Functionally guided alignment of protein interaction networks for module detection

Motivation: Functional module detection within protein interaction networks is a challenging problem due to the sparsity of data and presence of errors. Computational techniques for this task range from purely graph theoretical approaches involving single networks to alignment of multiple networks from several species. Current network alignment methods all rely on protein sequence similarity to map proteins across species

Banti\u27s syndrome: case report and review of literature.

In 1898 Banti described a disorder characterized by splenomegaly and hypersplenism, resulting in portal hypertension and anemia in the absence of hematological disease. 1 Banti\u27s syndrome is also known as non-cirrhotic portal hypertension (NCPH) in India and Idiopathic Portal Hypertension (IPH) in Japan. Hepatoportal sclerosis seems to be its counterpart in the United States. 2,3 Banti\u27s syndrome is a disorder of unknown etiology, clinically characterized by portal hypertension (varices and portosystemic collateral vessels), splenomegaly, and anemia (hypersplenism). 3 It has been reported from Indian subcontinent. 4-6 In a Pakistani case series of portal hypertension, 18 out of 37 patients were found to have IPH as the etiology. 6 We report a case of Banti\u27s syndrome in an 20-year old girl presenting to us with anemia and splenomegaly

Participatory Irrigation Management and its Financial Viability: A Case Study

Water is a key input of agriculture. In the past, the area under cultivation was small and there was less stress on farmers to grow more and more of each crop. Water was considered a free good. The situation has changed since. The increase in cropping intensity has led to a rise in the demand for irrigation water. Water is not a free good any more. The provision of irrigation water to the farmer’s fields is going to be costlier. The Government of Pakistan is spending heavily on the operation and maintenance of the irrigation system yet shortage of funds is a major reason for deferred maintenance, which threatens the operational integrity of the irrigation system [World Bank (1988) and Haq (1995)]. The shortfall in O&M funding was estimated to be more than 24 percent in 1993 [World Bank (1994)]. As poor O&M has direct effect on the productivity of agriculture, indirectly it affects the whole economy [Carruthers (1981)]. The allocation of funds for the increasing O&M costs is becoming a problem for the Government of Pakistan with every successive year. One logical answer to this problem is to increase abiana1 fees from the users of irrigation water supplies. The revenue collected through abiana may be used for O&M purposes, but it has been reported that the revenue collection is far less than the expenditures incurred. Resultantly the gap has been increasing every year [Chaudhry (1989)]

Maximally spatial-disjoint lightpaths in optical networks

Lightpaths enable end-to-end all-optical transmission between network nodes. For survivable routing, traffic is often carried on a primary lightpath, and rerouted to another disjointed backup lightpath in case of the failure of the primary lightpath. Though both lightpaths can be physically disjointed, they can still fail simultaneously if a disaster affects them simultaneously on the physical plane. Hence, we propose a routing algorithm for provisioning a pair of link-disjoint lightpaths between two network nodes such that the minimum spatial distance between them (while disregarding safe regions) is maximized. Through means of simulation, we show that our algorithm can provide higher survivability against spatial-based simultaneous link failures (due to the maximized spatial distance)

Inequalities and outcomes : end stage kidney disease in ethnic minorities

The international evidence about outcomes of End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD) for ethnic minorities was reviewed to identify gaps and make recommendations for researchers and policy makers. Nine databases were searched systematically with 112 studies from 14 different countries included and analysed to produce a thematic map of the literature. Reviews (n = 26) highlighted different mortality rates and specific causes between ethnic groups and by stage of kidney disease associated with individual, genetic, social and environmental factors. Primary studies focussing on uptake of treatment modalities (n = 19) found ethnic differences in access. Research evaluating intermediate outcomes and quality of care in different treatment phases (n = 35) e.g. dialysis adequacy, transplant evaluation and immunosuppression showed ethnic minorities were disadvantaged. This is despite a survival paradox for some ethnic minorities on dialysis seen in studies of longer term outcomes (n = 29) e.g. in survival time post-transplant and mortality. There were few studies which focussed on end of life care (n = 3) and ethnicity. Gaps identified were: limited evidence from all stages of the ESKD pathway, particularly end of life care; a lack of system oriented studies with a reliance on national routine datasets which are limited in scope; a dearth of qualitative studies; and a lack studies from many countries with limited cross country comparison and learning. Differences between ethnic groups occur at various points and in a variety of outcomes throughout the kidney care system. The combination of individual factors and system related variables affect ethnic groups differently indicating a need for culturally intelligent policy informed by research to prevent disadvantage

Heterogeneity of methotrexate binding in human colon tumor cells

[3H]-methotrexate binding at pH 5.0 and pH 7.2 by the cytosol of tumor tissues and the surrounding normal areas of the gastrointestinal tract of patients suffering from colon or gastric cancer has been used to identify in these cells the presence of a binder of methotrexate having low-affinity for this drug in addition to the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase. Scatchard analysis of the [3H]-methotrexate binding data by a colon tumor sample also reveals that there are two binders of this drug present in the cytosol of these cells. The association constant (Kass) for one binder of methotrexate is = 5.6 x 10(7) M-1 while the Kass for the second binder is = 1.0 x 10(6) M-1. The two binders do not differ very much in their apparent molecular weight. Upon isoelectric focusing, the tumor cell cytosol resolves into 4 major isoproteins each having the ability not only to bind [3H]-methotrexate but also reduce [3H]-pteroylglutamic acid to [3H]-tetrahydropteroylglutamic acid. This suggests that the two binders of methotrexate may be the two forms of dihydrofolate reductase having different affinities for this anticancer drug

Comparison of high-order accurate schemes for solving the nonlinear viscous burgers equation

In this paper, a comparison between higher order schemes has been performed in terms of numerical accuracy. Four finite difference schemes, the explicit fourth-order compact Pade scheme, the implicit fourth-order Pade scheme, flowfield dependent variation (FDV) method and high order compact flowfie ld dependent variation (HOC-FDV) scheme are tes ted. The FDV scheme is used for time disc retization and the fourth-order compact Pade scheme is used for spatial derivatives. The solution procedures consist of a number of tri-diagonal matrix operations and produce an efficient solver. The comparisons are performed using one dimensional nonlinear viscous Burgers equation to demonstrate the accuracy and the convergence characteristics of the high-resolution schemes. The numerical results show that HOC-FDV is highly accurate in comparison with analytical and with other higher order schemes

Purchasing Power Parity Hypothesis: Empirical Validity of Purchasing Power Parity in the Long Run among the Developing and Developed Countries Using Co-integration and OLS Techniques.

This study finds the empirical validity of exchange rate and price relationship implied by purchasing power parity among the seven countries .i.e. (Australia, Canada, Pakistan, India, Japan, Spain and Korea) using the Augmented Dickey Fuller, Engel Granger, Johansen and ordinary least squares econometrics techniques based on quarterly data instead of annually data .We have used both developing and developed countries in the PPP testing and compared the econometric results of developing and developed countries with each other. Using the quarterly data over the time period of 1961 to 2010, We have found the long run validity of purchasing power parity theory among the three developing and four developed countries. We have applied different econometric methodologies, PPP results differ among different econometric techniques. So, it can be implied that choice of price level and appropriate econometric methodology is very important in the PPP testing. Keywords: Purchasing power parity; Exchange rate; Developed and Developing countries