15,980 research outputs found
HE2 NEW DRUGS AND THE GROWTH OF HEALTH EXPENDITURE: EVIDENCE FROM DIABETIC PATIENTS IN TAIWAN
A(2)B-Miktoarm Glycopolymer Fibers and Their Interactions with Tenocytes
Electrospun
biodegradable membranes have attracted great attention
for a range of tissue engineering applications. Among them, polyÂ(ε-caprolactone)
(PCL) is one of the most widely used polymers, owing to its well-controlled
biocompatibility and biodegradability. However, PCL also has a number
of limitations, such as its hydrophobic nature and the lack of functional
groups on its side chain, limiting its ability to interact with cells.
Herein, we have designed and prepared a series of well-defined A<sub>2</sub>B-miktoarm copolymers with PCL and glycopolymer segments to
address these limitations. Moreover, copolymers were electrospun to
make membranes, which were studied in vitro to investigate cell affinity,
toxicity, activity, and adhesion with these materials. The results
indicate that incorporating glucose moieties into miktoarm polymers
has improved the biocompatibility of the PCL while increasing the
cellular interaction with the membrane material
Multi-Channel Stochastic Variational Inference for the Joint Analysis of Heterogeneous Biomedical Data in Alzheimer's Disease
The joint analysis of biomedical data in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is
important for better clinical diagnosis and to understand the relationship
between biomarkers. However, jointly accounting for heterogeneous measures
poses important challenges related to the modeling of the variability and the
interpretability of the results. These issues are here addressed by proposing a
novel multi-channel stochastic generative model. We assume that a latent
variable generates the data observed through different channels (e.g., clinical
scores, imaging, ...) and describe an efficient way to estimate jointly the
distribution of both latent variable and data generative process. Experiments
on synthetic data show that the multi-channel formulation allows superior data
reconstruction as opposed to the single channel one. Moreover, the derived
lower bound of the model evidence represents a promising model selection
criterion. Experiments on AD data show that the model parameters can be used
for unsupervised patient stratification and for the joint interpretation of the
heterogeneous observations. Because of its general and flexible formulation, we
believe that the proposed method can find important applications as a general
data fusion technique.Comment: accepted for presentation at MLCN 2018 workshop, in Conjunction with
MICCAI 2018, September 20, Granada, Spai
Linkage and mapping analyses of the no glue egg gene Ng in the silkworm (Bombyx mori L.) using simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers
In the silkworm, Bombyx mori, no glue egg is mainly controlled by Ng (No glue) gene, which is located on the 12th chromosome. Owning to a lack of crossing over in females, reciprocal backcrossed F1 (BC1) progenies were used for linkage analysis and mapping of the Ng gene based on the simple sequence repeats (SSR) linkage map using silkworm strains H9 and P50, which are Ng mutant and normal to egg, respectively. The Ng gene was found to be linked to three SSR markers. Using a reciprocal BC1M cross, we constructed a linkage map of 36.4 cM, with Ng mapped at 15.9 cM and the nearest SSR marker at a distance of 7.4 cM. Based on fine genome map of domesticated silkworm (B. mori), the result of Kaikoblast show that the physical distance between the near markers (containing Ng gene) is 181.7 Kb. Further analysis show that BGIBMGA005833, BGIBMGA005835 and BGIBMGA005836 are closer to Ng, and the BGIBMGA005835 is nearest to Ng, which physical distance is 44 Kb.Key words: Gene location, linkage analysis, microsatellite, Ng, silkworm
Possible scale invariant linear magnetoresistance in pyrochlore iridates Bi2Ir2O7
We report the observation of a linear magnetoresistance in single crystals and epitaxial thin films of the pyrochlore iridate Bi2Ir2O7. The linear magnetoresistance is positive and isotropic at low temperatures, without any sign of saturation up to 35 T. As temperature increases, the linear field dependence gradually evolves to a quadratic field dependence. The temperature and field dependence of magnetoresistance of Bi2Ir2O7 bears strikingly resemblance to the scale invariant magnetoresistance observed in the strange metal phase in high Tc cuprates. However, the residual resistivity of Bi2Ir2O7 is more than two orders of magnitude higher than the curpates. Our results suggest that the correlation between linear magnetoresistance and quantum fluctuations may exist beyond high temperature superconductors
Cultural-based visual expression: Emotional analysis of human face via Peking Opera Painted Faces (POPF)
© 2015 The Author(s) Peking Opera as a branch of Chinese traditional cultures and arts has a very distinct colourful facial make-up for all actors in the stage performance. Such make-up is stylised in nonverbal symbolic semantics which all combined together to form the painted faces to describe and symbolise the background, the characteristic and the emotional status of specific roles. A study of Peking Opera Painted Faces (POPF) was taken as an example to see how information and meanings can be effectively expressed through the change of facial expressions based on the facial motion within natural and emotional aspects. The study found that POPF provides exaggerated features of facial motion through images, and the symbolic semantics of POPF provides a high-level expression of human facial information. The study has presented and proved a creative structure of information analysis and expression based on POPF to improve the understanding of human facial motion and emotion
Assessing population impacts of toxicant-induced disruption of breeding behaviours using an individual-based model for the three-spined stickleback
 This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recordThe effects of toxicant exposure on individuals captured in standard environmental risk assessments (ERA) do not necessarily translate proportionally into effects at the population-level. Population models can incorporate population resilience, physiological susceptibility, and likelihood of exposure, and can therefore be employed to extrapolate from individual- to population-level effects in ERA. Here, we present the development of an individual-based model (IBM) for the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and its application in assessing population-level effects of disrupted male breeding behaviour after exposure to the anti-androgenic pesticide, fenitrothion. The stickleback is abundant in marine, brackish, and freshwater systems throughout Europe and their complex breeding strategy makes wild populations potentially vulnerable to the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Modelled population dynamics matched those of a UK field population and the IBM is therefore considered to be representative of a natural population. Literature derived dose-response relationships of fenitrothion-induced disruption of male breeding behaviours were applied in the IBM to assess population-level impacts. The modelled population was exposed to fenitrothion under both continuous (worst-case) and intermittent (realistic) exposure patterns and population recovery was assessed. The results suggest that disruption of male breeding behaviours at the individual-level cause impacts on population abundance under both fenitrothion exposure regimes; however, density-dependent processes can compensate for some of these effects, particularly for an intermittent exposure scenario. Our findings further demonstrate the importance of understanding life-history traits, including reproductive strategies and behaviours, and their density-dependence, when assessing the potential population-level risks of EDCs.Syngenta LtdBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC
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