Group Leaders Optimization Algorithm

We present a new global optimization algorithm in which the influence of the leaders in social groups is used as an inspiration for the evolutionary technique which is designed into a group architecture. To demonstrate the efficiency of the method, a standard suite of single and multidimensional optimization functions along with the energies and the geometric structures of Lennard-Jones clusters are given as well as the application of the algorithm on quantum circuit design problems. We show that as an improvement over previous methods, the algorithm scales as N^2.5 for the Lennard-Jones clusters of N-particles. In addition, an efficient circuit design is shown for two qubit Grover search algorithm which is a quantum algorithm providing quadratic speed-up over the classical counterpart

USA WOMENS RUGBY SEVENS CONTACT INJURY RISK FACTORS

The purpose of the study was to identify the rates and causes of contact injuries in U.S. women’s Rugby-7s tournament players (2010-2015) and present guidelines for injury prevention to reduce the risk of injury in this emerging female contact-sport athlete. Data were captured using the Rugby Injury Survey & Evaluation (RISE) methodology. Contact injuries were frequent over the study period (direct=56%; indirect=38%, unknown=6%). Contact injuries overall were similar among positions (

BIOMECHANICAL CONTACT INJURY INFLUENCES IN USA MENS RUGBY-7S

The aim of this study was to prospectively report injury incidence and contact mechanisms in U.S. men’s under-19 to elite Rugby-7s players (n=852) over 2010-2015, using the Rugby Injury Survey & Evaluation (RISE) methodology. Contact injuries occurred with frequency (Overall, including time-loss and medical attention=55.4/1000ph; time-loss=17.2/1000ph;

Shannon and Renyi Entropies to Classify Effects of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury on Postural Sway

Background: Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI) has been identified as a major public and military health concern both in the United States and worldwide. Characterizing the effects of mTBI on postural sway could be an important tool for assessing recovery from the injury. Methodology/Principal Findings: We assess postural sway by motion of the center of pressure (COP). Methods for data reduction include calculation of area of COP and fractal analysis of COP motion time courses. We found that fractal scaling appears applicable to sway power above about 0.5 Hz, thus fractal characterization is only quantifying the secondary effects (a small fraction of total power) in the sway time series, and is not effective in quantifying long-term effects of mTBI on postural sway. We also found that the area of COP sensitively depends on the length of data series over which the COP is obtained. These weaknesses motivated us to use instead Shannon and Renyi entropies to assess postural instability following mTBI. These entropy measures have a number of appealing properties, including capacity for determination of the optimal length of the time series for analysis and a new interpretation of the area of COP. Conclusions: Entropy analysis can readily detect postural instability in athletes at least 10 days post-concussion so that it appears promising as a sensitive measure of effects of mTBI on postural sway

High Smac/DIABLO expression is associated with early local recurrence of cervical cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In a recent pilot report, we showed that Smac/DIABLO mRNA is expressed <it>de novo </it>in a subset of cervical cancer patients. We have now expanded this study and analyzed Smac/DIABLO expression in the primary lesions in 109 cervical cancer patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used immunohistochemistry of formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections to analyze Smac/DIABLO expression in the 109 primary lesions. Seventy-eight samples corresponded to epidermoid cervical cancer and 31 to cervical adenocarcinoma. The median follow up was 46.86 months (range 10–186).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Smac/DIABLO was expressed in more adenocarcinoma samples than squamous tumours (71% vs 50%; p = 0.037). Among the pathological variables, a positive correlation was found between Smac/DIABLO immunoreactivity and microvascular density, a marker for angiogenesis (p = 0.04). Most importantly, Smac/DIABLO immunoreactivity was associated with a higher rate of local recurrence in squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.002, log rank test). No association was found between Smac/DIABLO and survival rates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smac/DIABLO expression is a potential marker for local recurrence in cervical squamous cell carcinoma patients.</p

Pulmonary intravascular macrophages: Prime suspects as cellular mediators of porcine CARPA

Pigs provide a highly sensitive and quantitative in vivo model for complement (C) activation-related pseudoallergy (CARPA), a hypersensitivity reaction caused by some state-of-art nanomedicines. In an effort to understand the mechanism of the pigs' unique sensitivity for CARPA, this review focuses on pulmonary intravascular macrophages (PIMs), which are abundantly present in the lung of pigs. These cells represent a macrophage subpopulation whose unique qualities explain the characteristic symptoms of CARPA in this species, most importantly the rapidly (within minutes) developing pulmonary vasoconstriction, leading to elevation of pulmonary arterial pressure. The unique qualities of PIM cells include the following; 1) they are strongly adhered to the capillary walls via desmosome-like intercellular adhesion plaques, which secure stable and lasting direct exposition of the bulk of these cells to the blood stream; 2) their ruffled surface engaged in intense phagocytic activity ensures efficient binding and phagocytosis of nanoparticles; 3) PIM cells express anaphylatoxin receptors, this way C activation can trigger these cells, 4) they also express pattern recognition molecules on their surface, whose engagement with certain coated nanoparticles may also activate these cells or act in synergy with anaphylatoxins and, finally 5) their high metabolic activity and capability for immediate secretion of vasoactive mediators upon stimulation explain the circulatory blockage and other robust physiological effects that their stimulation may cause. These qualities taken together with reports on liposome uptake by PIM cells during CARPA and the possible presence of these cells in human lung suggests that PIM cells may be a potential therapeutic target against CARPA. © 2015 by De Gruyter

Disability and the Immigrant Health Paradox: Gender and Timing of Migration

Although research has documented better health and longer life expectancy among the foreign-born relative to their U.S.-born counterparts, the U.S. Mexican-origin immigrant population is diverse and the healthy immigrant effect likely varies by key structural and demographic factors such as gender, migration history, and duration in the United States. Using a life course framework, we use data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE 1993–2013) which includes Mexican-American individuals aged 65 and older to assess the heterogeneity in the immigrant health advantage by age of migration and gender. We find that age of migration is an important delineating factor for disability among both men and women. The healthy immigrant hypothesis is only observable among mid- and late-life migrant men for ADL disability. While among immigrant women, late-life migrants are more likely to have an IADL disability putting them at a health disadvantage. These findings illustrate that Mexican immigrants are not a homogeneous group and migrant health selectivity depends on both gender and when migrants arrived in the United States

Evaluation of secretion prediction highlights differing approaches needed for oomycete and fungal effectors

© 2015 Sperschneider, Williams, Hane, Singh and Taylor. The steadily increasing number of sequenced fungal and oomycete genomes has enabled detailed studies of how these eukaryotic microbes infect plants and cause devastating losses in food crops. During infection, fungal and oomycete pathogens secrete effector molecules which manipulate host plant cell processes to the pathogen's advantage. Proteinaceous effectors are synthesized intracellularly and must be externalized to interact with host cells. Computational prediction of secreted proteins from genomic sequences is an important technique to narrow down the candidate effector repertoire for subsequent experimental validation. In this study, we benchmark secretion prediction tools on experimentally validated fungal and oomycete effectors. We observe that for a set of fungal SwissProt protein sequences, SignalP 4 and the neural network predictors of SignalP 3 (D-score) and SignalP 2 perform best. For effector prediction in particular, the use of a sensitive method can be desirable to obtain the most complete candidate effector set. We show that the neural network predictors of SignalP 2 and 3, as well as TargetP were the most sensitive tools for fungal effector secretion prediction, whereas the hidden Markov model predictors of SignalP 2 and 3 were the most sensitive tools for oomycete effectors. Thus, previous versions of SignalP retain value for oomycete effector prediction, as the current version, SignalP 4, was unable to reliably predict the signal peptide of the oomycete Crinkler effectors in the test set. Our assessment of subcellular localization predictors shows that cytoplasmic effectors are often predicted as not extracellular. This limits the reliability of secretion predictions that depend on these tools. We present our assessment with a view to informing future pathogenomics studies and suggest revised pipelines for secretion prediction to obtain optimal effector predictions in fungi and oomycetes

Tomato TILLING Technology: Development of a Reverse Genetics Tool for the Efficient Isolation of Mutants from Micro-Tom Mutant Libraries

To accelerate functional genomic research in tomato, we developed a Micro-Tom TILLING (Targeting Induced Local Lesions In Genomes) platform. DNA pools were constructed from 3,052 ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutant lines treated with 0.5 or 1.0% EMS. The mutation frequency was calculated by screening 10 genes. The 0.5% EMS population had a mild mutation frequency of one mutation per 1,710 kb, whereas the 1.0% EMS population had a frequency of one mutation per 737 kb, a frequency suitable for producing an allelic series of mutations in the target genes. The overall mutation frequency was one mutation per 1,237 kb, which affected an average of three alleles per kilobase screened. To assess whether a Micro-Tom TILLING platform could be used for efficient mutant isolation, six ethylene receptor genes in tomato (SlETR1–SlETR6) were screened. Two allelic mutants of SlETR1 (Sletr1-1 and Sletr1-2) that resulted in reduced ethylene responses were identified, indicating that our Micro-Tom TILLING platform provides a powerful tool for the rapid detection of mutations in an EMS mutant library. This work provides a practical and publicly accessible tool for the study of fruit biology and for obtaining novel genetic material that can be used to improve important agronomic traits in tomato