513 research outputs found
Avian blood parasites in an endangered columbid: Leucocytozoon marchouxi in the Mauritian Pink Pigeon Columba mayeri
There is increasing evidence that pathogens can play a significant role in species decline. This study of a complete free-living species reveals a cost of blood parasitism to an endangered host, the Pink Pigeon Columba mayeri, endemic to Mauritius. We investigated the prevalence and effect of infection of the blood parasite, Leucocytozoon marchouxi, in the free-living Pink Pigeon population. Overall, L. marchouxi infection prevalence detected was 18·3%. Juveniles were more likely to be infected than older birds and there was geographical variation in infection prevalence. Survival of birds infected with L. marchouxi was lower than that of uninfected birds to 90 days post-sampling. This study suggests that while common haematozoa are well tolerated in healthy adults, these parasites may have greater pathogenic potential in susceptible juveniles. The study is unusual given its completeness of species sampling (96%) within a short time-period, the accurate host age data, and its focus on blood parasites in a threatened bird species. Species for which long-term life-history data are available for every individual serve as valuable models for dissecting the contribution of particular pathogens to species decline
An analysis of -invariance and dynamical compensation properties from a control perspective
Dynamical compensation (DC) provides robustness to parameter fluctuations. As
an example, DC enable control of the functional mass of endocrine or neuronal
tissue essential for controlling blood glucose by insulin through a nonlinear
feedback loop. Researchers have shown that DC is related to structural
unidentifiability and -invariance property, and
-invariance property is a sufficient and necessary condition for
the DC property. In this article, we discuss DC and -invariancy
from an adaptive control perspective. An adaptive controller is a self-tuning
controller used to compensate for changes in a dynamical system. To design an
adaptive controller with the DC property, it is easier to start with a
two-dimensional dynamical model. We introduce a simplified system of ordinary
differential equations (ODEs) with the DC property and extend it to a general
form. The value of the ideal adaptive control lies in developing methods to
synthesize DC to variations in multiple parameters. Then we investigate the
stability of the system with time-varying input and disturbance signals, with a
focus on the system's -invariance properties. This study provides
phase portraits and step-like response graphs to visualize the system's
behavior and stability properties
Molecular Motor Constructed from a Double-Walled Carbon Nanotube Driven by Axially Varying Voltage
A new molecular motor is conceptually constructed from a double-walled carbon
nanotube (DWNT) consisting of a long inner single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT)
and a short outer SWNT with different chirality. The interaction between inner
and outer tubes is the sum of the Lennard-Jones potentials between carbon atoms
in inner tube and those in outer one. Within the framework of
Smoluchowski-Feynman ratchet, it is theoretically shown that this system in an
isothermal bath will exhibit a unidirectional rotation in the presence of a
varying axial electrical voltage.Comment: 11 pages + 3 figure
Multiscale Modeling of a Nanoelectromechanical Shuttle
In this article, we report a theoretical analysis of a nanoelectromechanical
shuttle based on a multiscale model that combines microscopic electronic
structure data with macroscopic dynamics. The microscopic part utilizes a
(static) density functional description to obtain the energy levels and
orbitals of the shuttling particle together with the forces acting on the
particle. The macroscopic part combines stochastic charge dynamics that
incorporates the microscopically evaluated tunneling rates with a Newtonian
dynamics.
We have applied the multiscale model to describe the shuttling of a single
copper atom between two gold-like jellium electrodes. We find that energy
spectrum and particle surface interaction greatly influence shuttling dynamics;
in the specific example that we studied the shuttling is found to involve only
charge states Q=0 and Q=+e. The system is found to exhibit two quasi-stable
shuttling modes, a fundamental one and an excited one with a larger amplitude
of mechanical motion, with random transitions between them.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure
Deep learning based tissue analysis predicts outcome in colorectal cancer
Image-based machine learning and deep learning in particular has recently shown expert-level accuracy in medical image classification. In this study, we combine convolutional and recurrent architectures to train a deep network to predict colorectal cancer outcome based on images of tumour tissue samples. The novelty of our approach is that we directly predict patient outcome, without any intermediate tissue classification. We evaluate a set of digitized haematoxylin-eosin-stained tumour tissue microarray (TMA) samples from 420 colorectal cancer patients with clinicopathological and outcome data available. The results show that deep learning-based outcome prediction with only small tissue areas as input outperforms (hazard ratio 2.3; CI 95% 1.79-3.03; AUC 0.69) visual histological assessment performed by human experts on both TMA spot (HR 1.67; CI 95% 1.28-2.19; AUC 0.58) and whole-slide level (HR 1.65; CI 95% 1.30-2.15; AUC 0.57) in the stratification into low-and high-risk patients. Our results suggest that state-of-the-art deep learning techniques can extract more prognostic information from the tissue morphology of colorectal cancer than an experienced human observer.Peer reviewe
Molecular Motor of Double-Walled Carbon Nanotube Driven by Temperature Variation
An elegant formula for coordinates of carbon atoms in a unit cell of a
single-walled nanotube (SWNT) is presented and a new molecular motor of
double-walled carbon nanotube whose inner tube is a long (8,4) SWNT and outer
tube a short (14,8) SWNT is constructed. The interaction between inner an outer
tubes is analytically derived by summing the Lennard-Jones potentials between
atoms in inner and outer tubes. It is proved that the molecular motor in a
thermal bath exhibits a directional motion with the temperature variation of
the bath.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, revtex
Computed tomographic angiography for the evaluation of aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage.
OBJECTIVES: Computed tomography (CT) followed by lumbar puncture (LP) is currently the criterion standard for diagnosing subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in the emergency department (ED); however, this is based on studies involving a limited number of patients. The authors sought to assess the ability of CT angiography (CTA), a new diagnostic modality, in conjunction with CT/LP to detect SAH.
METHODS: Consecutive patients presenting to the ED with symptoms concerning for SAH were approached. All patients had an intravenous catheter placed and underwent a noncontrast head CT followed by CTA. Patients whose CT did not reveal evidence of SAH or other pathology underwent LP in the ED. CTAs were read within 24 hours by a neuroradiologist blinded to the patient\u27s history.
RESULTS: A total of 131 patients were approached, 116 were enrolled, and 106 completed the study. In six of 116 patients (5.1%), aneurysm was found on CTA with normal CT and positive findings on LP; three had a positive CTA with normal CT and LP findings (one of which had a negative cerebral angiogram), and there was one false-positive CTA. Follow-up of all 131 patients showed no previously undiagnosed intracranial pathology. In this patient population, 4.3% (5/116) were ultimately found to have an SAH and/or aneurysm.
CONCLUSIONS: In this pilot study, CTA was found to be useful in the detection of cerebral aneurysms and may be useful in the diagnosis of aneurysmal SAH. A larger multicenter study would be useful to confirm these results
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