2015 researcher's mini-symposium

Postgraduate researchers from the Faculties of Science, Engineering, Medicine & Surgery and Health Sciences gathered for a forum to present their research interests. The symposium was held in the afternoon of 30 January 2015 in the Engineering Lecture Theatre. The symposium promoted multi-disciplinary networking between various university faculties. Participants were invited based on research topic diversity and gender balance.peer-reviewe

उत्तरदायित्वपूर्ण मत्स्यन के लिए पारितंत्र आधरित प्रबन्धन

कृपया पूरा लेख पढे

Performance of the CMS Cathode Strip Chambers with Cosmic Rays

The Cathode Strip Chambers (CSCs) constitute the primary muon tracking device in the CMS endcaps. Their performance has been evaluated using data taken during a cosmic ray run in fall 2008. Measured noise levels are low, with the number of noisy channels well below 1%. Coordinate resolution was measured for all types of chambers, and fall in the range 47 microns to 243 microns. The efficiencies for local charged track triggers, for hit and for segments reconstruction were measured, and are above 99%. The timing resolution per layer is approximately 5 ns

Activation Addition: Steering Language Models Without Optimization

Reliably controlling the behavior of large language models (LLMs) is a pressing open problem. Existing methods include supervised finetuning, reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF), prompt engineering and guided decoding. We instead investigate activation engineering: modifying activations at inference time to predictably alter model behavior. In particular, we bias the forward pass with an added 'steering vector' implicitly specified through natural language. Unlike past work which learned these steering vectors (Subramani, Suresh, and Peters 2022; Hernandez, Li, and Andreas 2023), our Activation Addition (ActAdd) method computes them by taking the activation differences that result from pairs of prompts. We demonstrate ActAdd on GPT-2 on OpenWebText and ConceptNet. Our inference-time approach yields control over high-level properties of output and preserves off-target model performance. It involves far less compute and implementation effort compared to finetuning or RLHF, allows users to provide natural language specifications, and its overhead scales naturally with model size

Molecular defects in the mannose binding lectin pathway in dermatological disease: Case report and literature review

Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) and the Mannose-binding lectin-associated serine proteases (MASPs) are an essential aspect of innate immune responses that probably play an important but understudied role in cutaneous function. The MBL-MASP pathway appears to exert its primary role by assisting in the clearance of apoptotic skin cells (thus preventing accumulation and a subsequent autoimmune response) and promoting opsonophagocytosis of invading pathogens, limiting their dissemination. Deficiencies of the pathway have been described and are associated with infectious, autoimmune and vascular complications. However, the role of this pathway in dermatological disease is essentially unexplored. We describe 6 patients presenting with recurrent inflammatory and/or infectious skin conditions who also demonstrated severely low MBL levels. One patient also had a defect in the MASP2 gene. Genotype analysis revealed specific point mutations in the MBL2 promoter in all 6 patients and a variant MASP-2 gene in one patient. Five patients presented recurrent pustular skin infections (cellulitis, folliculitis and cutaneous abscess). A case of Grover's disease and one forme fruste of Behcet's syndrome (orogenital ulcers) were also observed. The patients responded to antimicrobial therapy, although in some, recurrence of infection was the rule. It appears that MBL deficiency may contribute to recurrent skin infections and to certain forms of inflammatory skin disease. The mechanisms may relate to the role of this pathway in innate immunity, removal of apoptotic cells and in immune complexes. Further study of MBL pathway defects in dermatological disease is required

Performance and Operation of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The operation and general performance of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter using cosmic-ray muons are described. These muons were recorded after the closure of the CMS detector in late 2008. The calorimeter is made of lead tungstate crystals and the overall status of the 75848 channels corresponding to the barrel and endcap detectors is reported. The stability of crucial operational parameters, such as high voltage, temperature and electronic noise, is summarised and the performance of the light monitoring system is presented

A comparative analysis of data generated using two different target preparation methods for hybridization to high-density oligonucleotide microarrays

BACKGROUND: To generate specific transcript profiles, one must isolate homogenous cell populations using techniques that often yield small amounts of RNA, requiring researchers to employ RNA amplification methods. The data generated by using these methods must be extensively evaluated to determine any technique dependent distortion of the expression profiles. RESULTS: High-density oligonucleotide microarrays were used to perform experiments for comparing data generated by using two protocols, an in vitro transcription (IVT) protocol that requires 5 μg of total RNA and a double in vitro transcription (dIVT) protocol that requires 200 ng of total RNA for target preparation from RNA samples extracted from a normal and a cancer cell line. In both cell lines, about 10% more genes were detected with IVT than with dIVT. Genes were filtered to exclude those that were undetected on all arrays. Hierarchical clustering using the 9,482 genes that passed the filter showed that the variation attributable to biological differences between samples was greater than that introduced by differences in the protocols. We analyzed the behavior of these genes separately for each protocol by using a statistical model to estimate the posterior probability of various levels of fold change. At each level, more differentially expressed genes were detected with IVT than with dIVT. When we checked for genes that had a posterior probability greater than 99% of fold change greater than 2, in data generated by IVT but not dIVT, more than 60% of these genes had posterior probabilities greater than 90% in data generated by dIVT. Both protocols identified the same functional gene categories to be differentially expressed. Differential expression of selected genes was confirmed using quantitative real-time PCR. CONCLUSION: Using nanogram quantities on total RNA, the usage of dIVT protocol identified differentially expressed genes and functional categories consistent with those detected by the IVT protocol. There was a loss in sensitivity of about 10% when detecting differentially expressed genes using the dIVT protocol. However, the lower amount of RNA required for this protocol, as compared to the IVT protocol, renders this methodology a highly desirable one for biological systems where sample amounts are limiting

Intractable Tube Ovarian Abscess : A Comprehensive Review

Background: Tube ovarian abscess (TOA) represents a multifaceted infectious entity involving the adnexa, typically arising as a consequence of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). In this review, the etiology, pathology, management, complications and treatment aspects are discussed.Methods: PubMed/Medline and Google Scholar databases were searched to identify studies published from 1983 to 2024 covering the etiology, pathology, management, complications and treatment aspects of TOA.Results: The review findings show that the management of TOAs still poses a significant challenge and there is still a significant danger associated with TOAs.Conclusion: The need for continuous research and the modification of treatment regimens in order to address the ever-changing problems posed by microorganisms

Efficacy and Safety of Lumasiran for Infants and Young Children with Primary Hyperoxaluria Type 1: 30-Month Analysis of the Phase 3 ILLUMINATE-B Trial

BACKGROUND: Primary hyperoxaluria type 1 (PH1) is a genetic disorder resulting in overproduction of hepatic oxalate, potentially leading to recurrent kidney stones, nephrocalcinosis, chronic kidney disease, and kidney failure. Lumasiran, the first RNA interference therapeutic approved for infants and young children, is a liver-directed treatment that reduces hepatic oxalate production. Lumasiran demonstrated sustained efficacy with an acceptable safety profile over 12 months in infants and young children (age \u3c6 \u3eyears) with PH1 in ILLUMINATE-B (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT03905694), an ongoing, Phase 3, multinational, open-label, single-arm study. METHODS: Here, we report interim efficacy and safety findings from ILLUMINATE-B following 30 months of lumasiran treatment. Eligible patients had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) \u3e45 ml/min/1.73 m RESULTS: At Month 30, mean percent change from baseline in spot UOx:Cr was -76%, and mean percent change in plasma oxalate was -42%. eGFR remained stable through Month 30. In 14 patients (86%) with nephrocalcinosis at baseline, nephrocalcinosis grade improved at Month 24 in 12; no patient worsened. In the 4 patients without baseline nephrocalcinosis, nephrocalcinosis was absent at Month 24. Kidney stone event rates were ≤0.25 per person-year through Month 30. Mild, transient injection site reactions were the most common lumasiran-related adverse events (17% of patients). CONCLUSION: In infants and young children with PH1, long-term lumasiran treatment resulted in sustained reductions in urinary and plasma oxalate that were sustained for 30 months, with an acceptable safety profile. Kidney function remained stable, low kidney stone event rates were observed through Month 30, and nephrocalcinosis grade improvements were observed through Month 24. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: https://clinicaltrials.gov, identifier NCT03905694