MENGA: a new comprehensive tool for the integration of neuroimaging data and the Allen human brain transcriptome atlas

Brain-wide mRNA mappings offer a great potential for neuroscience research as they can provide information about system proteomics. In a previous work we have correlated mRNA maps with the binding patterns of radioligands targeting specific molecular systems and imaged with positron emission tomography (PET) in unrelated control groups. This approach is potentially applicable to any imaging modality as long as an efficient procedure of imaging-genomic matching is provided. In the original work we considered mRNA brain maps of the whole human genome derived from the Allen human brain database (ABA) and we performed the analysis with a specific region-based segmentation with a resolution that was limited by the PET data parcellation. There we identified the need for a platform for imaging-genomic integration that should be usable with any imaging modalities and fully exploit the high resolution mapping of ABA dataset.In this work we present MENGA (Multimodal Environment for Neuroimaging and Genomic Analysis), a software platform that allows the investigation of the correlation patterns between neuroimaging data of any sort (both functional and structural) with mRNA gene expression profiles derived from the ABA database at high resolution.We applied MENGA to six different imaging datasets from three modalities (PET, single photon emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging) targeting the dopamine and serotonin receptor systems and the myelin molecular structure. We further investigated imaging-genomic correlations in the case of mismatch between selected proteins and imaging targets

Experiences of obesity among Saudi Arabian women contemplating bariatric surgery: An interpretative phenomenological analysis

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2013 The Authors.This study explored experiences of obesity, its perceived causes and motives for surgery, as described by seven Saudi women contemplating bariatric surgery. The women experienced cultural restrictions on their physical and social activities. Obesity embodied these restrictions, attracting stigma and moral failure. Traditional clothing, foods, hospitality norms and limited outdoor female activities were regarded as barriers to weight loss. Bariatric surgery was chosen to protect health and to access normative female roles. Some were encouraged by relatives who had undergone surgery. Opting for surgery reflected both participants’ sense of powerlessness to self-manage weight and the social acceptability, within their family context, of this biomedical approach

Pattern of refractive anomalies in Warri Metropolis, Delta State of Nigeria

A cross-sectional prevalent study of refractive errors conducted in Warri, a metropolitan town in delta state of Nigeria revealed peculiar prevalent rates. One thousand and eighteen eyes of 6 to 64 year olds were screened for refractive anomalies and 752 (73.9%) eyes (369 male and 383 female eyes) were found with refractive errors.The distribution showed that 141 (38.2%) female eyes and141 (36.8%)female eyes were myopic and 242 (63.2%) female eyes and 228 (61.8%)male eyes were hyperopic.Hyperopic was found to increase with age in both sexes. While myopia increased with age initially but decreased later at older age groups. Hyperopia and myopia were statistically not independent of age (P>0.01). Presbyopia was observed in 271 (36.0%) eyes out of which 173 (63.8%) were male eyes and 98 (36.2%) female eyes. Of the presbyopic eyes, 35 (20.2%) were found in the age group 25-34 years comprising 14 female and 21 male eyes. About 75% of those with refractive errors fell within ±0.25D to ±1.00D error range. The prevalence of error found in this study, indicates the need to upgrade the visual health services offered in Warri, in order to cope with higher demands expected from WHO vision 2020 programme

Pengaruhopm,roe Danroa Terhadap Perubahan Laba Pada Perusahaan Telekomunikasi Di Bursa Efek Indonesia

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of operating profit margin, return on equity and return on assets to changes in earnings in telecommunications companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The data used in this study is a secondary data from financial statements on six telecommunications companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange. Method of data analysis used in this study is multiple regression models. The study found that simultaneous operating profit margin, return on equity and return on assets influence the change in earnings in telecommunications companies in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The same findings were also found partial test results. This indicates that the operating profit margin, return on equity and return on assets is a variable for investors to consider before making a decision to invest. Keywords: operating profit margin, return on equity and return on asse

Cumulate causes for the low contents of sulfide-loving elements in the continental crust

Despite the economic importance of chalcophile (sulfide-loving) and siderophile (metal-loving) elements (CSEs), it is unclear how they become enriched or depleted in the continental crust, compared with the oceanic crust. This is due in part to our limited understanding of the partitioning behaviour of the CSEs. Here I compile compositional data for mid-ocean ridge basalts and subduction-related volcanic rocks. I show that the mantle-derived melts that contribute to oceanic and continental crust formation rarely avoid sulfide saturation during cooling in the crust and, on average, subduction-zone magmas fractionate sulfide at the base of the continental crust prior to ascent. Differentiation of mantle-derived melts enriches lower crustal sulfide- and silicate-bearing cumulates in some CSEs compared with the upper crust. This storage predisposes the cumulate-hosted compatible CSEs (such as Cu and Au) to be recycled back into the mantle during subduction and delamination, resulting in their low contents in the bulk continental crust and potentially contributing to the scarcity of ore deposits in the upper continental crust. By contrast, differentiation causes the upper oceanic and continental crust to become enriched in incompatible CSEs (such as W) compared with the lower oceanic and continental crust. Consequently, incompatible CSEs are predisposed to become enriched in subduction-zone magmas that contribute to continental crust formation and are less susceptible to removal from the continental crust via delamination compared with the compatible CSEs

Learning, compression, and leakage: Minimising classification error via meta-universal compression principles

Learning and compression are driven by the common aim of identifying and exploiting statistical regularities in data, which opens the door for fertile collaboration between these areas. A promising group of compression techniques for learning scenarios is normalised maximum likelihood (NML) coding, which provides strong guarantees for compression of small datasets — in contrast with more popular estimators whose guarantees hold only in the asymptotic limit. Here we consider a NMLbased decision strategy for supervised classification problems, and show that it attains heuristic PAC learning when applied to a wide variety of models. Furthermore, we show that the misclassification rate of our method is upper bounded by the maximal leakage, a recently proposed metric to quantify the potential of data leakage in privacy-sensitive scenarios

The National Health Accounts of the Philippines: Continuing Development and New Findings

For more than a decade now, the national health accounts (NHA) of the Philippines has been providing data that are important for health policymaking. At present, the NHA not only continues to be important for health policymaking. It has also become indispensable as a tool for monitoring and tracking outcomes of health sector policies. To further expand its usefulness, the Philippine NHA underwent major restructuring, specifically in the classification of health expenditures by uses of funds. The revised NHA now includes several types of breakdown by uses of funds. Analysis of preliminary 2003 estimates of the revised NHA matrices reveals new details of the manner by which health funds are utilized in the Philippines--data that are not available in the original NHA.health sector, national health accounts, health funds

Tratamiento Actual del Pie Zambo

El pie zambo es una deformidad congénita en la que el pie presenta una deformidad en equino, varo de retropié, aductus del antepié y cavo. Su tratamiento ha variado con el tiempo. Clásicamente se trataba mediante distintas técnicas quirúrgicas que permitían corregir todas las deformidades pero que se acompañaban de frecuentes complicaciones a corto y largo plazo. Actualmente el tratamiento más extendido de esta deformidad es el tratamiento conservador mediante la técnica de Ponseti que consiste en la aplicación de una secuencia específica de manipulaciones y yesos, una tenotomía del tendón de Aquiles, el uso de una ortesis y estrategias para tratar posibles recidivas. A continuación describimos las características de esta deformidad así como su tratamiento actuaClubfoot is a congenital deformity in which the foot has a deformity in equinus, varus of the hindfoot, adductus of the forefoot and cavus. Its treatment has varied over time. Classically different surgical techniques were used, allowing the correction of all deformities, but they were accompanied by frequent short and long term complications. Currently, the most widespread treatment of this deformity is the conservative treatment by the Ponseti technique, which involves the application of a specific sequence of manipulations and casting, an Achilles tenotomy, the use of a brace and strategies to deal with potential recurrences. Here we describe the features of this deformity and its current treatment

The National Health Accounts of the Philippines: Continuing Development and New Findings

For more than a decade now, the national health accounts (NHA) of the Philippines has been providing data that are important for health policymaking. At present, the NHA not only continues to be important for health policymaking. It has also become indispensable as a tool for monitoring and tracking outcomes of health sector policies. To further expand its usefulness, the Philippine NHA underwent major restructuring, specifically in the classification of health expenditures by uses of funds. The revised NHA now includes several types of breakdown by uses of funds. Analysis of preliminary 2003 estimates of the revised NHA matrices reveals new details of the manner by which health funds are utilized in the Philippines--data that are not available in the original NHA.health sector, national health accounts, health funds

Enfermedad de Legg-Calvé-Perthes: conceptos actuales

La enfermedad de Legg-Calvé-Perthes es una osteonecrosis idiopática de la cabeza femoral que puede evolucionar a una deformidad de la extremidad superior del fémur y a una artritis. La clasificación más ampliamente utilizada en la actualidad es la clasificación de Herring que está basada en la altura del pilar lateral. El objetivo del tratamiento es evitar la deformidad siguiendo el clásico principio de la contención. Sin embargo, no hay un claro consenso sobre qué tratamiento es el más idóneo en los pacientes pediátricos con Legg-Calvé- Perthes.Legg-Cavé-Perthes disease is an idiopathic osteonecrosis of the femoral head that may lead to deformity of the femoral head and arthritis. Currently, the most commonly used classification is the Herring system based in height lateral pillar. The goal of the treatment is to prevent deformity according to the classical principle of containment. However, there is no yet clear consensus on which is the best treatment for Legg-Calvé-Perthes pediatric patients