On Convergence Properties of Shannon Entropy

Convergence properties of Shannon Entropy are studied. In the differential setting, it is shown that weak convergence of probability measures, or convergence in distribution, is not enough for convergence of the associated differential entropies. A general result for the desired differential entropy convergence is provided, taking into account both compactly and uncompactly supported densities. Convergence of differential entropy is also characterized in terms of the Kullback-Liebler discriminant for densities with fairly general supports, and it is shown that convergence in variation of probability measures guarantees such convergence under an appropriate boundedness condition on the densities involved. Results for the discrete setting are also provided, allowing for infinitely supported probability measures, by taking advantage of the equivalence between weak convergence and convergence in variation in this setting.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

Identification of substitutional nitrogen and surface paramagnetic centers in nanodiamond of dynamic synthesis by electron paramagnetic resonance

Production of nanodiamond particles containing substitutional nitrogen is important for a wide variety of advanced applications. In the current work nanodiamond particles synthesized from a mixture of graphite and hexogen were analyzed to determine the presence of substitutional nitrogen using pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. Nitrogen paramagnetic centers in the amount of 1.2 ppm have been identified. The spin relaxation characteristics for both nitrogen and surface defects are also reported. A new approach for efficient depletion of the strong non-nitrogen EPR signal in nanodiamond material by immersing nanodiamond particles into ice matrix is suggested. This approach allows an essential decrease of the spin relaxation time of the dominant non-nitrogen defects, while preserving the substitutional nitrogen spin relaxation time.Copyright © 2011 American Scientific Publishers. All rights reserved

Долгосрочные онкологические и функциональные результаты робот-ассистированной радикальной простатэктомии

Prostate cancer (РСа), being one of the leading causes of cancer mortality in men in Russia and in a number of other countries of the world, remains an urgent problem for modern oncourology, and the choice of surgical method is an important task for a surgeon. Such a pronounced interest in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) in patients is driven by good tolerance and effectiveness of these surgical interventions, despite the fact that radical prostatectomy is considered to be the "gold standard" for treatment of patients with clinically localized РСа with regard to European Association of Urology data. The long-term oncological and functional results and the quality of life of patients after RARP deserve close attention and thorough study. According to the data presented in this article, it is obvious that RARP is the preferred method for surgical treatment of РСа, since oncological and functional results in the long-term follow-up are comparable to the results after radical prostatectomy, and according to some authors, these results are superior to the results of radical prostatectomy. The results of the study will allow to continue further introduction of RARP into clinical practice and its popularization as a method of surgical treatment of patients with localized PCa, which will reduce the length of hospital stay of patients, accelerate their medical and social rehabilitation, and improve the quality of medical care.The amount of data on the study of distant oncological and functional results of RARP as well as its superiority over other treatment methods is limited in medical literature, which prompted us to conduct our own research. Currently the urological clinic of the A.I. Evdokimov Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry continues work aimed at studying the longterm results of RARP in the first patients in Russia.Рак предстательной железы (РПЖ), являясь одной из ведущих причин онкологической смертности у мужчин в России и ряде других стран, остается актуальной проблемой современной онкоурологии, а выбор метода хирургического лечения - важной задачей для хирурга. Выраженный интерес к робот-ассистированной радикальной простатэктомии (РАРП) обусловлен хорошей переносимостью и эффективностью этого оперативного вмешательства, несмотря на то что радикальная простатэктомия является «золотым стандартом» лечения пациентов с клинически локализованным РПЖ, по данным Европейской ассоциации урологов. Отдаленные онкологические и функциональные результаты и качество жизни пациентов после РАРП заслуживают пристального внимания.Согласно приведенным в настоящей статье данным, очевидно, что РАРП считается предпочтительным методом хирургического лечения РПЖ. При этом онкологические и функциональные результаты в долгосрочном наблюдении сопоставимы с результатами радикальной простатэктомии, а по данным некоторых авторов, превосходят их. Результаты проведенного исследования позволят продолжить внедрение в клиническую практику и популяризировать РАРП как метод хирургического лечения пациентов с локализованным РПЖ, что сократит продолжительность пребывания больных в стационаре, ускорит медицинскую и социальную реабилитацию пациентов, повысит качество оказания медицинской помощи пациентам.Ограниченное количество данных в медицинской литературе, посвященных изучению отдаленных онкологических, функциональных результатов РАРП, побудило нас к проведению собственного исследования. В настоящее время в урологической клинике Московского государственного медико-стоматологического университета им. А.И. Евдокимова продолжается работа, направленная на изучение отдаленных результатов РАРП у первых пациентов в России

Drug dosing during pregnancy—opportunities for physiologically based pharmacokinetic models

Drugs can have harmful effects on the embryo or the fetus at any point during pregnancy. Not all the damaging effects of intrauterine exposure to drugs are obvious at birth, some may only manifest later in life. Thus, drugs should be prescribed in pregnancy only if the expected benefit to the mother is thought to be greater than the risk to the fetus. Dosing of drugs during pregnancy is often empirically determined and based upon evidence from studies of non-pregnant subjects, which may lead to suboptimal dosing, particularly during the third trimester. This review collates examples of drugs with known recommendations for dose adjustment during pregnancy, in addition to providing an example of the potential use of PBPK models in dose adjustment recommendation during pregnancy within the context of drug-drug interactions. For many drugs, such as antidepressants and antiretroviral drugs, dose adjustment has been recommended based on pharmacokinetic studies demonstrating a reduction in drug concentrations. However, there is relatively limited (and sometimes inconsistent) information regarding the clinical impact of these pharmacokinetic changes during pregnancy and the effect of subsequent dose adjustments. Examples of using pregnancy PBPK models to predict feto-maternal drug exposures and their applications to facilitate and guide dose assessment throughout gestation are discussed

Multidimensional signals and analytic flexibility: Estimating degrees of freedom in human speech analyses

Recent empirical studies have highlighted the large degree of analytic flexibility in data analysis which can lead to substantially different conclusions based on the same data set. Thus, researchers have expressed their concerns that these researcher degrees of freedom might facilitate bias and can lead to claims that do not stand the test of time. Even greater flexibility is to be expected in fields in which the primary data lend themselves to a variety of possible operationalizations. The multidimensional, temporally extended nature of speech constitutes an ideal testing ground for assessing the variability in analytic approaches, which derives not only from aspects of statistical modeling, but also from decisions regarding the quantification of the measured behavior. In the present study, we gave the same speech production data set to 46 teams of researchers and asked them to answer the same research question, resulting insubstantial variability in reported effect sizes and their interpretation. Using Bayesian meta-analytic tools, we further find little to no evidence that the observed variability can be explained by analysts’ prior beliefs, expertise or the perceived quality of their analyses. In light of this idiosyncratic variability, we recommend that researchers more transparently share details of their analysis, strengthen the link between theoretical construct and quantitative system and calibrate their (un)certainty in their conclusions