Comment on "Under-reported data analysis with INAR-hidden Markov chains"

In Fernandez-Fontelo et al (Statis. Med. 2016, DOI 10.1002/sim.7026) hidden integer-valued autoregressive (INAR) processes are used to estimate reporting probabilities for various diseases. In this comment it is demonstrated that the Poisson INAR(1) model with time-homogeneous underreporting can be expressed equivalently as a completely observed INAR(inf) model with a geometric lag structure. This implies that estimated reporting probabilities depend on the assumed lag structure of the latent process.Comment: This is the pre-reviewing version of a letter published in Statistics in Medicine 38(5), 893-898: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/sim.8032 Fernandez-Fontelo et al published a reply which raises some interesting further points: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sim.8033 After a 12 month embargo period the accepted version will be made available on arxi

The Glasgow sustainable urban drainage system management project: Case studies (Belvidere hospital and Celtic FC stadium areas)

The Glasgow Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) Management Project satisfies the first phase of the Glasgow Surface Water Management Project. This is Glasgow City Council’s contribution to the Transformation of Rural and Urban Spatial Structure (TRUST) project, one of the European Union’s (EU) interregional (INTERREG IIIB) funded research projects. The remit of this EU project comprises also other representative regions in Europe. The project shows also how SUDS can contribute to the overall catchment dynamics of cities such as Glasgow, ultimately relieving stress on the current predominantly combined sewer system. Fifty-seven sites within 46 areas of Glasgow were identified for investigation. A detailed soil chemistry analysis, a preliminary SUDS feasibility assessment and a desk study relating to historical planning issues that may be relevant for subsequent future development and regeneration options were undertaken. Detailed design and management guidelines were then drafted for selected representative demonstration areas (Belvidere Hospital and Celtic FC Stadium Areas) of high public and property developers interest, and education value. A combination of infiltration trenches or swales with ponds or underground storage were the most likely SUDS options for the majority of the demonstration areas. Soil contamination issues were considered when selecting SUDS because heavy metals such as lead and zinc can cause environmental health problems

Vaults. III. Vault ribonucleoprotein particles open into flower-like structures with octagonal symmetry.

The structure of rat liver vault ribonucleoprotein particles was examined using several different staining techniques in conjunction with EM and digestion with hydrolytic enzymes. Quantitative scanning transmission EM demonstrates that each vault particle has a total mass of 12.9 +/- 1 MD and contains two centers of mass, suggesting that each vault particle is a dimer. Freeze-etch reveals that each vault opens into delicate flower-like structures, in which eight rectangular petals are joined to a central ring, each by a thin hook. Vaults examined by negative stain and conventional transmission EM (CTEM) also reveal the flower-like structure. Trypsin treatment of vaults resulted exclusively in cleavage of the major vault protein (p104) and concurrently alters their structure as revealed by negative stain/CTEM, consistent with a localization of p104 to the flower petals. We propose a structural model that predicts the stoichiometry of vault proteins and RNA, defines vault dimer-monomer interactions, and describes two possible modes for unfolding of vaults into flowers. These highly dynamic structural variations are likely to play a role in vault function

First-principles study of ferroelectricity and pressure-induced phase transitions in HgTiO3_3

Ground-state structure is found and pressure-induced phase transitions up to 210 kbar are studied in mercury titanate from first principles within the density functional theory. It is established that the $R3c$ structure experimentally observed in HgTiO$_3$ is metastable at ambient pressure. With increasing the hydrostatic pressure, the ground-state structure changes following the $R{\bar 3} \to R3c \to Pbnm$ sequence. It is shown that the appearance of ferroelectricity in HgTiO$_3$ at $P = 0$ is associated with an unstable phonon mode. Optical and elastic properties of different phases of mercury titanate are calculated. The quasiparticle band gap calculated in the \emph{GW} approximation ($E_g = 2.43$ eV) agrees with experimental data better than the value obtained in the LDA approximation (1.49 eV). Analysis of the thermodynamic stability explains why the synthesis of mercury titanate is possible only at high pressures.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables; to appear in Phase Transition

Nanocrystalline semiconductors: synthesis, properties, and perspectives

The preparation of hollow particles of ZnO by calcination of hydrozincite coated poly(styrene) beads is reported. Synthetic studies have been performed on such polymer/inorganic composite precursors in order to establish the optimum conditions for the preparation of the ZnO particles. The morphological properties of the powders were characterised by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The micrometric ZnO particles show morphological characteristics related to the template used in their preparation

The Glasgow sustainable urban drainage system management project: Case studies (Belvidere hospital and Celtic FC stadium areas)

The Glasgow Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) Management Project satisfies the first phase of the Glasgow Surface Water Management Project. This is Glasgow City Council’s contribution to the Transformation of Rural and Urban Spatial Structure (TRUST) project, one of the European Union’s (EU) interregional (INTERREG IIIB) funded research projects. The remit of this EU project comprises also other representative regions in Europe. The project shows also how SUDS can contribute to the overall catchment dynamics of cities such as Glasgow, ultimately relieving stress on the current predominantly combined sewer system. Fifty-seven sites within 46 areas of Glasgow were identified for investigation. A detailed soil chemistry analysis, a preliminary SUDS feasibility assessment and a desk study relating to historical planning issues that may be relevant for subsequent future development and regeneration options were undertaken. Detailed design and management guidelines were then drafted for selected representative demonstration areas (Belvidere Hospital and Celtic FC Stadium Areas) of high public and property developers interest, and education value. A combination of infiltration trenches or swales with ponds or underground storage were the most likely SUDS options for the majority of the demonstration areas. Soil contamination issues were considered when selecting SUDS because heavy metals such as lead and zinc can cause environmental health problems

Molecular mechanisms controlling the phenotype and the EMT/MET dynamics of hepatocyte

The complex spatial and paracrine relationships between the various liver histotypes are essential for proper functioning of the hepatic parenchymal cells. Only within a correct tissue organization, in fact, they stably maintain their identity and differentiated phenotype. The loss of histotype identity, which invariably occurs in the primary hepatocytes in culture, or in vivo in particular pathological conditions (fibrosis and tumors), is mainly due to the phenomenon of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The EMT process, that occurs in the many epithelial cells, appears to be driven by a number of general, non- tissue-specific, master transcriptional regulators. The reverse process, the mesenchymal-to epithelial transition (MET), as yet much less characterized at a molecular level, restores specific epithelial identities, and thus, must include tissue-specific master elements. In this review, we will summarize the so far unveiled events of EMT/MET occurring in liver cells. In particular, we will focus on hepatocyte and describe the pivotal role in the control of EMT/MET dynamics exerted by a tissue-specific molecular mini-circuitry. Recent evidence, indeed, highlighted as two transcriptional factors, the master gene of EMT Snail, and the master gene of hepatocyte differentiation HNF4α, exhorting a direct reciprocal repression, act as pivotal elements in determining opposite cellular outcomes. The different balances between these two master regulators, further integrated by specific microRNAs, in fact, were found responsible for the EMT/METs dynamics as well as for the preservation of both hepatocyte and stem/precursor cells identity and differentiation. Overall these findings impact the maintenance of stem cells and differentiated cells both in in vivo EMT/MET physio-pathological processes as well as in culture.The complex spatial and paracrine relationships between the various liver histotypes are essential for proper functioning of the hepatic parenchymal cells. Only within a correct tissue organization, in fact, they stably maintain their identity and differentiated phenotype. The loss of histotype identity, which invariably occurs in the primary hepatocytes in culture, or in vivo in particular pathological conditions (fibrosis and tumors), is mainly due to the phenomenon of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). The EMT process, that occurs in the many epithelial cells, appears to be driven by a number of general, non- tissue-specific, master transcriptional regulators. The reverse process, the mesenchymal-to epithelial transition (MET), as yet much less characterized at a molecular level, restores specific epithelial identities, and thus, must include tissue-specific master elements. In this review, we will summarize the so far unveiled events of EMT/MET occurring in liver cells. I

Concomitant induction of the cell surface expression of Ia determinants and accessory cell function by a murine macrophage tumor cell line.

This study demonstrates that an uncharacterized soluble factor produced in concanavalin A-induced rat spleen cell suspensions has the capacity to induce the increased expression of cell surface H-2K and H-2D molecules and the expression of I-region gene products on murine monocyte-macrophage lineage tumors that are not Ia positive in the absence of the factor. In parallel with induction of serologically defined Ia specificities, Ia-induced WEHI-3 macrophage tumor cells are capable of providing accessory cell function in stimulating IL-2 production by T-T hybridomas that are activated in a major histocompatibility complex-restricted, antigen-dependent fashion. The uninduced Ia-negative WEHI-3 tumor cells do not trigger a comparable response in this assay system

Optimal search strategies for identifying sound clinical prediction studies in EMBASE

BACKGROUND: Clinical prediction guides assist clinicians by pointing to specific elements of the patient's clinical presentation that should be considered when forming a diagnosis, prognosis or judgment regarding treatment outcome. The numbers of validated clinical prediction guides are growing in the medical literature, but their retrieval from large biomedical databases remains problematic and this presents a barrier to their uptake in medical practice. We undertook the systematic development of search strategies ("hedges") for retrieval of empirically tested clinical prediction guides from EMBASE. METHODS: An analytic survey was conducted, testing the retrieval performance of search strategies run in EMBASE against the gold standard of hand searching, using a sample of all 27,769 articles identified in 55 journals for the 2000 publishing year. All articles were categorized as original studies, review articles, general papers, or case reports. The original and review articles were then tagged as 'pass' or 'fail' for methodologic rigor in the areas of clinical prediction guides and other clinical topics. Search terms that depicted clinical prediction guides were selected from a pool of index terms and text words gathered in house and through request to clinicians, librarians and professional searchers. A total of 36,232 search strategies composed of single and multiple term phrases were trialed for retrieval of clinical prediction studies. The sensitivity, specificity, precision, and accuracy of search strategies were calculated to identify which were the best. RESULTS: 163 clinical prediction studies were identified, of which 69 (42.3%) passed criteria for scientific merit. A 3-term strategy optimized sensitivity at 91.3% and specificity at 90.2%. Higher sensitivity (97.1%) was reached with a different 3-term strategy, but with a 16% drop in specificity. The best measure of specificity (98.8%) was found in a 2-term strategy, but with a considerable fall in sensitivity to 60.9%. All single term strategies performed less well than 2- and 3-term strategies. CONCLUSION: The retrieval of sound clinical prediction studies from EMBASE is supported by several search strategies

A failed invasion? Commercially introduced pollinators in Southern France

The natural diversity of Bombus terrestris subspecies could be under threat from the commercialisation of bumblebees. Therefore, to determine whether commercially imported bumblebees are able to establish and spread, we carried out long-term observations of bumblebees in southern France. Our surveys occurred before, during, and after the importation (between 1989 and 1996) of thousands of colonies of the Sardinian subspecies B. t. sassaricus. Queens and males of B. t. sassaricus were observed foraging outside commercial greenhouses in 1991, 1993, and 1994 and feral workers were observed foraging on native vegetation nearly two years after the importation of B. t. sassaricus ceased. However, no B. t. sassaricus, or F1 hybrids were observed after 1998. We conclude that B. t. sassaricus remains inconspicuous in France and competition from the three native subspecies may have prevented it from becoming invasive. However, genetic interference through introgression cannot be ruled out