Statistical potentials for RNA-protein interactions optimized by CMA-ES

Characterizing RNA-protein interactions remains an important endeavor, complicated by the difficulty in obtaining the relevant structures. Evaluating model structures via statistical potentials is in principle straight-forward and effective. However, given the relatively small size of the existing learning set of RNA-protein complexes optimization of such potentials continues to be problematic. Notably, interaction-based statistical potentials have problems in addressing large RNA-protein complexes. In this study, we adopted a novel strategy with covariance matrix adaptation (CMA-ES) to calculate statistical potentials, successfully identifying native docking poses

Increased Serum KL-6 Levels Induced by Pulmonary Mycobacterium Avium Complex Infection in a Patient with RA-associated Lung Disease

KL-6 is a glycoprotein found predominantly on type II pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages, and often shows increased serum levels in patients with interstitial pneumonia. We report a case of mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection whose disease activity was correlated with KL-6 levels in serum. During treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-associated interstitial lung disease (ILD) with prednisolone, chest image findings improved in association with decreased KL-6 levels. Following tapering of prednisolone, chest image findings deteriorated again as levels of KL-6 increased, suggesting recurrence of RA-ILD. Bronchoscopic examination revealed active MAC infection. Treatment of MAC infection not only improved chest image findings but also decreased KL-6 levels in serum, suggesting that KL-6 was increased by active MAC infection by itself, not by recurrence of RA-ILD. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first documentation of KL-6 elevation in serum in association with active MAC infection

Post-load hyperglycemia as an important predictor of long-term adverse cardiac events after acute myocardial infarction: a scientific study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetes mellitus (DM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) are risk factors for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, it is unknown whether hyperglycemic state is associated with increased major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) after AMI. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between glucometabolic status and MACE in patients after AMI, and determined the critical level of 2 h post-load plasma glucose that may be used to predict MACE.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>AMI patients (n = 422) were divided into 4 groups as follows: normal glucose tolerance (NGT) group, IGT group, newly diagnosed DM (NDM) group, and previously known DM (PDM) group. MACE of the 4 groups were compared for 2 years from AMI onset.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The NDM group had a significantly higher event rate than the IGT and NGT groups and had a similar event rate curve to PDM group. The logistic models analyses revealed that 2 h post-load plasma glucose values of ≥160 mg/dL was the only independent predictor of long-term MACE after AMI (p = 0.028, OR: 1.85, 95% CI: 1.07-3.21). The 2-year cardiac event rate of patients with a 2 h post-load hyperglycemia of ≥160 mg/dL was significantly higher than that of patients with 2 h post-load glucose of <160 mg/dL (32.2% vs. 19.8%, p < 0.05) and was similar to that of PDM group (37.4%, p = 0.513).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>NDM increases the risk of MACE after AMI as does PDM. Particularly, post-AMI patients with a 2 h post-load hyperglycemia ≥160 mg/dL may need adjunctive therapy after AMI.</p

On-demand lake circulation modeling management system

Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Hydroscience and Engineering, Philadelphia, PA, September 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1860/732In this paper, we present a system for real-time forecasting of lake circulation at Trout Lake Station in Upper Wisconsin. Our system uses near-real-time meteorological data to drive a lake circulation model. Near-real-time ADCP data will be used to validate the model. As one part of a cyberinfrastructure lake project, this paper presents the broad system design crossing different related organizations: Device management and data acquisition from Trout Lake Station, data storage in the Center for Limnology, circulation modeling in Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory, and the system portal in Grid Computing Research Laboratory of SUNY Binghamton. We also present the concept and implementation of hindcasting and nowcasting. The application of this system shows that this work is an effective collaboration across many different fields

Synthesis of lamellar mesostructured calcium phosphates using n-alkylamines as structure-directing agents in alcohol/water mixed solvent systems

Lamellar mesostructured calcium phosphates constructed by ionic bonds were prepared by using n-alkylamines (n-C n H2n+1NH2, n = 8–18) at room temperature in the mixed solvent systems of aliphatic alcohol (C n H2n+1OH, n = 1–4) and water, and the synthetic conditions were investigated in detail. The mixed solvent systems suppressed the formation of crystalline calcium phosphates like brushite (CaHPO4·2H2O) and monetite (CaHPO4) at low temperatures, successfully affording pure lamellar mesostructured calcium phosphates. Other crystalline phases such as hydroxyapatite (Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2) were not formed under the conditions with the Ca/P molar ratios in the range of 0.7–1.0 in the starting mixtures. The Ca/P molar ratio of the lamellar mesostructured calcium phosphates was ca. 1.0, calculated by ICP and 31P MAS NMR data. Interestingly, the kind of alcohols strongly influenced the solubilities of calcium phosphate species and n-alkylamines, and then lamellar mesostructured phases were obtained with some morphological variation

Bioassay Using Daphnia Daphnia Trajectories

金沢大学大学院自然科学研究科Scedule:17-18 March 2003, Vemue: Kanazawa, Japan, Kanazawa Citymonde Hotel, Project Leader : Hayakawa, Kazuichi, Symposium Secretariat: XO kamata, Naoto, Edited by:Kamata, Naoto

Conduction Effect of Thermal Radiation in a Metal Shield Pipe in a Cryostat for a Cryogenic Interferometric Gravitational Wave Detector

A large heat load caused by thermal radiation through a metal shield pipe was observed in a cooling test of a cryostat for a prototype of a cryogenic interferometric gravitational wave detector. The heat load was approximately 1000 times larger than the value calculated by the Stefan-Boltzmann law. We studied this phenomenon by simulation and experiment and found that it was caused by the conduction of thermal radiation in a metal shield pipe.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, Submitted to Jpn. J. Appl. Phy

Tsengwen Reservoir Watershed Hydrological Flood Simulation Under Global Climate Change Using the 20 km Mesh Meteorological Research Institute Atmospheric General Circulation Model (MRI-AGCM)

Severe rainstorms have occurred more frequently in Taiwan over the last decade. To understand the flood characteristics of a local region under climate change, a hydrological model simulation was conducted for the Tsengwen Reservoir watershed. The model employed was the Integrated Flood Analysis System (IFAS), which has a conceptual, distributed rainfall-runoff analysis module and a GIS data-input function. The high-resolution rainfall data for flood simulation was categorized into three terms: 1979 - 2003 (Present), 2015 - 2039 (Near-future), and 2075 - 2099 (Future), provided by the Meteorological Research Institute atmospheric general circulation model (MRI-AGCM). Ten extreme rainfall (top ten) events were selected for each term in descending order of total precipitation volume. Due to the small watershed area the MRI-AGCM3.2S data was downsized into higher resolution data using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model. The simulated discharges revealed that most of the Near-future and Future peaks caused by extreme rainfall increased compared to the Present peak. These ratios were 0.8 - 1.6 (Near-future/Present) and 0.9 - 2.2 (Future/Present), respectively. Additionally, we evaluated how these future discharges would affect the reservoir¡¦s flood control capacity, specifically the excess water volume required to be stored while maintaining dam releases up to the dam¡¦s spillway capacity or the discharge peak design for flood prevention. The results for the top ten events show that the excess water for the Future term exceeded the reservoir¡¦s flood control capacity and was approximately 79.6 - 87.5% of the total reservoir maximum capacity for the discharge peak design scenario