through a categorization of the households according to income level. The results state that the amount of rice consumption has been decreasing and the figure is more distinct in the higher income level. It was found that there is a clear difference between the results from an analysis of rice purchasing behaviors of urban consumers as a whole and those from the analysis through a classification of consumers according to income level. This implies that if one analyzes the issue without the classification of consumers, it may distort the information regarding domestic consumers' rice purchasing behaviors and also may cause a bias in the empirical analysis. Therefore, we must consider the difference through the income level in the discussion of rice consumption patterns, in the controversy over the normal-or-inferior goods, and in the policy decision for rice production and consumption

CT-based measurement of visceral adipose tissue volume as a reliable tool for assessing metabolic risk factors in prediabetes across subtypes

Abstract Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is a well-established risk factor for the development of diabetes in individuals with prediabetes. We aimed to evaluate various adiposity and metabolic indices, including visceral adipose tissue (VAT) volume measured by CT, in individuals with prediabetes, based on their different subtypes. This retrospective study included 78 prediabetes individuals aged ≥ 20 years whose VAT volumes were evaluated by CT. Individuals were classified into prediabetes subtypes: impaired fasting glucose (IFG), impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and combined IFG and IGT (C-IFG/IGT). We conducted a comparison of the patients’ adiposity indices and their associations with one other, as well as with insulin resistance, based on the different prediabetes subtypes. Individuals with C-IFG/IGT had higher levels of visceral obesity than those with IFG or IGT. VAT volume was more strongly associated with insulin resistance than other adiposity indices, regardless of prediabetes subtypes. Additionally, VAT volume and liver attenuation index showed a significant correlation with the other indices studied across the prediabetes subtypes. CT-based measurement of VAT volume may be a valuable tool for evaluating metabolic risk factors among individuals with prediabetes

Threshold Secret Sharing Transmission against Passive Eavesdropping in MIMO Wireless Networks

We propose a threshold secret sharing scheme for secure communications in multiple input and multiple output wireless networks. In the proposed scheme, the base station divides the secret data into Nmin parts using a polynomial of degree T-1  (T≤Nmin) and transmits the divided data to the legitimate user by beamforming with multiple spatial dimensions. Then, at the user, the secret data can be reconstructed with a sufficient number (≥T) of divided parts by using the Lagrange interpolating polynomial. However, it is difficult for the eavesdropper to correctly estimate the T parts due to the difference between the main channel with beamforming and the eavesdropping channel in the physical layer, which results in the failure of secret data reconstruction. The numerical results show that the eavesdropping probability of the proposed scheme is lower than those of conventional schemes. Moreover, we analyze the symbol-error-rate and show that the theoretical result is well aligned with simulation results

Distribution of root numbers of Hecke characters attached to some elliptic curves

In this paper, we show that an action on the set of elliptic curves with j = 1728 preserves a certain kind of symmetry on the local root number of Hecke characters attached to such elliptic curves. As a consequence, we give results on the distribution of the root numbers and their average of the aforementioned Hecke characters