A preclinical study on the combination therapy of everolimus and transarterial chemoembolization in hepatocellular carcinoma

published_or_final_versio

On the Price of Anarchy of Highly Congested Nonatomic Network Games

We consider nonatomic network games with one source and one destination. We examine the asymptotic behavior of the price of anarchy as the inflow increases. In accordance with some empirical observations, we show that, under suitable conditions, the price of anarchy is asymptotic to one. We show with some counterexamples that this is not always the case. The counterexamples occur in very simple parallel graphs.Comment: 26 pages, 6 figure

Imaging high-dimensional spatial entanglement with a camera

The light produced by parametric down-conversion shows strong spatial entanglement that leads to violations of EPR criteria for separability. Historically, such studies have been performed by scanning a single-element, single-photon detector across a detection plane. Here we show that modern electron-multiplying charge-coupled device cameras can measure correlations in both position and momentum across a multi-pixel field of view. This capability allows us to observe entanglement of around 2,500 spatial states and demonstrate Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen type correlations by more than two orders of magnitude. More generally, our work shows that cameras can lead to important new capabilities in quantum optics and quantum information science.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Emerging challenges of the impacts of pharmaceuticals on aquatic ecosystems: A diatom perspective.

Pharmaceuticals are a ubiquitous group of emerging pollutants of considerable importance due to their biological potency and potential to elicit effects in wildlife and humans. Pharmaceuticals have been quantified in terrestrial, marine, fresh, and transitional waters, as well as the fauna and macro-flora that inhabit them. Pharmaceuticals can enter water ways through different human and veterinary pathways with traditional wastewater treatment, unable to completely remove pharmaceuticals, discharging often unknown quantities to aquatic ecosystems. However, there is a paucity of available information regarding the effects of pharmaceuticals on species at the base of aquatic food webs, especially on phytoplankton, with research typically focussing on fish and aquatic invertebrates. Diatoms are one of the main classes of phytoplankton and are some of the most abundant and important organisms in aquatic systems. As primary producers, diatoms generate ∼40 % of the world's oxygen and are a vital food source for primary consumers. Diatoms can also be used for bioremediation of polluted water bodies but perhaps are best known as bio-indicators for water quality studies. However, this keystone, non-target group is often ignored during ecotoxicological studies to assess the effects of pollutants of concern. Observed effects of pharmaceuticals on diatoms have the potential to be used as an indicator of pharmaceutical-induced impacts on higher trophic level organisms and wider ecosystem effects. The aim of this review is to present a synthesis of research on pharmaceutical exposure to diatoms, considering ecotoxicity, bioremediation and the role of diatoms as bio-indicators. We highlight significant omissions and knowledge gaps which need addressing to realise the potential role of diatoms in future risk assessment approaches and help evaluate the impacts of pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment at local and global scales

Cognitive networks: brains, internet, and civilizations

In this short essay, we discuss some basic features of cognitive activity at several different space-time scales: from neural networks in the brain to civilizations. One motivation for such comparative study is its heuristic value. Attempts to better understand the functioning of "wetware" involved in cognitive activities of central nervous system by comparing it with a computing device have a long tradition. We suggest that comparison with Internet might be more adequate. We briefly touch upon such subjects as encoding, compression, and Saussurean trichotomy langue/langage/parole in various environments.Comment: 16 page

HIV Types, Groups, Subtypes and Recombinant Forms: Errors in Replication, Selection Pressure and Quasispecies

HIV-1 is a chimpanzee virus which was transmitted to humans by several zoonotic events resulting in infection with HIV-1 groups M P, and in parallel transmission events from sooty mangabey monkey viruses leading to infections with HIV-2 groups A H. Both viruses have circulated in the human population for about 80 years. In the infected patient, HIV mutates, and by elimination of some of the viruses by the action of the immune system individual quasispecies are formed. Along with the selection of the fittest viruses, mutation and recombination after superinfection with HIV from different groups or subtypes have resulted in the diversity of their patterns of geographic distribution. Despite the high variability observed, some essential parts of the HIV genome are highly conserved. Viral diversity is further facilitated in some parts of the HIV genome by drug selection pressure and may also be enhanced by different genetic factors, including HLA in patients from different regions of the world. Viral and human genetic factors influence pathogenesis. Viral genetic factors are proteins such as Tat, Vif and Rev. Human genetic factors associated with a better clinical outcome are proteins such as APOBEC, langerin, tetherin and chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5) and HLA B27, B57, DRB1{*}1303, KIR and PARD3B. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base

Dual Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry Body Composition Reference Values from NHANES

In 2008 the National Center for Health Statistics released a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) whole body dataset from the NHANES population-based sample acquired with modern fan beam scanners in 15 counties across the United States from 1999 through 2004. The NHANES dataset was partitioned by gender and ethnicity and DXA whole body measures of %fat, fat mass/height2, lean mass/height2, appendicular lean mass/height2, %fat trunk/%fat legs ratio, trunk/limb fat mass ratio of fat, bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD) were analyzed to provide reference values for subjects 8 to 85 years old. DXA reference values for adults were normalized to age; reference values for children included total and sub-total whole body results and were normalized to age, height, or lean mass. We developed an obesity classification scheme by using estabbody mass index (BMI) classification thresholds and prevalences in young adults to generate matching classification thresholds for Fat Mass Index (FMI; fat mass/height2). These reference values should be helpful in the evaluation of a variety of adult and childhood abnormalities involving fat, lean, and bone, for establishing entry criteria into clinical trials, and for other medical, research, and epidemiological uses

A UMLS-based spell checker for natural language processing in vaccine safety

BACKGROUND: The Institute of Medicine has identified patient safety as a key goal for health care in the United States. Detecting vaccine adverse events is an important public health activity that contributes to patient safety. Reports about adverse events following immunization (AEFI) from surveillance systems contain free-text components that can be analyzed using natural language processing. To extract Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) concepts from free text and classify AEFI reports based on concepts they contain, we first needed to clean the text by expanding abbreviations and shortcuts and correcting spelling errors. Our objective in this paper was to create a UMLS-based spelling error correction tool as a first step in the natural language processing (NLP) pipeline for AEFI reports. METHODS: We developed spell checking algorithms using open source tools. We used de-identified AEFI surveillance reports to create free-text data sets for analysis. After expansion of abbreviated clinical terms and shortcuts, we performed spelling correction in four steps: (1) error detection, (2) word list generation, (3) word list disambiguation and (4) error correction. We then measured the performance of the resulting spell checker by comparing it to manual correction. RESULTS: We used 12,056 words to train the spell checker and tested its performance on 8,131 words. During testing, sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) for the spell checker were 74% (95% CI: 74–75), 100% (95% CI: 100–100), and 47% (95% CI: 46%–48%), respectively. CONCLUSION: We created a prototype spell checker that can be used to process AEFI reports. We used the UMLS Specialist Lexicon as the primary source of dictionary terms and the WordNet lexicon as a secondary source. We used the UMLS as a domain-specific source of dictionary terms to compare potentially misspelled words in the corpus. The prototype sensitivity was comparable to currently available tools, but the specificity was much superior. The slow processing speed may be improved by trimming it down to the most useful component algorithms. Other investigators may find the methods we developed useful for cleaning text using lexicons specific to their area of interest

Simultaneous joint scaling test for several correlated traits

For generation mean analysis a simultaneous joint scaling test with several correlated traits is proposed. Scaling test for individual traits were compared with this test and in general were not independent and are relatively less efficient for the correlated traits situation. The two and three traits cases have been illustrated with real data

The stellar halo of the Galaxy

Stellar halos may hold some of the best preserved fossils of the formation history of galaxies. They are a natural product of the merging processes that probably take place during the assembly of a galaxy, and hence may well be the most ubiquitous component of galaxies, independently of their Hubble type. This review focuses on our current understanding of the spatial structure, the kinematics and chemistry of halo stars in the Milky Way. In recent years, we have experienced a change in paradigm thanks to the discovery of large amounts of substructure, especially in the outer halo. I discuss the implications of the currently available observational constraints and fold them into several possible formation scenarios. Unraveling the formation of the Galactic halo will be possible in the near future through a combination of large wide field photometric and spectroscopic surveys, and especially in the era of Gaia.Comment: 46 pages, 16 figures. References updated and some minor changes. Full-resolution version available at http://www.astro.rug.nl/~ahelmi/stellar-halo-review.pd